This newly revised tutorial discusses what XML is, why it was developed, and how it's shaping the future of electronic commerce. Along the way, it also takes a look at several XML standards and programming interfaces, shows how you can get started with this technology, and describes how a couple of companies have built XML-based solutions to simplify and streamline their enterprises.

In this tutorial, you'll learn:

• Why XML was created
• The rules of XML documents
• How to define what an XML document can and cannot contain
• Programming interfaces that work with XML documents
• What the main XML standards are and how they work together
• How companies are using XML in the real world