What was the <XMP> tag used for?

"A quick Google search on W3C reveals that XMP was introduced for displaying preformatted text in HTML 3.2 and earlier. When W3C deprecated the XMP tag, it suggested using the PRE tag as a preferred alternative.

Update: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32#xmp, http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_5.html#SEC5.5.2.1"

"A quick Google search on W3C reveals that XMP was introduced for displaying preformatted text in HTML 3.2 and earlier. When W3C deprecated the XMP tag, it suggested using the PRE tag as a preferred alternative.

Update: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32#xmp, http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_5.html#SEC5.5.2.1"

XMP does some things that PRE does not support. I still depend on XMP, there is no substitute.

<xmp> is used with strapdown.js in formatting markdown notation. The name strapdown combining the terms bootstrap and markdown.

"I still use the xmp tag for debugging var_dump(); in PHP. I just can't remember to use the pre tag for some reason.

I think it doesn't really matter because if you really want to output text, you should use textarea with the readonly attribute."