difference between XML and UML

rookie1010

Senior member
Mar 7, 2004
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difference between XML and UML

XML is defined as a metalanguage which describes other languages, doesn't UML also do the same. in that case should not XML be a subset of UML?
my basic understanding of XML leads me to think that it can be implemented whereas UML serves as a blueprint.

i came across a reference which stated that
to view XML documents hierarchically or view their output, ou need an XML parser and processor.
do all the browsers(ie. internet explorer,firefox,opera) have XML parser and processor embedded within them?




 

Kyteland

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 2002
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Having never used anything related to UML before (I just googled it) it looks like the two have nothing in common.

XML is a subset of SGML. The "ML" in these two stands for Markup Language, which is a means of inserting structured context in to written data. There are many different types of markup. All punctuation is a type of markup if you think about it.

The ML in UML stands for Modeling Language. From a UML site I found on Google: Modeling is the designing of software applications before coding. A model plays the analogous role in software development that blueprints and other plans (site maps, elevations, physical models) play in the building of a skyscraper.
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
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The two are in no way related, other than they both have "M" and "L" in their acronyms.
 

sunase

Senior member
Nov 28, 2002
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UML doesn't specify anything about how it's stored. So you could have an application that lets you create UML (which is graphical in nature), but saves it in XML. Also, there's a hell of a lot of stuff UML could never do. Part of its utility is forcing you to use OOP and whatnot to at least some degree.

I think there actually are some text only representations of UML for academics, but no one ever really uses them and they would be insufficient for storing working projects (which have to specify where every line is, not just what they mean).

I'd be really pissed if I opened up one of my UML sequence diagrams in Rational Rose and it just decided to place everything wherever it felt like while keeping the connections the same.
 

rookie1010

Senior member
Mar 7, 2004
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thanks for clearing up my misconceptions

what got me was that XML was defined as a meta language which decribes other languages, i think the decribing and modelling systems confused me for a bit.


thanks for removing the confusion guys
 

rookie1010

Senior member
Mar 7, 2004
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i just did a bit more reading on XML, my understanding is that XML is both a language and a meta language. it becomes a meta language because of the document type definition
 

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
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yeah, that's the best way to look at it, and it shows you have a good understanding of it now.