Introduction to XML XML provides a flexible set of structures that can hold different types of information, from highly structured database tables and lists to more free-form documents. The tightly defined requirements for XML documents ensure that all applications adhere to the same rules when they read (technically, parse) and write documents. The XML 1.0 specification leaves little room for conflicting syntactical interpretations of the same XML document. As a result, it allows the exchange of documents across a wide variety of platforms, applications, and development environments.
