What can you do with XQuery, XML and DB2?

There is a contest on right now. If you are interested, read on. There is really no restriction on the skill level required.

Everything depends on you. I can not program anything on my computer in XQuery, XML or DB2 language but I can tell you all about it and, even if you have only a video camera handy, you too would still be eligible to enter the contest.

As you may know, XML means extensible mark up language and is important because it permits the sharing of structured data by information systems easily, especially on the Internet.

Here is all you have to do. Visit the IDUG contest. That should get you started making an appropriate decision about which aspect of the contest to participate in.

Let me explain the five categories of entries available. And yes, you can enter to contest in all or several or just one category of the 2008 IDUG contest, as you deem fit, according to your ability.

To enter any of the five separate contests, you must get registered and answer some questions contained in a general knowledge quiz at XMLChallenge.com.

I will start with the video contest. All you have to do is shoot or record yourself with a video camera so that everyone will see you doing something you invented while using XQuery, XML or DB2 creatively.

The gadget contest requires you to create a downloadable widget in DB2. That is, use IBM's relational database or data server software to design and produce a computer widget in any computer operating system platform that anyone can use to do something worthwhile.

The query contest involves finding five answers using Xquery, which is one of the XML query languages used to find answers to questions and that is applicable to many XML data sources - the better the skill displayed, the better the prize you can win.

Get your team ready or you can go solo in the ported app contest. Just design and develop an application in DB2 - that obviously requires a more advanced skill level than the other categories listed above.

And then comes the mother of them all: the XML contest, in which you can win by entering as an individual or a group by developing unique and lovable apps or applications in XML.