Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate Thread
#19421 05/05/03 07:41 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 3
UGN Elite
UGN Elite
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 3
Anyone here good with SGML? From what I understand it is a meta language you can used to creat mark-up languages. HTML XML both are from SGML. Anyone able to confirm this or tell me I am wrong?

Sponsored Links
▼ Sponsored Links ▼ ▲ Sponsored Links ▲
#19422 05/05/03 08:09 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,136
P
UGN Elite Poster
UGN Elite Poster
P Offline
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,136
SGML is a markup language that allows you to create other markup languages. It is INCREDIBLY expansive, very difficult to learn, and a major reason why HTML was created from it. HTML is really just a very simple subset of features found in SGML. http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/SGML/ should provide you with a good starting point.

#19423 05/05/03 08:31 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 3
UGN Elite
UGN Elite
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 3
So you could code a site in SGML should you want to. Do you know what the browser support is like?

#19424 05/05/03 08:56 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 536
Likes: 1
Member
Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 536
Likes: 1
Limited to say the least. AFAIK, the best option if you wanted to use SGML for a website, would actually be to use one of the webservers that will see the client requesting, and convert the SGML to HTML specific to what that browser accepts.

I am sure with the limited choice of webservers that make up the majority of the market, this is probably done once and kept in a cache @ the server. Not sure though. I have no statistics, but sounds like a large overhead, to say the least.


"when you look around, you can't tell me honestly you're happy with what you see"
#19425 05/06/03 12:42 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,136
P
UGN Elite Poster
UGN Elite Poster
P Offline
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,136
Here we go, I'm gonna type out a page from O'Reilly's HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide

"You've certainly heard of HTML, but did you know that it is one of many other markup languages? Indeed, HTML is the black sheep in the family of document markup languages. HTML is based on SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language. The powers-that-be created SGML with the intent that it be the one and only markup metalanguage from which all other document markup elements would be created. Everything from heiroglyphics to HTML can be defined using SGML, negating any need for any other markup language.

The problem with SGML is that it is so broad and all-encompassing that mere mortals cannot use it. Using SGML effectively requires very expensive and complex tools that are completely beyond the scope of regular people who just want to bang out an HTML document in their spare time. As a result, HTML and other languages adhere to some, but not all SGML standards,* eliminating many of the more esoteric features so that HTML is readily useable and used.

Recognizing that SGML is unwieldy and not well-suited to describing the very popular HTML in a useful way, and that there was a growing need to define other HTML-like markup languages to handle different network documents, the W3C defined the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Like SGML, XML is a separate formal markup metalanguage that uses select features of SGML to define markup languages. It eliminates many features of SGML that aren't applicable to languages like HTML and simplifies other SGML elements in order to make them easier to use and understand.

HTML Version 4.01 is not XML-compliant. Hence, the W3C offers XHTML, a reformulation of HTML to be compliant under XML. XHTML attempts to support every last nit and feature of HTML 4.01 using the more rigid rules of XML. It generally succeeds but has enough differences to make life difficult for the standards-conscious HTML author.

Confused? Don't be. Learning HTML is still the way to go for most authors and Web developers. The native language endures. Besides, by learning HTML, you learn the working bits of XHTML, effectively the same thing. There are some differences . . . but the differences should not affect your work in the forseeable future."


So there ya go. SGML is not feasible for development. XML is used to create markup languages, I know enough about it that I could help get you started. XML is really powerful, used all the time in development. Hopefully that clears stuff up for you.

#19426 05/06/03 09:16 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 3
UGN Elite
UGN Elite
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 3
Well done! That clears it up a bit. Thanks.


Link Copied to Clipboard
Member Spotlight
None yet
Forum Statistics
Forums41
Topics33,840
Posts68,858
Members2,176
Most Online3,253
Jan 13th, 2020
Latest Postings
Top Posters
UGN Security 41,392
Gremelin 7,203
§intå× 3,255
SilentRage 1,273
Ice 1,146
pergesu 1,136
Infinite 1,041
jonconley 955
Girlie 908
unreal 860
Top Likes Received
Ghost 2
Dartur 1
Cyrez 1
Girlie 1
unreal 1
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0