XML

Overview

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a flexible, structured language used for defining and sharing data across different systems. It was designed to store and transport data in a format that both humans and machines can easily read.

Key Features of XML:
  1. Self-descriptive: XML defines both the data and the structure of the data.
  2. Human-readable: XML documents are plain text, making them easy to read and understand by people.
  3. Platform-independent: XML works across different platforms and programming languages.
  4. Hierarchical structure: XML uses a tree-like structure with nested elements.
  5. Extensible: You can define your own custom tags (hence the name extensible).
Basic Structure of an XML Document:

An XML document consists of:

  • Prolog: It typically includes the XML declaration, specifying the XML version and character encoding.
  • Root element: Every XML document must have a single root element that contains all the other elements.
  • Elements: These are the building blocks of XML, enclosed in tags (<tagname>).
  • Attributes: Elements can have attributes, which provide additional information about the elements.