Definition

XML is an acronym for eXtensible Markup Language. It is an open standards markup languages created by the World Wide Web Consortium. It's called a metalanguage, which simply means it is a language that describes other languages.

XML was originally designed for large-scale electronic publishing and derived from the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), according to the W3C.

XML is more a set of standards than a language. That's why it's possible to create your own XML schema, or markup vocabulary.

Business  applications

The financial world uses an XML-based language, XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), to help transfer data and report financial  results, according to Wikipedia. Other use cases mentioned by Wikipedia are for large documentation, including maintenance books for manufacturing, and maps.

The XML FAQ lists the following other uses for XML:

1. Information identification
2. Information storage
3. Information structure
4. Messaging and data transfer
5. Web services

Because of its support for tagging and its messaging  and data transfer capabilities, XML also acts as an underlying technology for many business solutions, including EII and porting information to wireless devices.

Deployment Concerns

There are some who believe XML is being overused and adds an unnecessary “layer of overhead” to data integration. Cliff Longman of  Kalido, which sells business intelligence and master data management solutions, offered cautionary advice about over-reliance on XML in this Q&A with IT Business Edge.

Technical  details

Other programs can use XML to extract data from information because XML tags conform to a model. For a simple example of how XML applies tags to data, check out this entry on Wise Geek.

You can also find resources on the XML specifications at the W3C

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