nature web matters - The XML Revolution
by DAN CONNOLLY
01. October 1998
If you have ever peeked with the ‘view source’ option on your Web browser, then you’re familiar with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
HTML was an overwhelming success because it fulfilled a dream that word processors, despite their myriad features, do not1. So,
“pick up your pen, mouse or favorite pointing device and press it on a reference in this document — perhaps to the author’s name, or organization, or some related work. Suppose you are directly presented with the background material — other papers, the author’s coordinates, the organization’s address and its entire telephone directory. Suppose each of these documents has the same property of being linked to other original documents all over the world. You would have at your fingertips all you need to know about electronic publishing, high-energy physics or for that matter Asian culture. If you are reading this article on paper, you can only dream, but read on.”
Now that dream is a reality, and human communication is vastly augmented by the Web: that is, as long as the communication consists of a title, headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and forms.
…
Extensible Markup Lanuage (XML) is the evolutionary successor to HTML, in that “less is more”. …XML is like HTML with the training wheels off.Of course, you can imitate menus, programs and schedules with HTML, or you can put pictures or facsimiles of their traditional printed form on the Web. That’s great because it allows you to share them with people all over the planet instantly. But it doesn’t invite the computer to help you manage them…
The complete article can be found at Nature - Web Matters.
Links:
XML, Java, and the future of the Web by Jon Bosak
