[
From Oracle Technology Network]
XML data is commonly used in todays production systems and is a major part of database implementations. In the past, this fact caused design problems for database developers who consequently had to store, query, and update XML data as unstructured LOBs, or alternatively, shred data into relational tables and then put it back together. This approach resulted in programming complications and inefficiencies because the access mechanisms were immature.
The article continues at
http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/quinlan-xml.html?rssid=rss_otn_articles