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XML 1.0

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XML 1.0
NameXML 1.0
Extension.xml
Mimeapplication/xml, text/xml
Uniform typepublic.xml
DeveloperWorld Wide Web Consortium
Released10 February 1998
Latest release version1.0 (Fifth Edition)
Latest release date26 November 2008
GenreMarkup language
Extended fromStandard Generalized Markup Language
Extended toXHTML, RSS, Atom
StandardW3C Recommendation
Urlhttps://www.w3.org/TR/xml/

XML 1.0 is the foundational specification for the Extensible Markup Language, a widely adopted standard for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. Developed under the auspices of the World Wide Web Consortium, its first edition became a formal W3C Recommendation in February 1998. The specification provides a strict set of rules for defining textual data structures, enabling the creation of custom vocabularies for diverse applications ranging from web services to document storage. Its design, an ambitious simplification of the complex Standard Generalized Markup Language, aimed to be usable over the Internet.

History and development

The development of XML 1.0 was initiated by a working group chaired by Jon Bosak of Sun Microsystems, with significant contributions from other members including Tim Bray and Jean Paoli from Microsoft. The project originated from a desire to create a more manageable and web-friendly subset of the complex ISO standard, Standard Generalized Markup Language, which was championed by pioneers like Charles Goldfarb. Key discussions and drafting occurred through the W3C's XML Working Group, with the first official recommendation published in 1998. Subsequent editions, culminating in the widely used Fifth Edition, corrected errata and provided clarifications without altering the core syntax, a process overseen by the W3C's XML Core Working Group.

Design goals and features

The primary design goals, as outlined in the specification, emphasized simplicity, generality, and usability across the Internet. A key feature is its extensibility, allowing users to define their own tags and document structures unlike fixed formats such as HTML. It mandates strict syntax rules, requiring well-formed documents, which aids in reliable automated processing by software like Apache Xerces or libxml2. The language is also designed to support Unicode, enabling the representation of virtually any written language, and it maintains a clear separation between content, structure, and presentation.

Syntax and structure

The fundamental syntactic building block is the element, delimited by start-tags like `` and end-tags like ``. Elements can be nested to form a hierarchical tree structure, with a single root element required in every document. Attributes, providing additional information, are specified within an element's start-tag. The specification also defines processing instructions, comments, and character data sections. All documents must adhere to well-formedness rules, such as proper nesting and quoted attributes, which are more rigorously enforced than in the permissive parsing of classic HTML.

Document Type Definition (DTD)

A core mechanism for defining a document's legal structure and elements in XML 1.0 is the Document Type Definition. A DTD can be declared internally within a document or referenced as an external subset, often using a Public identifier or System identifier. It defines the allowed element types, attribute lists, and entities, enabling validation by parsers like those in the Java API for XML Processing. While influential, DTDs have limitations in expressing complex data types, leading to the later development of alternative schema languages such as XML Schema (XSD) and RELAX NG.

XML 1.0 spawned a large family of supporting W3C recommendations. XML Namespaces allows the mixing of vocabularies, crucial for technologies like SOAP and XSLT. XML Base defines a base URI mechanism, while XML Information Set provides an abstract data model. The success of XML 1.0 led to the development of XML 1.1, which offered improved Unicode support and line-ending rules but saw limited adoption. Other critical related standards include the transformation language XSLT, the path language XPath, and the linking language XLink.

Applications and usage

XML 1.0 became a ubiquitous data interchange format, underpinning protocols such as SOAP for web services and RSS for web syndication. It serves as the foundation for document formats like Microsoft Office's Office Open XML and the OpenDocument standard from OASIS. In publishing, it is used for DocBook and Journal Article Tag Suite. Configuration files for servers like Apache Tomcat and application frameworks within the .NET Framework commonly use XML. Its role in AJAX and RESTful APIs, often carrying data formatted as Atom or RSS, further cemented its importance in web development.

Category:Markup languages Category:World Wide Web Consortium standards Category:Document file formats Category:1998 software