Plain Old XML (POX) is the basic

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...

, sometimes mixed in with other, blendable specifications like

XML Namespaces XML namespaces are used for providing uniquely named elements and attributes in an XML document. They are defined in a W3C recommendation. An XML instance may contain element or attribute names from more than one XML vocabulary. If each vocabulary ...

Dublin Core 220px, Logo image of DCMI, which formulates Dublin Core The Dublin Core, also known as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES), is a set of fifteen "core" elements (properties) for describing resources. This fifteen-element Dublin Core has ...

XInclude XInclude is a generic mechanism for merging XML documents, by writing inclusion tags in the "main" document to automatically include other documents or parts thereof. The resulting document becomes a single composite XML Information Set. The XInclud ...

and

XLink XML Linking Language, or XLink, is an XML markup language and W3C specification that provides methods for creating internal and external links within XML documents, and associating metadata with those links. The XLink specification XLink 1.1 is ...

. This contrasts with complicated, multilayered XML specifications like those for web services or RDF. The term may have been derived from or inspired by the expression

plain old telephone service Plain old telephone service (POTS), or plain ordinary telephone system, is a retronym for voice-grade telephone service employing analog signal transmission over copper loops. POTS was the standard service offering from telephone companies from 1 ...

(POTS) and, similarly Plain Old Java Object (POJO). An interesting question is how POX relates to

XML Schema An XML schema is a description of a type of Extensible Markup Language, XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed ...

. On the one hand, POX is completely compatible with XML Schema. However, many POX users eschew XML Schema to avoid the poor or inconsistent quality of XML Schema-to-Java tools. POX is complementary to

REST Rest or REST may refer to: Relief from activity * Sleep ** Bed rest * Kneeling * Lying (position) * Sitting * Squatting position Structural support * Structural support ** Rest (cue sports) ** Armrest ** Headrest ** Footrest Arts and entert ...

: REST refers to a communication pattern, while POX refers to an information format style. The primary competitors to POX are more strictly-defined XML-based information formats such as RDF and SOAP section 5 encoding, as well as general non-XML information formats such as

JSON JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced ; also ) is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and arrays (or other ser ...

and CSV.

External links

REST and POX article
from the Microsoft Developer Network
Plain Old XML Considered Harmful
from Microformats.org

in the Java Spring Framework
PlainXML on SourceForge.net
XML {{compu-lang-stub