The XML-based Extensible Scientific Interchange Language is being developed within the framework of the Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research, Projects and Collaborations (CACR). "The Extensible Scientific Interchange Language (XSIL) is a flexible, hierarchical, extensible, transport language for scientific data objects. The entire object may be represented in the file, or there may be metadata in the XSIL file, with a powerful, fault-tolerant linking mechanism to external data. The language is based on XML, and is designed not only for parsing and processing by machines, but also for presentation to humans through web browsers and web-database technology. [... an] XSIL file may point to large binary objects, to data dynamically created by a service, to tapes, or other storage media. The file may be browsed and edited with a graphical editor (currently under development), which may be extended with custom browsing components. The XSIL file may also be read by a machine that is driven by a scripting language, where the XML passes through a sequence of filters. The filters may act as input to a numerical application, that may in turn produce more XSIL files. XSIL is directed toward a number of projects, including LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), the NPACI Storage Resource Broker, and the Digital Puglia project."
References:
"XSIL: Extensible Scientific Interchange Language." By Kent Blackburn, Albert Lazzarini, Tom Prince, Roy Williams. PDF file. [local archive copy]
XSIL Presentation (also in PDF and Powerpoint). [local archive copy]
"An XML Architecture for High-Performance Web-Based Analysis of Remote-Sensing Archives." By Aloisio, Giovanni Milillo, and Roy Williams. September 1998.
