Introdoction to XML
We will start by examining XML’s origins briefly and, more importantly, the design principles and goals that its creation was intended to address. We will then examineXML itself and the range of related standards, and the principal means by which XMLcan be processed, particularly in the light of information management problems that wehave set out to address.
We should be clear on one point, however: this chapter is not intended to be a comprehensiveguide to the technical intricacies of XML, and no developer should launch intoany substantial project armed only with this information. The guide to further reading at the end of the book should help as a pointer to more in-depth material.
Having examined the range of standards, and to which problems they might be applied,we then aim to set out a high-level business case for the use of XML, and identify theimplications that its deployment throws up for management, thus tackling the coreconcerns of the book.