What is XML, and Why Should You Care?--McIlroy

Databases for Text
I think of XML as offering a combination of the power of style sheets with the power of databases. In the world of XML, software can understand the text's defined style, along with its significance. Using XML-encoded documents, software can recognize that a field called should always be displayed as 12 point bold text; it can also recognize that is a numeric quantity, always presented with a "$" in front, that indicates the product's retail price. It might also be programmed so that a price list could be generated automatically for customers in the United Kingdom, where each is multiplied by 0.62 and displayed with an "L" in front (instead of a "$").