Wow - its been a while! In fact, it's all the way back to 2010 since I last posted here. Remember 2010?
I started this blog to document my own journey of working with native XML tools, specifically XQuery and MarkLogic's database platform. Along the way I had a lot of fun and wrote about:
- How to not end up wiping your hands on your pants after going to the bathroom (XQuery just works)
- Why its better to drive a Ford GT instead of an AMC (even if it is the AMC Bizzarini)
- How Transformers are more than just huge robots
- What a Falchion is (and also what lazy enrichment is)
- And how Santa really makes his really big list (note - some foreshadowing here...)
So, what's been going on out there in the meantime? Anything happening with data, information and content? I can tell you one thing, I never finished that New Haven Pizza XQuery app ... but I sure have had a lot of great pizza in the last 8 years. And I've also done a lot of work with XML ... just maybe not had the time to write it up.
Well that might be changing. It turns out that XML hasn't gone anywhere. In fact, with the rise of NoSQL and the acknowledgment that data from many sources needs to be integrated to get the complete picture of your business, it turns out a LOT of that data is either in XML or is exchanged between systems in XML formats.
There is also a lot of JSON, growing investment in ontologies and semantic data, and good old relational data. But sometimes you just need to describe some really complex data and make it available to machines and people. Self-describing, standardized, and widely adopted, XML is the right tool in the toolkit.
Today, this data is so much more than content. Things like manifests, bills of materials, customers, parts and component data, assets and maintenance records are all expressed as XML and, increasingly, are being modeled and managed as XML inside large enterprises.
Is XML making a comeback? I don't think so ... because I don't think it ever went away. In fact, my bet is that it's in even wider use than you might think. First all all, every type of data continues to exponentially grow. But, more to the point, XML is an important part of the data toolkit for anyone working to get value from their data.
So, will there be more Discovering XQuery posts? Stay tuned ... I am, after all, writing this re-introduction entry on purpose :)
Still XML hacking away,
Matt
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