Grom's Homepage

Start at the XML FAQ if you are a complete newbie. In particular, note that XML is a metalanguage, i.e a language for defining other languages. Another important point is that XML does not replace HTML. XML only defines structure and not presentation. In fact the latest version of HTML, XHTML, is HTML defined with XML (instead of SGML). Presentation of XML can be provided with XSL (XML stylesheet language)

Benefits of XML - Note XML promotes data sharing only when an DTD (Document Type Definition) or XML Scheme is agreed upon. I think this is a major misconception of XML. People tend to think that using XML makes your data an open format. This is simply not true (however converting an XML format is easier then a binary format) and creating an easy to understand and logical structure is difficult.

Java XML Application Categories and XML, Java, databases and the Web - Applies to any software developer wondering where exactly XML fits in

For XML specifications, see the w3c site