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XML: End User | |||||||||||||||
XML is becoming quite the buzzword lately, and often cited as the next generation of HTML. In some aspects this is true, but overall it is very short-sighted and wrong.
The fundamental idea behind XML is to create a common alphabet, a simple standard set of basic language elements and rules, on which to build languages (such as HTML). The XML specification provides the rules for Geeks to build their own languages. Now this may not sound like something fundamentally revolutionary, but when you look at the state that technical communications are in right now, you’ll see what I mean.
Most of the technical mechanics of the Information and Computer Industry are shielded from the eyes of the end users, so let me give you a peek. Every computer has multitudes of configuration files to describe it's hardware configuration, it's software, and it's operating system. Every operating system has configuration files to describe it's setup, procedures, software components, and it's history, and they are often very different between it's own different revisions. Every software component has its own mechanisms for maintaining it's configuration, describing it's data, and interacting with the user. Communications between the hardware, operating system, software packages, and other computers over a network all have to be described and defined, all in a common agreed upon format, all different based on the software and types of communications. And this is only a fraction of the complexity "under the hood".
Obviously, this causes problems, lots of them! Unstable software, backwards compatibility, slowing advancements in software, software bloat, errors, incompatibility, and so forth. Now XML isn't going to all of a sudden solve all of these problems, but if future generations of software start building their communication and configuration components based on XML, it'll make things thousands of times better for the Geeks. It provides an agreed upon standard way of describing all of the common software tasks. So software developer A can write a program to store recipes, and software developer B can write a program to create grocery lists, and use the data from the recipe program without spending days of time trying to understand how it stores the recipe.
This will affect everyone! When XML is being used everywhere, most importantly you’ll start seeing faster software development and advancement, more "personalized" software, more ways of accessing and using the most important data, compatibility between almost any software program, and overall your computer will simply become more useful and tailor itself to you!
I wish I could better convey the true awesome power of XML in a clear and understanding format, but the truth is that I can't answer everyone's questions in a way they will understand with one description. But I will try to do the best I can to help you out if you simply email me any questions or concerns you have!