[newbie] XML for scientific data

[Guillaume Dargaud]

I'm starting a new project under linux based on one of my old windows
projects. There are plenty of flux of data, from acquisition to elaboration
to graphics to final models.
The current formats of data are binary, various, highly specific, with
compatibilty problems and need to be redefined anyway so I was thinking of
using xml to code for some arrays of values together with their creation
parameters.

I'm only vaguely aware of XML's possibilities but I hope it can make our
various exchanges of data between apps easier (some apps being application
servers, others being scientific apps like MathLab, gnuplot...). The
alternative is to use the HDF format but I've used it and I'm not crazy
about it.

I know I need to define a DTD for those dataset. Now the question is: "How
do I get started ?". And is there a list of apps that support XML natively
or can interface through it easily (like gnuplot or others) ?

If anyone can recommand some XML tutorial or book with scientific data in
mind. Or tell me altogether that it's a bad idea.

 

[Guillaume Dargaud]

One question in particular is bothering me.
If I have an application producing a continuous xml output (say into a named
pipe or a tcp socket), it looks like it can be read by another app only from
the very begining, otherwise that app will miss the first lines containing
the reference to the DTD. Is there a way around that ?