When talking about XML to DBAs and data analysts in the past, my enthusiasm frequently was greeted with a level of suspicion that often made me feel like I was trying to sell undercoating on a used...

Introduction
This academic paper understands how new generation databases have evolved with the use of
XML technology. It highlights the fact that the traditional relational databases are a history now
and the need of the hour is taken care of by hybrid databases using XML. When HTML became
the standard language for communication over the Internet, it helped the users with a rich set
of features, such as data and meta-data being put in a single document. But as the world of
databases evolved, there arose a strong need to decouple the data representation aspects from
the interface representation. XML’s flexibility could plug-in here easily and acted as a savior.
XML’s DTD (Document type definition) features can be used to define a new meta-language
altogether. XML allows the user to define how tags can be used by documents, customized to
specific requirements of semantics of the applications as rules which connect tags with their
content can be taken under control with XML. This kind of conception of XML raises questions
of how data is actually transferred by XML documents, how data is read, stored and retrieved.
In short, this paper explored how XML is used a database management tool.
What is XML?
XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It had become a well-known standard for marking
up text in a manner that the data can be read both by machine and human. The syntax followed
by XML is very similar to HTML and it organized in a manner that the relationships among the
data elements are obvious visually.
XML Vs. Relational Databases
Powerful data retrieval and storage capabilities of traditional relational databases, where data
is stored in tables and there are one or more tables in single database, is another form of
database management in use primarily. Relational databases come to user’s rescue when
handling extremely huge volumes of data whereas XML does a far more better job of delivering
self-describing data format in SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and other Web services.
The following points showcase the differences between XML data and relational data:
1. Relational database is represented as a model of logical relationships whereas XML
data is hierarchical.
An XML document is shaped in a way that it carries information about the relationship
of data items to each other in the form of hierarchy. Whereas in relational databases,
the only type of relation that can be defined is the parent and the child table
relationship.
2. Relational database is not self-descriptive where XML is visually understandable.
An XML contains the tagging of the data which makes it easier for the user to
understand what the data is about. A single XML document can also have multiple types
of data. On the other hand, in a relational database, the intent of the data can be
defined only by the definition of its table column and...