8 The XML Files: Development of XML/XSL Applications Using WebSphere Studio
Acceptability of use for data transfer
XML is not a programming language. It is a standard way of putting information in
a format that can be processed and exchanged across hardware devices,
operating systems, software applications, and the Web. It has become such a
common medium of data that it enables the transmission and retrieval, and
storage of information over the Internet across company boundaries, making it a
natural choice for data management for e-business transactions.
Uniformity and confor mity
The inability of two computer systems or applications to talk to each other is
always a challenge. When two applications are integrated, the business and
technical experts must decide either to integrate the two systems, or to
re-architect the applications. If data from both applications, conform to a format
and is easily transformed from one to another, development costs can be
reduced. If this common format could be developed upon and is accepted
industry-wide, then interfacing the applications to other applications is less
costly.
Simplicity and openness
Information coded in XML is visually read and accepted, because it can be easily
processed by computers, XML is widely accepted by major vendors in th e
computing world. Microsoft has indicated that it will use XML as the exchange
format for its Microsoft Office software suite. Both Microsoft's and Netscape's
Web browsers support XML.
XML has garnered interest because it is very simple to understand, implement,
and use. It follows the Pareto principle, a 80/20 solution, meaning it supplies
about 80 percent of the functionality of competing technolo gies with perhaps 20
percent of the effort required to build Enterprise-level solutions.
XML is not a total solution for every problems in e-business, but has made, and is
making significant inroads in communications between old com puter programs.
That means these old programs last longer, saving money and time, which are
important when both are so precious to the bottom line.
Separation of data and display
Separation of data and its display is not a new paradigm in the computing world.
In the last few years, application designers have raised the concept of the
Model-View-Controller (MVC) approach to building applications. There are many
reasons for this. Firstly, without separation of data, re-use of that data in multiple
user interfaces would be difficult. Web sites have evolved radically over the last 8
years. Evey year, Web sites have to be upgraded to compete for consumer
attention. They have to have better attention getting displays and response times.
If the data had to be re-hashed everytime an upgraded to the Web site was