<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
an	O
attribute	O
is	O
a	O
specification	O
that	O
defines	O
a	O
property	B-Language
of	O
an	O
object	O
,	O
element	O
,	O
or	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
attribute	O
is	O
frequently	O
and	O
generally	O
a	O
property	B-Language
of	O
a	O
property	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
actual	O
usage	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
attribute	O
can	O
and	O
is	O
often	O
treated	O
as	O
equivalent	O
to	O
a	O
property	B-Language
depending	O
on	O
the	O
technology	O
being	O
discussed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rules	O
:	O
Each	O
named	O
attribute	O
has	O
an	O
associated	O
set	O
of	O
rules	O
called	O
operations	O
:	O
For	O
example	O
,	O
one	O
does	O
n't	O
sum	O
characters	O
or	O
manipulate	O
and	O
process	O
an	O
integer	O
array	B-Data_Structure
the	O
same	O
way	O
as	O
an	O
image	O
object	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
element	O
in	O
question	O
could	O
be	O
considered	O
a	O
property	B-Language
(	O
CUSTOMER_NAME	O
)	O
of	O
another	O
entity	O
(	O
let	O
's	O
say	O
CUSTOMER	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
element	O
can	O
have	O
zero	O
or	O
more	O
attributes	O
(	O
properties	O
)	O
of	O
its	O
own	O
(	O
CUSTOMER_NAME	O
is	O
of	O
TYPE	O
=	O
"	O
KINDOFTEXT	O
"	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
C#	B-Application
programming	I-Application
language	I-Application
,	O
attributes	O
are	O
metadata	O
attached	O
to	O
a	O
field	O
or	O
a	O
block	O
of	O
code	O
like	O
assemblies	O
,	O
members	B-Application
and	O
types	O
,	O
and	O
are	O
equivalent	O
to	O
annotations	B-Language
in	I-Language
Java	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Attributes	O
are	O
accessible	O
to	O
both	O
the	O
compiler	O
and	O
programmatically	O
through	O
reflection	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Their	O
specific	O
use	O
as	O
metadata	O
is	O
left	O
to	O
the	O
developer	O
and	O
can	O
cover	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
types	O
of	O
information	O
about	O
any	O
given	O
application	O
,	O
classes	O
and	O
members	B-Application
that	O
is	O
not	O
instance-specific	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
decision	O
to	O
expose	O
any	O
given	O
attribute	O
as	O
a	O
property	B-Language
is	O
also	O
left	O
to	O
the	O
developer	O
as	O
is	O
the	O
decision	O
to	O
use	O
them	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
larger	O
application	O
framework	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
are	O
often	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
CLR	O
services	O
,	O
like	O
COM	B-Application
interoperability	O
,	O
remoting	B-Operating_System
,	O
serialisation	B-Application
and	O
can	O
be	O
queried	O
at	O
runtime	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Name	O
parameters	O
like	O
the	O
Boolean	O
parameter	O
in	O
the	O
example	O
are	O
a	O
property	B-Language
of	O
the	O
attribute	O
and	O
should	O
be	O
a	O
constant	O
value	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Attributes	O
should	O
be	O
contrasted	O
against	O
XML	B-Protocol
documentation	O
that	O
also	O
defines	O
metadata	O
,	O
but	O
is	O
not	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
compiled	O
assembly	O
and	O
therefore	O
cannot	O
be	O
accessed	O
programmatically	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Display	O
the	O
checked	O
attribute	O
and	O
property	B-Language
of	O
a	O
checkbox	O
as	O
it	O
changes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
many	O
post-relational	O
or	O
multi-valued	B-Application
databases	O
systems	O
,	O
relative	O
to	O
SQL	O
,	O
tables	O
are	O
files	O
,	O
rows	O
are	O
items	O
,	O
and	O
columns	O
are	O
attributes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
in	O
the	O
database	O
and	O
code	O
,	O
attribute	O
is	O
synonymous	O
with	O
property	B-Language
and	O
variable	O
although	O
attributes	O
can	O
be	O
further	O
defined	O
to	O
contain	O
values	O
and	O
subvalues	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
of	O
these	O
databases	O
was	O
the	O
Pick	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
current	O
platforms	O
include	O
Rocket	B-Application
U2	I-Application
's	I-Application
Universe	I-Application
and	O
InterSystems’	B-Application
Caché	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
an	O
attribute	O
is	O
a	O
markup	O
construct	O
consisting	O
of	O
a	O
name/value	B-Application
pair	I-Application
that	O
exists	O
within	O
a	O
start-tag	O
or	O
empty-element	O
tag	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Markup	O
languages	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
HTML	B-Language
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
use	O
attributes	O
to	O
describe	O
data	O
and	O
the	O
formatting	O
of	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
good	O
example	O
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
assigning	O
values	O
to	O
properties	O
(	O
elements	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
element	O
in	O
question	O
could	O
be	O
considered	O
a	O
property	B-Language
(	O
CUSTOMER_NAME	O
)	O
of	O
another	O
entity	O
(	O
let	O
's	O
say	O
CUSTOMER	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
element	O
can	O
have	O
zero	O
or	O
more	O
attributes	O
(	O
properties	O
)	O
of	O
its	O
own	O
(	O
CUSTOMER_NAME	O
is	O
of	O
TYPE	O
=	O
"	O
KINDOFTEXT	O
"	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
