Xml Database

An XML "document" modeling a small data set (the equivalent of a handful of relational tables), which can be queried with XpathLanguage or XsltLanguage to achieve a pattern similar to LittleDatabase, but much more appropriate in the contexts in which the latter is often used.

This term also refers to the AntiPattern of lashing together a RollYourOwnDatabase out of a collection of files written in XML (with an appropriate DTD/schema) and a set of libraries for manipulating XML documents. That XML is a file format/markup language and not a database (nor a particularly good foundation for making one) should be obvious; but many instances of this regrettable AntiPattern exist in the industry.

I fully expected the first words on this page to be "An OxyMoron" -- I was part of a project that had this as a BuzzWord. Oh, the horror -- oh, the humanity! XML makes a serviceable packaging vehicle for bridging disparate databases or carting data around between processing modules, but don't ever let someone sell you on the idea that this BuzzWord actually has any semantic value.