Wood K. Delphi Developer’s Guide to XML

Wordware Publishing, 2001. - 545 pages.This book is designed as an introduction to XML and an examination of how XML can be used in
conjunction with Delphi.XML is a specification that defines a way to describe and process sets of documents that have
an inherent structure. An XML document’s appearance is similar to HTML (not surprising given
its heritage), but it is targeted at describing the meaning of data within the document, rather than
the data’s presentation as HTML does.Due to the simple hierarchy of elements within anXMLdocument and the enforcement of certain
structural rules, XML documents are easily processed by a variety of parsers. Processors may
be written in any language and still handle the same documents.Given the text-based nature of XML, these documents can be created just with a text editor,
through genericXMLeditors, or automatically from other data sources. Furthermore, the text files
are easily transferred between machines over LANs or across the Internet. The target machines
can use different operating systems and yet accept the same XML documents.XML lets you create language- and operating system-independent documents that contain
self-describing data. This facilitates the transfer of data and interactions between computers wherever they may be.