4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the shredding tree is defined by one of an annotated XML schema an annotated document type definition document, the one of the annotated XML schema and annotated document type definition document defining a hierarchical data structure definition with annotations, wherein the annotations comprise a first set of annotations for at least one leaf node of the hierarchical data structure definition that define a respective binding between a data element of the respective at least one leaf node and a column of the hierarchical data structure.
4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the shredding tree is defined by one of an annotated XML schema an annotated document type definition document, the one of the annotated XML schema and annotated document type definition document defining a hierarchical data structure definition with annotations, wherein the annotations comprise a first set of annotations for at least one leaf node of the hierarchical data structure definition that define a respective binding between a data element of the respective at least one leaf node and a column of the hierarchical data structure. 5. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the first set of annotations are associated with a first shredding tree within the at least one shredding tree, wherein the first binding defines a variable, and wherein the first annotated document type definition document further comprises at least a second set of annotations that define a respective relationship between the respective binding and a respective separate relational data structure defined by a separate shredding tree within the at least one shredding tree.