XML (Extensible Markup Language):

XML, short for Extensible Markup Language, is a simplified subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that provides a file format for representing data, a method for describing data structure, and a mechanism for extending and annotating HTML with semantic information. Allowing an unlimited set of tags, XML tags indicate what kind of data each tag contains, rather than indicating how something should look. For instance, a tag might hold a price, an order number, or a name. The flexibility of XML allows the document's author to determine what kind of data to use and to choose the tag types that most fit the author's needs.

As a universal data format, XML provides a standard for the server-to-server transfer of different types of structured data so that the information can be decoded, manipulated, and displayed consistently and correctly. In addition, it enables the development of three-tier Web applications, acting as the data transfer format between the middle-tier Web server and the client.

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