Good day everyone, one of our team members recently asked if I would foot the bill for him to take XML courses, we all have html, dhtml, php, cfm,perl,asp,java,java script etc... under our belts but no one here has trained in XML so I would like to know if anyone here is actively deploying XML programming in their development process.

Your view points or opinions about the future of, usability and or the need for XML would be apreciated.


-Mj.

XML is an excellent tool if used correctly. If you intend to transfer data between different systems (in realtime or batch) then use XML. If you intend to start building websites with XML it would take a lot to convince me that using XML was the best method (other solutions such as relational databases are mush more efficient).

XML is certainly something good to learn but without knowing what kind of work you intend to use XML for I can't give you my opinion as to weither or not you should shell out the money for the training.

XML is certainly the way forward for data transfer.

It's very useful as you can seperate the data and the display layers out and use XSLT to transform the data to different browsers.

It is also very useful to seamlessly intergrate content from other servers into your site without anyone knowing any different.

I use XML all the time with Amazon Web Services (where you can rebuild the entire Amazon.com catalogue on your site without your visitor ever going to their site) and Moreover news (although if you're going to use it commercially you have to pay).

XML is also used for WML on WAP phones.

However saying that, XML isn't that complicated to learn yourself if you know anything else about programming languages.

(although if you're going to use it commercially you have to pay).

I didn't know that!

We have a client that is a manufacturer he in turn has several distributors with thier own websites and would like to have uniform content so they don't make any claims or compromise the product specs etc...

John, the developer that is asking about the training thinks XML may be the way to go but I will have to look more into the commercial aspect.

Maybe we should just stick to php (lol).

Thank's for the responses

-Mj

It's only the moreover news you have to pay... not to use XML!