What is XML?

XML is a framework for defining markup languages:
*   there is no fixed collection of markup tags;
*   each XML language is targeted at different application domains;
*   the languages will share many features;
*   there is a common set of tools for processing such languages.


XML is not a replacement for HTML:
*   HTML should ideally be just another XML language;
*   in fact, XHTML is just that;
*   XHTML is a (very popular) XML language for hypertext markup.


XML is designed to:
*   seperate syntax from semantics;
*   support internationalization (Unicode) and platform independence;
*   be the future of structured information, including databases.