XML or

“I’ve got a

piece of Data

lodged in my

Web”

Joe Gollner, M.Phil. Delivered 1998 to the

Microsoft Users Group

www.gollner.ca

Topics

• XML Concepts

• XML and the Internet

• Back to the Future

• Killer Apps

• Power Web Publishing

• Software Design and Maintenance

• The Future

What is XML?

The Extensible Markup Language is the

universal format for data on the web

- Microsoft

A subset of SGML

optimized for use

on the web - Microsoft

What about HTML?? HTML

is for

viewing

data

XML

is for

working

with

data

Microsoft

Why is XML Hot Now? (SGML has been around forever)

• The Internet has changed everything

• There are no closed systems now

• Systems must work on diverse

and changing platforms

• Data and behaviour must

cross boundaries intact

• Microsoft is among

the first to really see this

The Evolution of the Web It’s not just for documents anymore

• Web Technology was designed for Pages

• Simple, pre-determined formatting

• Static views of information

• But the Web can be more...

• A shared application domain

• A data interchange medium

• A window onto continuously

integrated information

What has been missing?

• A platform-independent format for data

• An intelligent data format that

• offers more than simple formatting

• supports advanced processing

• A format that can describe:

• Data constraints

• Complex relationships

• Application behaviour

We’ve been

down this

road before

Data for

Complex

Systems

The Challenge:

Integrating vast amounts of complex data

...from different sources

Groups of

Complex

Systems

...must be able to inter-operate

And there’s more...

new technologies

are constantly

introduced

X-33

and...

The new

and the old

must work

together

and...

…in new

environments

...and there is always

Configuration

Management

No two instances

of a system will be

the same

The Role of SGML

• Under the Defense CALS initiative (1985):

• SGML became the key tool

for integrating complex data sources

• SGML offered:

• Platform-independence

• Intelligent processibility

• The Vision (Holy Grail):

• Massively integrated

shared data environments

SGML in Defense Technical Documentation

Reducing the

Lifecycle Cost

of Complex Systems

Sub-

Contractor

Prime

Contractor

Equipment

Management

Team

Squadrons

The Integrated

Data Environment

On Demand Printing

Effective data

integration makes

complex systems possible

So what does this

have to do with the

Internet?

The Evolution of the Web A Platform for Complex Systems

• It is time to go beyond Pages

• It is time to build complex,

Inter-enterprise systems

• A few new applications

• Power Web Publishing

• Software Design

and Maintenance

Power Web Publishing A Three Tier Architecture

Microsoft Web Site

Everyday Complex Systems Software Design and Maintenance

• Current Software Systems are

• error-prone

• susceptible to decay

• Entropy

• Corrosion

• “Barniclization”

• XML enables a new model

XML and Software Design

• XML enables:

• Object Orientation at the system level

• platform-independent

message interfaces

• behaviour modulization

• critical for maintenance

• critical for multi-platform installation

• behaviour abstraction

• critical for language

independence

XML is the missing ingredient

in the Fractal Enterprise

[www.gollner.ca]