Oracle Application Server provides a powerful utility to help you generate XML straight from data in your Oracle database — the XSQL processor. XML style sheets allows you to manipulate XML into various usable forms.
What is xml ?
xml stands for eXtensible Markup language.
“eXtensible” - Information in a neutral way,stored in a neutral form, independent of systems, devices and applications
“Markup” - Adding information to a document relating to its structure and/or format
“Language” - A standard methodology with formal syntax.
Reasons behind xml Popularity
Platform independent
Ease of data exchange
License-Free and well supported
Big players (Oracle and Microsoft) are backing the W3C XML standard