XML Introduction

About this blog

I did not start this blog specifically for the CMT3315 course work but instead decided to continue adding to the blog that we had to set up in the last module for the sake of continuation. 

1) What is the “X” in XML and what is its significance? 

The X in XML stands for eXtensible. The significance of XML being extensible means that it is flexible and is very customisable and can be changed to meet the requirements of the data structures it is being used to represent.

2) What is a markup language?

A system of embedded codes to make an electronic document display on a web page as required.

What is a mark-up language and how is it used? 

A "Mark-up Language" is the formalization of a set of rules that describes how information or data is to be the laid out, structured, and formatted. XML is a typical mark-up language in which special tags are used to "mark-up" or identify portions of text that has special meaning to the application which will use it.

3) What does SGML stand for?  

SGML stands for Standard Generalized Markup Language.

The significance of SGML

Most of today's internet technologies such as HTML and XML are based on SGML which certainly lends to SGML's significance. SGML defines the use of tags that are used to tag elements that will later be interpreted in different ways according to the context they are used in.

4) What is the relationship between SGML and XML? 

While both SGML and XML are mark-up languages, SGML is basically a standard that defined the data structure of a document while XML which is ultimately derived from SGML is

SGML, XML and HTML are all markup languages. SGML is a standard for data structure of a document. XML is derived from SGML for special purpose applications such as storing information about a music collection. With XML, you can specify your own tags as long as they are well structured.  HTML is similar to SGML and XML but it has limited tags and is used for web applications to display a web page on to a browser.

5) The relationship between SGML and  HTML

As stated above, HTML is an application or implementation of SGML. In practice HTML is SGML application that is used to design web pages for internet browser.

6) Which of the following statements are true?

 The answer is C that special purpose markup languages have been derived from XML. While RDF (Resource Definition Language) is an application of XML, XSL and XSLT are well known subsets of XML while XIML is and XML based based interface representation language.

7)   Which of the following statements DOES NOT apply to XML?  

The answer is B. As explained above XML is derived from SGML and is an implementation of it so it cannot possibly be it's predecessor. On the other hand, all the other statements are true. XML is in fact a set of rules for encoding of documents electronically and it does define the knowledge structure in an encoded document. The release dates of both languages is also telling, SGML has been around since the 1970s while XML was developed in 1996. 

8)   Which of the following statements DOES NOT apply to XML? 

At first glance, XML is certainly not written in JAVA which makes D the answer to this question. XML is written as text using a normal text file. Its "code" simply provides a method to encode documents electronically so it has nothing to do with Java whatsoever. The other suggested answers are all true. XML does underpin Office Applications and the WWW and does support the creation of new markup languages such as XSL and XSLT.

A simple XML example :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<book>

<author>George Orwell</author>

<name>Animal Farm</name>

<datepublished>1985</datepublished>

<isbn>78237652764</isbn>

</book>

 

9)   What does XIML stand for?
XIML stands for Extensible Interface Markup Language and therefore the answer is C. 

XIML was originally created to tackle the lack of standardized methods of representing interaction data. Interaction Data refers to the data that pertains to the user interfaces. XIML is a markup language based on XML, which is extensible ( hence the ‘X’, from ‘eXtensible’ ),

 


10) What is the purpose of XIML? 
The answer is A because as explained in 9 above XIML is a universal language for user interfaces, In fact it is an implementation of XML that explicitely deals with user interfaces.

XIML is a technology for interactive user interface development usually used in web design. It also provides with seamless multimedia integration. XIML enables the user to create a full-featured multimedia rich site without requiring the user to be a proficient programmer or be versed in Flash. Its simplicity aims to provide a non technical user with the ability to create complex multimedia projects on the Web.

11) What is XUL? 
The answer is B in that XUL is a user interface for XML.


Why is XUL needed?

XUL is Mozilla’s XML- based User Interface Language. XUL is used to enrich functionality of cross-platform applications. These applications can be executed while the user is connected to the internet and even if he is not. XUL allows these programs to be easily customized by adding alternative text, graphics, and presentation. This allows them to be branded and localized for specific markets. 


XUL inherently allows web developers that are already familiar with Dynamic HTML to become familiar with XUL quickly.  XUL is intuitively oriented towards familiar application objects such as labels, windows, and buttons rather than pages, heading levels, and hypertext links which we are accustomed to in HTML. 


XUL is based on W3C standards such as HTML 4.0, CSS, DOM and JavaScript. Another advantage of XUL is that it is portable and can run on any operating system. This platform independence gives it a clear edge. Because XUL offers separation of content from styling, the layout and appearance of XUL products can be altered without effecting the application business logic. This also allows easier localization for different languages and locales.

12) What is XSL? 
The answer is D as XSL is a styling language. XSL stands for  Extensible Stylesheet Language and as its name implies it is used for styling purposes.

Why is XSL needed?
XSL is used to specify stylesheets that will ultimately be used to display the data in an XML document in a specific and predefined way . XSL transforms XML documents (XSLT) and vocabulary for stating formatting semantics. XSL also offers the following :

• Paging and scrolling
• Selectors and tree constructors
• An extended page layout model
• A comprehensive area model
• Internationalization and writing
• Modes and linking.

13) Below is some XML. The last line is missing.  What should it be? 
The answer is B because in every XML document the proper XML syntax rules should be followed. Perhaps the most fundamental rule is being broken here, namely, that every XML tag should have a corresponding closing tag. In the example the <note> tag is missing a corresponding </note> tag and this is of course illegal in XML. 

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<note>

<to>Class</to>

<from>Ray</from>

<heading>Reminder</heading>

<body>Don't forget to complete your Blog!</body>

14) Below is some XML.  What is the missing line?
The answer is d. Again as in 13 above, a cardinal rule of XML is being broken because the <caption> tag  does not have a corresponding closing tag.

<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding='UTF-8'?>

<painting>

<imgsrc="madonna.jpg"alt='Foligno Madonna, by Raphael'/>

<caption>This is Raphael's "Foligno" Madonna, painted in

<date>1511</date>-<date>1512</date>

</painting>