Navy issues XML guide

XML Developer's Guide document

As the Navy moves forward with its effort to put many of its applications online, the Navy Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer has published a guide on the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML).

An initial version of the XML Developer's Guide has been rushed into publication so it might offer guidance to those who are Web-enabling applications under the Navy's Task Force Web initiative, said Michael Jacobs, data architecture project leader for the CIO's office. That initiative seeks to put at least 50 applications online by 2003.

The guide is the first thing published by the Navy Department's newly created XML Work Group.

"It is intended to provide general development guidance for the many XML initiatives currently taking place within the [Navy]," the document states.

XML is a structured format for exchanging documents and data on the Web. The hope is that XML will improve interoperability by permitting more efficient exchange of data. But the concern is that applications are being developed before the standard is fully realized.

The Navy's developer's guide attempts to provide some direction to those creating applications, Jacobs said.

The guide, however, does not address the more complex issue of defining a vocabulary and naming scheme. That task will be addressed in the coming months, Jacobs said.

The guide builds on a Sept. 6 memo from Navy CIO Dan Porter that recommended developers use the Defense Information Systems Agency's Common Operating Environment XML registry.