XML by Example

XML and Semantic

It is important to realize that XML alone does not define the semantic (the

meaning) of the document. The element names are meaningful only to

humans. They are meaningless to the XML processor.

The processor does not know what a

name is. And it does not know the dif-

ference between a name and an address, apart from the fact that an address

has more children than a name. For the XML processor, Listing 2.5, where

the element names are totally mixed up, is as good as Listing 2.1.

Listing 2.5: Meaningless Names

<?xml version=”1.0”?>

<name>

<tel>

<street>John Doe</street>

<country>

<email>34 Fountain Square Plaza</email>

<locality>OH</locality> ...