One of the things that I harp on over and over is the value of XML is today's online world. I know that most out there at least know of XML or have heard the term used before, but I wonder how many out there really use it. Well, PHPComplete.com has some help for those out there still struggling with a use for it all. They have a new tutorial explaining the merits of XML-RPC and how you can bend it to your will.

XML-RPC is a standard for distributed processing over the internet. RPC: remote procedure call is a mechanism to launch procedures that may exist in different machines and be programmed in different languages. This is the key paradigm of distributed processing.

With XML-RPC, you can have one machine in a server farm doing one task while another does something completely different, all tied together with the string of XML. And, since just about any language worth it's bits out there can parse XML, you don't need to worry about only using PHP, either. This tutorial steps you through some XML examples and gives you some code to get you started (using the xmlrpc distribution found here). It's a good start, and there's no telling what you could come up with if you tried...