1. Markup Language:
XML is a markup language similar to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), but with a more flexible syntax. It uses tags to define the structure and semantics of data within a document.
2. Hierarchical Structure:
XML documents are organized hierarchically, with nested elements representing relationships between data. Elements can contain other elements, forming a tree-like structure.
3. Tags:
XML documents consist of elements enclosed in start and end tags, which define the boundaries of each element. Tags are typically enclosed in angle brackets (< and >), and elements can have attributes defined within the start tag.
4. Attributes:
Elements can have attributes, which provide additional information about the element. Attributes are specified within the start tag of an element and consist of a name-value pair.
5. Well-Formedness:
XML documents must adhere to certain rules to be considered well-formed. These rules include having a single root element, properly nested elements, and properly escaped special characters.
6. Namespace Support:
XML supports the use of namespaces to avoid naming conflicts between elements from different vocabularies. Namespaces allow elements and attributes to be uniquely identified using qualified names.
7. Data Representation:
XML can represent a wide variety of data types, including text, numbers, dates, and binary data. This makes it suitable for encoding structured data in a portable and platform-independent format.
8. Interoperability:
XML is widely used for exchanging data between different systems and applications. It is supported by many programming languages and platforms, making it a common choice for data interchange in web services, APIs, and data formats such as RSS and Atom.
9. Extensibility:
XML is designed to be extensible, allowing developers to define custom tags and document structures to suit their specific needs. This flexibility enables the creation of domain-specific vocabularies and data formats.
10. Transformation and Processing: XML documents can be transformed and processed using various technologies such as XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) and XPath (XML Path Language). These technologies allow for the manipulation, querying, and presentation of XML data.
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