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Extensible Markup Language is known as XML. It is an easy and adaptable method of storing and transmitting data online. XML is a set of principles for defining structured texts rather than a programming language. Any type of data, including text, numbers, images, audio, video, etc., can be included in XML documents.
The fact that XML is both machine and human-readable is one of its key features. This indicates that the structure and meaning of the contents in an XML document may be easily understood by both people and computers. XML also has the benefit of being extendable, allowing users to add new tags and attributes to represent their data. Because of this, XML may be applied to various areas and applications.
Elements, attributes, and text are the building blocks of an XML document's hierarchical structure. A logical unit of data known as an element may include text or other elements and has a name. An element is denoted by a start tag (<name>) and an end tag (/<name>). A name-value pair known as an attribute gives additional details about an element. An attribute appears after the element name in the start tag of an element. Any piece of content that isn't an element or an attribute is a text.
For example, this is a simple XML document that describes a book:
<book>
<title>XML in English</title>
<author>John Smith</author>
<price currency="USD">19.99</price>
<publisher>ABC Books</publisher>
<year>2023</year>
</book>
In this document, "book", "title", "author", "price", "publisher", and "year" are elements. currency is an attribute of the price element. XML in English, John Smith, 19.99, ABC Books, and 2023 are text.
An XML document's syntax and structure can be verified using a document type definition or a schema (DTD). The guidelines and limitations for the elements and attributes of an XML document are defined by a schema or a DTD. For instance, a schema or DTD can define the attributes that are valid values, the number of times an element can occur, the elements that are allowed or necessary, etc.
We can utilize a variety of tools and technologies, including XSLT, XPath, XQuery, DOM, SAX, etc. to process and manipulate XML data. A language called XSLT is used to convert XML documents into formats like HTML, PDF, CSV, etc. A language called XPath is used to pick out particular sections of an XML document. A language for querying XML data is called XQuery. An application programming interface (API) called DOM allows users to interact with XML documents stored in memory as objects. SAX is an event-driven API for sequentially parsing XML documents.
The use of XML is widespread across a variety of industries and applications, including web development, data sharing, configuration files, web services, RSS feeds, etc. Numerous other languages and standards, including XHTML, SVG, MathML, SOAP, and WSDL, are built on the foundation of XML and extend or specialize its functionality.
Data representation and transmission over the internet are made possible by XML, which is a strong and flexible format. Your knowledge and skills in web development and data administration can be improved by learning XML in English.
