XML... why?

XML has several good uses, but I don't want you to think that all of the uses you've seen it put to have been good.

XML is self describing meta data. Now, instead of sending fixed format strings from machine to machine, from different platform to different platform, and keeping track on each platform that position 0 through 4 is our foo counter, 5 through 9 is our bar counter, 10 through 25 is our first name, et al. XML will describe itself. Yes, the same data can be transmitted in fixed format and use less bandwidth, but we are finding that we can spare the bandwidth to cut down on the hassle.

We can also publish DDTs. Now if I have a business that will accept orders over some protocol (ftp, smtp) you can submit an order that I will understand. You can look at my public DDT and see how my ordering department is expecting to see your order.

XML also makes a good data island. A server side app can hit a DB and build an XML document. It can then transmit that document to the client. The client can browse it, change it, and update it (send it back to the server). Normally the client would need a live connection to the DB, but now we can work around that. This is one of the uses it has in web development, since web development is stateless (for the time being).

XML can also replace INI files, or save data files. Again, since they are self-describing, they can be backwards compatible. And since there is a standard governing their structure, they will hopefully remain platform independant.

Thanks for the feedback, I think I get what you are saying. You sacrifice speed, in some cases, to save on some of the headache by making it more standard to your company and more organized. Makes sense. I guess my problem with it in the past is that is has taken initial production time and made it longer (to create the DDT's and what not) but what I am starting to understand is that overtime, it saves time and is easier to maintain.