[HRPM] last night

[Jeff Duffy]

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Robert Kernell wrote:

> Quick question: What is XML, in two sentences?

 Ooh, a challenge :) (deep breath).

 The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a subset of SGML designed to allow the construction of documents that
have the defining characteristic of using elements as the primary mode of delineation for identifying discrete
portions of a document, which may be required to conform to a standard, called a Document Type Definition,
that provides a blueprint for which elements may or must be included in the document, what order they may
appear in, and (to some extent) what the contents of a given element may be.

 The power of XML is that it allows you to define a standard for the exchange of arbitrary sets of data in a
fashion that can be easily parsed and checked (called validation) against a description of the standard (the
DTD), thus providing a powerful conduit for allowing disparate entities (like businesses, publishers, etc.) to
transfer information betwixt one another and remain confident that the data will be properly processed and
understood.

 Jeff