The .NET framework, formally introduced to the public in July 2000, is the key to Microsoft’s next-generation software strategy. It consists of several sets of products, which fulfill several goals Microsoft has targeted as being critical to its success over the next decade.

The Extensible Markup Language (XML), introduced in 1996 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), provides a common syntax for data transfer between dissimilar systems. XML’s use is not limited to heterogeneous systems, however; it can be, and often is, used for an application’s internal configuration and datafiles.

In this chapter, I introduce the .NET Framework and XML, and give you the basic information you need to start using XML in the .NET Framework.