Xml Stock Quote

Wikipedia defines Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a, "set of rules for encoding documents electronically. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C and several other related specifications; all are fee-free open standards." Or in simplified terms, XML is a straightforward and flexible text format that derived from Standardized General Markup Language (SGML). It was initially intended to meet the challenges of large scale electronic publishing but is now taking an important role in the exchange of a broad range of data on the Web, such as stock quotes.

The objective of utilizing an XML design is to highlight simplicity, generality and usability on the Internet. It uses a textual data format supported by Unicode and although XML's design is primarily focused on documents, it's also commonly used for the representation of arbitrary data structures such as web serviced stock quotes. Excepting a minute number of specifically excluded control characters, any character defined by Unicode, can be used in the content of an XML document. Even when there is a character that cannot be used directly, XML has facilities for indentifying the encoding of the Unicode characters and allows for the expression of them indirectly.

Many web feeds that offer stock quotes, like RSS and Atom, use XML based documents to format their feed. Countless online companies offer XML Data Services which are intended to present a vast array of information in both intraday snapshots and end of day bulk contexts. These sites can provide quick and accurate XML stock quote feeds that allow direct data access for the investor who wants to do more with financial data besides just presenting it to their users.

A strong advantage for using XML is that it can be used to model both relational data and relational meta-data in the same framework allowing users to easily question relational data and meta data using an XML query language. For example, in a stock database that uses multiple tables for stock quotes from individual companies, the user will be able to issue an XML query that asks for company names whose stock value exceeds $50 on any day without having to directly ask for a specific company.

There are hundreds of resources on the web, especially if you're new to XML, that allow you to play around with the concept for free even without installing software on your computer.