This is the article I found to be of the most interest.

http://www.web-enable.com/business/XML_beyond_hype.asp

When I took this class I had no idea what XML really was, but I did know that it was being used as a means of exchanging and storring data. There are many issues when it comes to data bases. One is that many use a proprietary format amking it difficult to exchange information between aplications. Another is that most data bases are designed to be robust and secure not pretty and user friendly, function Verses form in essence. With the advent of the internet these issue has been compounded as one popular use of data exchange is online shopping.

Frequently for such applications we do not wish to invest in a complex data base for such a small data set. A good example is a little project I was doing for work. I wrote this in Java Script but after learning about data bases it would have been much easier to write and maintain using a data base. This is a relatively large chunk of information to keep track of with Java Script. In addition there is much redundant information on each page. Data bases are ideal at reducing redundant information. There is far too little information here however in invest in any commercial data base. XML would provide the ideal answer.

To exchange information with the company data base we would first have to establish an ODBC connection, and then write the code to retrieve and store data. This can be a laborious process but would be the way to do it if a large amount of data had to be accessed but is not economical if the user only wished to view a few records with another application. The best way to do this is to export the data. Here formatting becomes an issue. Most of the time the only way to export the data is in some sort of text. Since XML monitored by a standards body (SGML standard), it provides a good method of transferring data between dissimilar applications. As an increasing number of applications offer support for XML it is increasingly being utilized as a means of data transfer. XML also provides a way to export the data while retaining some hieratical structure.

An ODBC connection provides additional complications with respect to the internet. It means that the company data base would be accessible via the internet, generally not a good idea. As support for XML grows it provides an ideal solution to these issues. As the article points out it is not a practice method of transferring large amounts of data but frequently it is only necessary to examine a small subset of the data base. This holds true for web applications such as online shopping. In addition since XML adheres to the same standards as HTML it is possible to use the same methods for as addressing the tags, CSS and the ID property for instance. This makes XML ideal for web developers looking for a simple data storage method.