Chapter 2. XML Tutorial

There's an often-quoted excerpt from a letter by Blaise Pascal that reads, “I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short.” When I started planning this book, everyone questioned my intention to include a single-chapter XML tutorial. The most common observation was this: “If people (like you) have written entire books explaining XML, what good can you do in a single chapter?”

My answer to that rests in my belief that XML is a simple technology at heart. One of the reasons I was so attracted to it in the first place was that it could be grasped in its entirety in a single afternoon. It is powerful, flexible, and simple. There is no way I can fully cover every intricate detail of XML, namespaces, and schemas in a single chapter. But I do believe that it is possible to include enough information to allow someone to immediately begin reading and understanding the examples that are included in Part III, “Applying the Technology.”

Before we can discuss advanced applications of XML, a basic understanding of the technologies involved is required.