Summary

Now you have some of the history for both XML and SQL and some insight into the high-flying world of international standards. It's valuable to understand how these languages were conceived and for what purposes they were developed, but that's not to say that they can't be put to other uses. Standards, de facto or otherwise, breed other, more complex and exciting standards and uses. For example, without standards (TCP/IP, Ethernet, SMTP e-mail, POP, HTTP, and so on), the Internet as we know it never would have developed. The participants in each of those individual standards efforts were focused on solving one particular problem, not on building a global network. Standards create new markets and spur progress.

Now let's learn how to put the standards of XML and SQL to work.