XML stands for "eXtensible Markup Language", and it is a widely used markup language designed to store and transfer data in a structured format. It was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a successor to HTML, with the purpose of providing a universal standard for organizing and describing data that can be easily understood and processed by both humans and machines.
XML utilizes simple tags to define elements and their attributes, providing a flexible and extensible framework to represent hierarchical data structures. These tags can be user-defined, allowing developers to create their own markup language specific to their needs. This flexibility makes XML a popular choice for various applications, such as data storage, configuration files, and data interchange between different systems.
The structure of XML documents follows strict syntax rules, including the use of opening and closing tags to encapsulate content, and the nesting of elements within one another to form a hierarchical structure. It also allows for the creation of attributes that provide additional information about the elements.
XML documents can be validated against Document Type Definitions (DTD) or XML Schema Definition (XSD) files, ensuring the content adheres to a specific structure and format. Additionally, XML documents can be transformed using stylesheets, such as Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT), to achieve different presentations or data conversions.
Overall, XML provides a standardized, extensible, and flexible approach to structuring and publishing data, making it a versatile language for data representation and exchange.
