It's my understanding that these XML specs are a method
for exchanging data between systems. How data is stored on a
given system is a separate issue. We can be SCORM,
ADL-compliant because we have a data model and code that will
export/import XML according to these specs to/from our system.
Support for these specs are a consideration when designing a
data model and determining a feature set. But our system will
still use a relational database (PostgreSQL in our case) to store
the information.
That's exactly right. The specifications difine (minimum)
features and metadata labels, partially define a data model, and
in some cases the APIs for putting and calling the relevant data.
They do not eliminate the need for application design. But I think
they can provide important hints for thinking through hard
problems like branching, testing functionality, etc.
