XML is bringing together some fairly disparate groups into a new cultural clash: document developers trying to understand what a transaction is, database analysts getting upset because the relational model doesn't fit anymore, and web designers having to deal with schemata and rule based transformations. The key to rising above the confusion is to understand the different semantic structures that lie beneath the standards of XML, and how to model the semantics to achieve the goals of the organization.

A pure architecture of XML doesn't exist yet, and it may never exist as the underlying technologies are so diverse. Still, the key to understanding how to build the new web infrastructure for electronic business lies in understanding the landscape of these new standards.

By Elliotte Rusty Harold and W. Scott Means
ISBN 0-596-00292-0
Second Edition, published June 2002.

XML is one of the most important developments in document syntax in the history of computing. In the last few years it has been adopted in fields as diverse as law, aeronautics, finance, insurance, robotics, multimedia, hospitality, travel, art, construction, telecommunications, software, agriculture, physics, journalism, theology, retail, and comics. XML has become the syntax of choice for newly designed document formats across almost all computer applications. It's used on Linux, Windows, Macintosh, and many other computer platforms. Mainframes on Wall Street trade stocks with one another by exchanging XML documents. Children playing games on their home PCs save their documents in XML. Sports fans receive real-time game scores on their cell phones in XML. XML is simply the most robust, reliable, and flexible document syntax ever invented.

XML in a Nutshell is a comprehensive guide to the rapidly growing world of XML. It covers all aspects of XML, from the most basic syntax rules, to the details of DTD and schema creation, to the APIs you can use to read and write XML documents in a variety of programming languages.