XML: The language of the World Wide Web

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is poised to become the technology of choice for corporations conducting business-to-business commerce via the Internet.

XML is founded on the principles that guide any successful computing movement. It is accessible as an open standard; it is interoperable across disparate platforms and applications; and by computing standards, it is a development language that is simple to understand and use.

Backed by a recently issued standard by the World Wide Web Consortium, XML 1.0 offers an efficient method for defining and sharing document information over the World Wide Web and across distributed applications.

XML is a restricted form of Standard Generalized Markup Language. Originally designed as a simple tool for document creation and management, XML can be used to encode documents, data records, structured records, data objects and geographical objects.

Beyond these basic features, however, the computer industry has broader purposes in mind for XML. The industry's goal is to bridge the communications gap that exists across organizations by integrating enterprise resource planning (ERP), Electronic Data Interchange and Web-based systems.

The level of detail XML provides for document identification is what makes it most effective as a platform for electronic commerce. Like HTML, XML uses elements and attributes that are represented by tags in a document.

The tags identify structures that, in XML, are easy to store and manipulate. The tags also enable XML to contain metadata - information about the content in the document, including hierarchical relationships. This detail can help define where shared data, such as accounting, inventory management, shipping and other business services, should go within the enterprise.

Electronic commerce potential

XML also provides a solid basis upon which corporations may develop their own protocols for electronic commerce. An XML Document Type Definition (DTD) specifies the format for a particular document type and identifies which tags appear within the document.

DTDs may be used to define standard vocabularies designed for specific functions. For example, the messaging formats for strategic partners along a supply chain could be specified by a common DTD.

Currently, there are a number of industry-specific consortiums working toward the development and adoption of universal predefined tag sets. But the benefits of using XML for data and document interchange can be realized without requiring that all entities standardize on predefined XML naming conventions.

While the electronic commerce plans of many organizations have stagnated due to the limitations of proprietary electronic commerce and integration solutions, XML vendors are offering open, practical alternatives.

XML provides a common messaging format that can be deployed across a variety of platforms, and it can be interpreted by an equally diverse set of tools.

The technology supports multiple standards for character encoding, which makes it applicable to the diverse computing environments that exist around the world. With the capability to support Java, C++, VisualBasic, PowerBuilder, SAP, Baan, PeopleSoft and many other popular environments, XML has been designed from the ground up to be as interoperable as possible.

A common API possible

XML also provides the basis for a common API across Web servers, legacy systems, databases and middleware infrastructures. This will allow companies to link business processes across a diverse set of systems without having to write custom APIs. Applications can be linked directly into back-end systems using only the open standards of the World Wide Web (HTML, XML and HTTP) as the glue.

XML Net Resources
Links to additional XML primers and articles.

Merrick is president and CEO of webMethods, a provider of XML business-to-business electronic commerce and integration software. He can be reached at phillip@ webMethods.com.