XML and Databases

Two hours of lecture per week for first eight weeks of the semester.

XML has entered the database world both as a format for exchanging data between existing databases and as a new, semi-structured data model. The former, in which existing databases are "XML-enabled," has dominated the use of XML in the marketplace. The latter has introduced native XML databases, which are bringing database functionality to human-readable documentation and semi-structured data, as well as providing new tools for integrating data from heterogenous sources.

This is a survey course that will discuss how XML and databases are used together. It will cover the following topics:

• A brief review of XML
• The difference between XML-enabled and native XML databases
• How to map relational schemas to XML schemas and vice versa
• Basic SQL/XML and XQuery
• What native XML databases are and when to use them
• How modern relational databases combine relational and XML data

Ronald Bourret is a freelance programmer, journalist, and researcher. His work includes XML-DBMS, a set of Java packages for transferring data between XML documents and relational databases, an XML schema language (DDML), several widely read papers on XML and databases, and the XML Namespaces FAQ. He has lectured widely on XML and databases in commercial and academic settings.