Why learn XML?

xml is awesome in daily use still for me although a bit less now with flash moving out
 
froot said:
Since you're doing php, you'll probably at some time come across having to port some blog system to a website.... well you'll be using XML for that. At some stage you will have to write (and read) RSS feeds... you will be using XML for that too. Any sort of list containing data, is best done with XML :)
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Thanks, this makes more sence. at least now i know what im going to need it for
 
Simply put XML is like a database in flat-file format, similar to MySQL but easier to move around.
 
XML is like any other tool, good for the right job. However XML has suffered from being the hot new trend at a stage and was hence used in many places where it isn't the best tool for the job. Sadly a lot of those cases still persist today.

The most important step in learning XML is learning when to use it and when to use something else.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
If you have to ask you will never understand but on a serious note, XML is there to punish developers. I hate it, and I hate it even more that not a project goes by that I still have to use XML at some point.

Learn it, understand it, and love to hate it.
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I have been using XML since 1999, I loved it back then and I still do, hardly a work day goes by where I don't have something new to do that involves XML/XSLT/XSD/XHTML/etc, it is a beautifully simple way of representing, validating and processing data.
 
Beautifully simple for someone reading it and horrendously verbose for systems using it. Honestly, the amount of bandwidth and time we'll save if everyone just uses JSON instead.
 
I use XML every day... for config and serializing data.

Its not too hard to understand it, whats really great is the amount of tools people have developed for the standard.
 
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