xml everywhere

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lt?xml everywhere?gt
''XML could turn the Web into one giant database
for translating information wending through
disparate computer systems. XML could be the new
Rosettastone.'' Anthony J. Blake,
vice-president ATT Labs in Menlo Park, Calif
David L. Mainz
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AGENDA

• Session One (90 minutes)

XML Explosion All about XML
Break (30 minutes)
Session Two (40 minutes)
XML in the trenches XML in your business
Question Answer (20 minutes)
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Purpose

• Assumptions
• Heard the hype read the trade journals
• Executive or Manager Perspective
• Wondering how XML can benefit your
• company

• Goals
• A concise intro to XML for perspective
• Give a general idea where and how XML is
• used and some examples of
  implementations
• Give understanding of benefits and risks of
  XML

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XML Explosion

• Proliferation of XML-based Technologies
• XML Routers and Accelerators
• XML Databases and RDB Support
• Application Platforms .NET, J2EE
• Web Services
• XML-based Languages ebXML, VoiceXM
• XML Tools Parsers, DOMs, Editors
• W3C Central Focus
• XML Books, Websites, Online Communities
• Companies delivering XML products, services
• IDC (research firm) By 2006, XML servers
  grow to over 3 bln market, tools to 400 MM

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What is lt?XML?gt

• eXtensible Markup Language
• Markup Language-method of conveying
  metadatainformation about a dataset
• Extensibleprovides a standard mechanism for
  extending itself create your own tags,
  structures
• Text document that is self-describing,
  self-delimiting data using a set of HTML-like
  tags

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XML Document

• lt?xml version"1.0"?gt
• lt! comments here ?
• lt?xml-stylesheet type"text/xsl"
  href"style2.xsl"?gt
• ltWDTWEATHERgt
• ltHEADgt
• ltDATEgtN/Alt/DATEgt
• ltPLACEgt
• ltCITYgtFarmingtonlt/CITYgt
• ltSTATEgtMichiganlt/STATEgt
• lt/PLACEgt
• lt/HEADgt
• ltCURRENTgt
• ltTEMP units"F"gt67Flt/TEMPgt
• ltWEATHERgtSunnylt/WEATHERgt
• ltRH units"percent"gt50lt/RHgt
• ltWINDgt10 MPHlt/WINDgt
• lt/CURRENTgt
• ltPERIOD01gt
• lt!CDATA Whatever gt

Prolog Processing Instructions Document
Element Properly Nested Child Elements Element
Attributes CDATA Sections Empty tag
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Birth of a Meta-language

• Based on Standard Generalized Markup Language
• SGML adopted in 1986 as data and exchange
  standard by the ISO
• SGML is powerful and extensible but considered
  too complex
• Started in 1996 by the W3C, XML was designed to
  have the simplicity and mass appeal of HTML (also
  based on SGML) but with the power of
  extensibility
• Current specification is XML 1.0 Recommendation
  (1998) with XML 1.1 advanced Candidate
  Recommendation earlier this month
• W3C XML is the universal format for structured
  documents and data on the Web

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Goals of XML

• XML shall be straightforward to use over the
  Internet
• XML shall support a wide variety of applications
• XML shall be compatible with SGML
• It shall be easy to write programs which process
  XML documents
• The number of optional features in XML is to be
  held to an absolute minimum, ideally zero

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Goals of XML

• XML documents should be human-legible and
  reasonably clear
• The XML design should be prepared quickly
• The design of XML shall be formal and concise
• XML documents shall be easy to create
• Terseness in XML markup is of minimal importance

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XML Is a Family of Specifications

• Namespaces
• Disambiguate vocabularies
• Application Program Interfaces
• Document Object Model (DOM)
• Tree-based
• Simple API for XML (SAX)
• Event-based
• XML Schema or DTD
• Describes structure and constraints of data
• Extensible Style Language (XSL)
• Specifies transformation and presentation of
  content
• XML Query Language (XQuery)
• Query and retrieving XML elements
• XLink, XPointer, XPath
• Advanced linkage or navigation to other nodes
• SOAP, UDDI
• Remote procedure calls

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DTD/Schema

• Communicating your document structure
• Distinguishes Valid from Well-formed
• Document Type Definition
• Formally and precisely delineates structure
  vocabulary, elements, attributes, relationships
• DTDs fall short in providing rigorous structure
  declarations, such as data typing and namespace
  mixing, necessary for automated processing.
  Solution Schema

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Advantages of XML

• Standards-based and Open
• Portable and Interoperable
• Platform, Application, Vendor Neutral
• Increases Reliability as user agents automate
  processing of documents
• Saves training and development costs by having a
  singe format with many uses
• Robust, Inexpensive, Optimized Toolset
• Reuse of data/multiple formats
• Human Readable
• Web Enabled

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XML Concerns

• Steep learning curve for tools and related
  technologies like XSL not really simple
• Developers must code own processing applications
  learn new tools, languages
• No standardization on schemas or tagssome
  industry fracture
• Immaturity of products, standards, and security
• XML is verbose high storage, bandwidth, cpu cost
• Acronym proliferation XML, XSL, XHTML
• Is XML another IT fad???

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XML Security

• XML not designed with security in mind
• Need to secure documents (or portions) and
  exchange thereof
• XML enc encryption of data and tags or selected
  parts of document using keys
• XML-Signatures similar to security certificate
  to ensure no tampering
• XKMS XML Key Management Spec register and
  distribute keys used by XML-Sig
• XACML eXtensible Access Control ML used to
  control access to documents
• SAML Security Assertion ML authentication
  process

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General Application Classes

• Extension (new language, vocabularies)
• Exchange (A2A, B2B, B2G)
• Transformation and Processing

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Commerce Industry

• BPML Business Process Markup Language
• Web Services Fortune 1000 Aggressively
  adopting web services FactPoint Group and
  Outsource Research Consulting
• Amazon.com web service allows searching on
  author, title, publisher, etc., and returns
  results in XML
• Ebay Price Watcher web service
• Fedex Package Tracker
• Supply Chain Major retail chains like
  Wal-Mart are working on standards for
  synchronization between trading partners based on
  XML

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HR XML
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Government

• eGovernment Initiatives

• US OMB publishes Business Reference Model for
  its Federal Enterprise Architecture XML
  document that describes federal business areas,
  functions, lines of business. Designed to
  facilitate efforts to transform govt to be more
  citizen-centered, results-oriented, market-based
• IRS XML Developers Forum for Employment Tax
  E-File System- provides info to develop
  applications for E-file
• Edgar Online promulgates eXtensible Business
  Reporting Language for companies to distribute
  financial reports in a portable way

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Science Education

• edXML focuses on complex PK12 requirements
  standards setting for best practices
• MathML describes mathematical notation
  structure and content
• Molecular Dynamics ML (MODL)- chemical
  simulations
• NeuroML describes models and networks of
  neurons
• eXtensible Scientific Interchange Language
  transport language for scientific data objects
• Turing Machine Markup Language describes
  Turing machines
• RiboML used for ribosomal science

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Semantic Web

• WWW designed for simplicity, not information
  management
• Vision of the next generation network
• Content publishers provide notation to
  categorize content
• Autonomous agents use that notation to gather,
  filter, organize desired information
• Resource Description Framework (XML language)
• Long way off Fraught with many difficulties
  complexity, spam, proper categorization

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XML in the Trenches

• How are XML solutions implemented?
• Design or acquire XML document/schema/DTD
• XML Editors, Schema generator
• XML Parsers (SAX, Forward Only, In-Memory)
• XML DOM / DOM object
• XPATH
• XSL/T
• Biztalk, Web services

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XML in Your Business

• What are your questions?
• Should I be using XML? Where? What tools should
  I be using? Where do I start? Why are you
  asking?
• Become an XML expert (or find one)
• Start small and proceed incrementally
• Understand your data
• Do you have data you exchange with outside
  partners, branches, or departments
• Do you have partners already using XML
• Do you need to support multiple views or devices
• Can you find inefficiencies in your organization
  that could be addressed by XML

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Sources

• Martin, Didier, et al., Professional XML. Wrox
  Press.
• Richards, Russ. Information Briefing to the ANSI
  XML Forum, Oct. 11, 2001.
• WWW Consortium (W3C)
• Doll, Shelley. XML Security Whos Who.
  Builder.com.

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Links

• www.w3c.org/xml
• www.xml.org
• www.xml.com
• www.xmlmag.com
• msdn.microsoft.com
• www.perfectxml.com
• www.topxml.com
• xml.coverpages.org
• Question Answer (20 minutes)

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Break (15 Minutes)

• Next Up
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