XL:: an XML programming language for Web service specification and composition

We present an XML programming language designed for the implementation of Web services. XL is portable and fully compliant with W3C standards such as XQuery, XML Protocol, and XML Schema. One of the key features of XL is that it allows programmers to concentrate on the logic of their application. XL provides high level and declarative constructs for actions which are typically carried out in the implementation of a Web service; e.g., logging, error handling, retry of actions, workload management, events, etc. Issues such as performance tuning (e.g., caching, horizontal partitioning, etc.) should be carried out automatically by an implementation of the language. This way, the productivity of the programmers, the ability of evolution of the programs, and the chances to achieve good performance are substantially enhanced. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.