Chapter 2 -- XML Background

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Chapter 2

XML is a simple syntax to learn. The XML specification is about 30 printed pages in length, but in my lectures on XML, I manage to squeeze most of the XML syntax into two slides. Of course, that's not the whole story, but you can get a lot of useful tasks done by knowing only a couple of basic rules.

A few years ago, I taught my boy, Cooper, how to play chess. He was seven at the time, and he picked it up pretty quickly. He even got inventive when cornered in a checkmate. He utilized the vertical dimension for the king, thereby protecting himself from my bishop.

Of course, he knew his innovation was an extension to the rules, but he was able to understand the rules very quickly. Cooper will learn, however, that it takes a lifetime of working with those simple rules to become a master at chess. You need to know not only that you can move a piece, but also why you would want to and whether you've chosen the best of all possible moves.

XML is like that. I can show you the rules of XML syntax in a few pages of this book, but you'll need experience to know when an item should be an element or an attribute or shouldn't even exist at all. Over the years, I have found things that work and things that don't. For now, let's see what XML is by comparing it to technologies you might already know. I will try to share some of this knowledge with you as we get into the XML application.