XML is a universal format for data exchange on the web that is optimized for diverse platforms. It allows for complex data relationships and application behavior to be described in an intelligent, platform-independent way. This addresses limitations of previous web technologies that were only designed for static pages. XML enables powerful new applications like integrated web publishing systems and facilitates software maintenance by supporting object orientation, modularization, and abstraction at the system level.

1. www.gollner.ca
XML
or
“I’ve got a
piece of Data
lodged in my
Web”
Joe Gollner, M.Phil.
Delivered 1998 to the
Microsoft Users Group

2. Topics
• XML Concepts
• XML and the Internet
• Back to the Future
• Killer Apps
• Power Web Publishing
• Software Design and Maintenance
• The Future

3. A subset of SGML
What is XML? optimized for use
on the web
- Microsoft
The Extensible Markup Language is the
universal format for data on the web
- Microsoft

4. What about HTML?? HTML
is for
viewing
data
XML
is for
working
with
data
Microsoft

5. Why is XML Hot Now?
(SGML has been around forever)
• The Internet has changed everything
• There are no closed systems now
• Systems must work on diverse
and changing platforms
• Data and behaviour must
cross boundaries intact
• Microsoft is among
the first to really see this

6. The Evolution of the Web
It’s not just for documents anymore
• Web Technology was designed for Pages
• Simple, pre-determined formatting
• Static views of information
• But the Web can be more...
• A shared application domain
• A data interchange medium
• A window onto continuously
integrated information

7. What has been missing?
• A platform-independent format for data
• An intelligent data format that
• offers more than simple formatting
• supports advanced processing
• A format that can describe:
• Data constraints
• Complex relationships
• Application behaviour

8. We’ve been Data for
down this Complex
road before Systems

9. The Challenge:
Integrating vast amounts of complex data
...from different sources

10. And there’s more...
Groups of
Complex
Systems
...must be able to inter-operate

11. and...
new technologies
are constantly
introduced
X-33

12. and...
The new
and the old
must work
together
…in new
environments

13. ...and there is always
Configuration
Management
No two instances
of a system will be
the same

14. The Role of SGML
• Under the Defense CALS initiative (1985):
• SGML became the key tool
for integrating complex data sources
• SGML offered:
• Platform-independence
• Intelligent processibility
• The Vision (Holy Grail):
• Massively integrated
shared data environments

15. SGML in Defense
Technical Documentation
Reducing the
Lifecycle Cost
of Complex Systems

16. On Demand Printing
Sub- Squadrons
Contractor
Prime Equipment
Contractor Management
Team
The Integrated
Data Environment

17. Effective data
integration makes
complex systems possible

18. So what does this
have to do with the
Internet?

19. The Evolution of the Web
A Platform for Complex Systems
• It is time to go beyond Pages
• It is time to build complex,
Inter-enterprise systems
• A few new applications
• Power Web Publishing
• Software Design
and Maintenance

20. Power Web Publishing
A Three Tier Architecture
Microsoft Web Site

21. Everyday Complex Systems
Software Design and Maintenance
• Current Software Systems are
• error-prone
• susceptible to decay
• Entropy
• Corrosion
• “Barniclization”
• XML enables a new model

22. XML and Software Design
• XML enables:
• Object Orientation at the system level
• platform-independent
message interfaces
• behaviour modulization
• critical for maintenance
• critical for multi-platform installation
• behaviour abstraction
• critical for language
independence

23. XML is the missing ingredient
in the Fractal Enterprise
[www.gollner.ca]