Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

Keeping The Web Open And Free

Creator Tim Berners-Lee

Launched In 1991

Information: Although there is a great deal of money that could possibly be made by charging for the use of the Web, the amount of information that users access could be affected. One of the reasons Tim Berners-Lee wants to see the Web remain free is so that users are able to access all the information that is available on the Web. A service provider could sign an agreement with vendors and only allow their subscribers access to the information provided by those vendors. These subscribers may not be aware that the information he or she is receiving has been limited.

Deciding How To Store XML Information

Questions To Ask:
Do you need long-term persistence?
Do you intend to run queries against the stored data?
Do you need to retrieve the XML data in exactly the same form as it was stored?
Is the XML content going to be used as a document or data?
Will the stored XML document ever be retrieved as an XML document?
If it is retrieved as an XML document, will it be retrieved in the same form or in a different form?

Information: XML documents are stored in plain text, allowing information to be easily transferred to machines that would otherwise be imcompatible. An Example of this is when transferring data from a Mac to a PC. If someone who was using a Mac wanted to send his or her address book to someone who was using a PC, they could just email them the plain text address book XML document.

XML on the Web

Common Uses:

Web Development You can create Web documents from XML using XSLT to transform your documents into HTML.

Documentation XML can be used to find common traits in magazines, books, and other materials. Using XML for documentation makes it easy for people to read both the document itself and the code.

Database Development Databases are a natural use for XML, because XML is all about data. This information does not need to be easily readable by people, it can be written in a simple way for machines to read.

Some Interesting Industries That Use XML Aerospace, Advertising, Banking, and Oil Companies.