“Here’s a peek into how XML quietly powers tech behind the scenes.”
When you hear "XML," your brain probably hits snooze. It sounds technical, old-school, and not something you’d naturally care about unless you're knee-deep in code or obsessed with markup languages. But here’s the twist: XML is everywhere, quietly doing the heavy lifting in web development, mobile apps, data storage, research labs, and even your favorite streaming or shopping platforms.
If you’re a student trying to break into tech, data, or just make sense of the messy online world, XML is one of those behind-the-scenes players that you should at least understand. This post isn’t just here to tell you what XML is—it’s here to show you how it’s used, why it matters in 2025, and what you can do with it even as a beginner.
XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. Think of it like HTML’s more serious, data-obsessed cousin. It doesn't display things on a webpage. Instead, it stores data in a clean, structured, and readable way.
<student>
<name>Khanyi</name>
<age>22</age>
<major>Computer Science</major>
</student>
This isn’t code to make a webpage pretty. It’s code to store info in a way that’s consistent, readable, and transferable across systems.
Fair question. JSON has taken over in many modern web APIs because it's lighter and easier to read. But XML still holds its ground in enterprise systems, data-heavy environments, scientific research, and old-school but reliable legacy systems (think banks, hospitals, and government software).
Let’s say you have an app that pulls student records. XML is great for storing that information:
<students>
<student>
<id>001</id>
<name>Ali</name>
<course>Economics</course>
</student>
</students>
Some APIs, especially older SOAP-based ones, still rely on XML requests and responses. While RESTful APIs use JSON more often, many systems that handle sensitive data (like healthcare or insurance) use XML for its strict schema validation features.
Ever uploaded a sitemap to Google Search Console? That’s an XML file. It tells Google how to crawl your site.
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://studentlodge.site/article-1</loc>
<lastmod>2025-06-10</lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>
In Android app development, layout files are written in XML. Here’s a real Android example:
<TextView
android:id="@+id/helloText"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello, Student Lodge!" />
Researchers working with large sets of structured data often use XML to represent metadata. For example:
In Python, you can parse XML easily:
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
tree = ET.parse('students.xml')
root = tree.getroot()
for student in root.findall('student'):
name = student.find('name').text
print(name) Data engineers often need to convert XML data into formats like CSV or JSON before training models. The structure and hierarchy of XML make it ideal for storing highly detailed datasets that can later be transformed.
| Feature | XML | JSON |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Syntax | Verbose, tagged | Lightweight |
| 2. Readability | Good (for structure) | Excellent |
| 3. Data Types | Text only | Multiple types |
| 4. Use Cases | Legacy systems, configs | Web APIs |
| 5. Tools Required | Validators | Native in JS |
Our advice: Start with XML if you’re dealing with structured data from old systems or scientific research. Go JSON if you’re building modern web apps.
<name>Ali</name> ✅<name>Ali ❌<Name> and <name> are not the same.Even if XML sounds boring, putting it on your resume can help you stand out in entry-level interviews, especially in sectors that deal with structured or legacy data.
Talk about how you used XML in a real or personal project. It shows attention to detail, structural thinking, and adaptability—skills many employers value.
Let me tell you about Sipho, a friend from varsity. He started a blog aggregator for student websites using RSS feeds. He didn’t have much experience but learned how to parse XML feeds with Python and created a tool that updated every morning with new posts from multiple sites. He used it to power a newsletter and added a search function using XML tags. That project alone landed him a junior dev job after graduation.
Absolutely. It’s not the flashiest tool in your toolbox, but it's dependable. If you ever find yourself working with structured data, old-school APIs, or Android development, knowing XML saves you a ton of time.
Even if you're just starting out and XML feels a bit overwhelming, trust me—you'll thank yourself later. Use it to build mini projects, improve your resume, or understand how things work behind the scenes. It might not be sexy tech, but it's solid tech.
And sometimes, solid is exactly what you need.
P.S. Still confused? Try using the free XML tools here on Student Lodge and start experimenting. You learn best by doing, not just reading!
