Hello, My Name Is XML
Well, by now you are probably wondering just what exactly XML looks
like, so why don't we take a look at some XML:
<DOCUMENT>
<GREETING>Hello!</GREETING>
<TEXT>This is XML!</TEXT>
</DOCUMENT>
That's XML. It's a markup language for creating your own tags, which
can be used to markup your content. The tags that you create in XML
are tags that make sense to you, or the people using your data. Rather
than being arbitrary tag names selected by a standards body, the tag
names you choose will reflect the nature of the data you are tagging.
Of course, it's a little more complex than that, but those are the basics.
With XML you can make your own tag pairs and use them in your documents
to impart meaning on the data. Still a little confused? Well, let's
look at it this way; say we were writing the previous example in HTML.
It might look something like this:
<HTML>
<H2>Hello!</H2>
<p>
This is HTML!
</HTML>
It looks similar, but not exactly the same. We still see tags, but
now those tags don't really make any sense, unless you already know
HTML. If you are familiar with HTML, you know that the <H2> tag
is a headline, and that the <p> tag represents a paragraph. But
with the XML example, the tags are clearly readable to humans. That's
one of the advantages of XML: You can create tags that make sense to
you. Of course, that means they might not always make sense to others!
So is XML a predefined set of tags that makes sense? No. Not at all.
What it really is, is a set of guidelines for you to use when creating
your own tags and your own markup languages. If you want to create a
special markup language for your dog called Rover Markup Language or
RML, you are free to do so. It might look like this:
<DOGHOUSE>
<FOOD>Kibble</FOOD>
<TOY>Chewy Bone</TOY>
<ENEMY>Mailman</ENEMY>
</DOGHOUSE>
Example 2
