[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

Re: RE: James Clark: XML versus the Web

• From: Michael Fuller <MICHAEL.S.FULLER@saic.com>
• To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
• Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 10:14:22 +1100

Roger Costello wrote:
> ------------
> MEASUREMENTS
> ------------
> SGML: 150 pages

The ISO standard may only be 150 pages, but I suspect you would 
be insane to try to do anything technically tricky, let alone try
to implement it without reference to Goldfarb's _The SGML Handbook_,
whose 688 pages weighs in at well over a kilogram.

To quote from one Amazon reviewer:
    "This book is, regrettably, the one authoritative book on the SGML
    standard. Given how broad and confusing the SGML standard is, it's
    not surprising that this book on it is equally opaque -- this is, in
    my experience, the worst-written technical book I've ever seen that
    is not actually inaccurate. But if you're doing serious SGML
    development, you have no choice but to get this book and to spent
    forever trying to make sense of it."

With which I can only ruefully agree.

In comparison, the XML specs are relatively (trivially?)
easy to implement and understand, well at least if you
ignore Schemas and the version 2.0 XPath/XSLT specs. ;-)

More seriously, XML jumped the shark when the Schemas
spec. came along.  Things were pretty good until then...

-- 
TeraText DBS Development Manager
SAIC Pty Ltd                                     Phone:  +61 3 8689 0910
Level 3, 91 William St,                          Fax:    +61 3 8689 0901
Melbourne 3000, Australia.         Mobile: 0425 705 416//+61 4 2570 5416

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: RE: James Clark: XML versus the Web
    • From: Amelia A Lewis <amyzing@talsever.com>

• References:
  • James Clark: XML versus the Web
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>
  • RE: James Clark: XML versus the Web
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>