OO, XML and GML: Are angle brackets a flexible modeling material?
Trninic, Milan, Product Architect, Galdos Systems, Inc
When Extensible Markup Language [1] (XML) technology appeared, object oriented (OO) concept and approach to development has settled in as the most popular development approach. XML has emerged and brought in a different view and different concepts. The two technologies are very different in nature and have been driven by different motivations. Therefore, it is assumed from the beginning that they complement each other, rather than create a conceptual conflict. But ways in which they do complement each other and in which they can be used together are still not completely and thoroughly understood.
Essentially, the developers have gotten "yet another" model mapping problem on their hands.
This paper looks at the XML from the model perspective, and tries to answer questions such as: What is the model of XML? Does it have one at all? How do we use it while preserving all the benefits of OO or / and other models (such as relational, or Entity-Relationship). Do OO model and XML model fit well together?
It further brings the Geography Markup Language [2] (GML) into picture and presents how the modeling task has been performed in the development of GML.