XML: The Syntax and the Spirit

Lots of people, myself included, think XML is great. I have worked with
markup languages for many years and was fortunate enough to participate
in a small way to the creation of XML itself. I work with XML every day
of my working life. Even with my total immersion and exposure to it, I
still think XML is great. I really do. But...

I do wish someone would switch off the "reality distortion field" that
increasingly surrounds XML. XML is not rocket science. Its power lies
in the sheer simplicity of the idea, which goes something like this:

Take raw information in plain text format and sprinkle tags into it
that describe what the component pieces of the information mean --
somewhat like HTML tags, only with meaningful names like
,
, and so on.

Um, that's it. Well okay, there is a lot more detail than that, but
there lies the essence of XML.

Now, somewhere along the line, XML developed the ability to solve all
your IT problems effortlessly and instantaneously, seriously impress
the boss, bolster your CV, and bake bread all at the same time. Now
lets face it, the IT industry basically runs on hype so we should not
be too surprised when the hype machine goes into overdrive with XML.
Especially when all the seriously big players in the industry seem to
be falling over themselves in the rush to heap fulsome praise and magic
powers on a poor, unsuspecting, three-letter acronym.

I can live with the hype and so can you. Goodness knows we have had
enough practice. The part that I have difficulty with, and I suggest
you might like to have difficulty with it too, is the idea that
information stored and/or transmitted in XML form is somehow guaranteed
to be open and non-proprietary. It is not true. Let me repeat and
rephrase for emphasis.

It is just not true that information stored and/or transmitted in XML
form is guaranteed to be open and non-proprietary.

I have heard vendors say "all the data in our system is in XML,
therefore our systems are completely open". More worrisome, I have
heard senior management of large corporations and state institutions
saying similar things.

Here is the problem. XML is really two separate things. Firstly, it is
a syntax that facilitates the creation of self-describing information.
Secondly, it is a spirit that exhorts both vendors and information
stakeholders of all forms to seize the opportunity to make information
open and non-proprietary. The trouble is that the statement "100 per
cent XML compliant" refers only to the syntax, not the spirit. It is
entirely possible to create closed, proprietary IT systems that are
100% XML based.

Storing the contents of a Word document, a Lotus 123 spreadsheet, or a
Postscript file in XML format is trivial. No magic occurs when you do
this. The information content of those formats is still locked in,
regardless of the syntax used to store the information. So the next
time somebody tries to tell you that XML compliance in what they are
trying to sell you ensures open and non-proprietary data, you have
entered a reality distortion field. You have been warned.

XML is an awesome technology with tremendous potential that is changing
the face of Information Technology as you read this, but no technology,
XML included, can magically ensure that your data remains independent
of any one vendor or computer system. Only you can do that. By ensuring
you apply the sprit as well as the syntax of XML to you business.

Read more about how-to in ITworld's How-to section

» posted by ITworld staff

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