XQuery 1.0: a Standard at Last

Today the W3C announced the approval of the XQuery 1.0 Recommendation - XQuery is a full standard!

It has already been quite a year for XQuery:

• Don Chamberlin's Keynote: XQuery Where Do We Go From Here? at XIME-P 2006  looked at XQuery's evolution, looked at content applications built with XQuery and took some time to thanks the XQuery pioneers like O'Reilly and Elsevier that have put XQuery into action.
• Darin McBeath's Keynote: Unleashing the Power of XML at XML 2006 highlihted XML based content products that brought the full potential of publisher's and iniformation provider's XML to life with XQuery.
• Jason Hunter's Publishing 2.0 talk at XML 2006 showcased premier content applications powered by XQuery.  Highlights are Elsevier's Scopus, Congressional Quartlerly's Legislative Impact and O'Reilly's SafariU.

And now, finally,  XQuery 1.0 has become a standard!  The official announcement was augmented with these testimonials, including one from Mark Logic  CEO Dave Kellogg, who is also very happy about the announcement.

And while us XML geeks are generally a subdued bunch, a lot of people have been working very hard for a long time and it is certainly time for the silly hats and umbrella drinks.

Here's why:  XQuery really is special.

As foundational as XML is to enable a content format, XQuery is equally important as the foundation for content applications.

To see for yourself, download MarkLogic Server, get some XML and get querying!

(For a handy quickstart, see this tutorial.)

MT