XML and Web Technologies (CS3F6)

Introduction to course

Summary module description

XML was developed by the W3C and aims to provide a universal format for describing structured documents and data; in other words, it allows data to be self-describing. XML is the basis of a number of emerging web-based technologies including Web Services and the Semantic Web. XML and these technologies are fundamental to the success of the new service oriented architectural approach to loosely coupled wide-area distributed systems.

Aims

The aim of this Module is to:
  1. Introduce XML (Extensible Markup Language) and related XML technologies and their application in representing and transforming of data and text.
  2. Introduce the technologies that support Web Services, including SOAP, Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) protocol.
  3. Provide an outline of basic Semantic Web technologies, including the Resource Description Framework (RDF), RDF Schema, and (OWL) the Web Ontology Language.

Intended learning outcomes

The use of XML to represent data and provide information. A knowledge of how to define data using an XML Schema, and also an understanding of the transformation of XML documents using the transformation language XSLT. A familiarity with the internal representation of XML documents, using for example a DOM (Document Object Model) or SAX (Simple API for XML). The use of tools for querying (Xquery) and navigating (Xpath) through XML documents.

A understand of the core technologies that make up Web Services, in particular, SOAP, Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) protocol.

The use of Semantic Web technologies, such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which is W3C standard XML framework for describing and interchanging metadata, RDF Schema (RDFS) a language for describing vocabularies in RDF, and OWL (Web Ontology Language), which is a markup language for publishing and sharing data using ontologies on the Web

Last update in September 2007