The XQuery language is the XML analogue of SQL, designed to augment XPath 2.0 by working with sets of values, not just with single scalar values.

Service Component Architecture (SCA) provides a state-of-the-art technique for building composite applications. Learn how this important technology delivers a modern, service-oriented approach to creating applications—and how you'll benefit by incorporating these technologies as part of your development strategy.

In this overview of the changes proposed for the new standard, you'll get an idea of the kinds of improvements you can expect this time around.

Visual Basic 9 completely eliminates the barrier between the code you write and the XML you're trying to express. Creating, querying, and transforming XML is much more intuitive and productive than ever before.