Exercise 11.2: XML introduction

Question 2.
XML schema is a forthcoming development of the technology. Visit the W3C website and search for information on schema. What are the benefits of adopting a schema standardized for a business sector?

According to w3schools.com XML schemas will replace DTD's for the following reasons:

• XML Schemas are extensible to future additions
• XML Schemas are richer and more powerful than DTDs
• XML Schemas are written in XML
• XML Schemas support data types
• XML Schemas support namespaces
  

Adopting a schema which is standardised for a particular business sector is a good idea because it assists in B2B communication and data sharing. If all parties know the shape and structure of the data that they are going to share then it will be a much easier and efficient process to start dealing with each other.

References
Introduction to XML Schema (n.d.). Retrieved on June 21, 2009 form http://www.w3schools.com/schema/schema_intro.asp