XML, HTML, SGML, etc.

Subject: XML, HTML, SGML, etc.
From: "Lakritz, Andrew M." <Andrew -dot- Lakritz -at- Ruesch -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 09:02:21 -0400

Just a couple of grace (I hope) notes to add to the discussion on the value
of XML for technical writing. I spent 1990 working for a dot.com outfit that
marketed the pleasures of XML to the sky to its clients and prospects. The
value is real: it allowed us to create compelling software that enabled a
Web store front to change its look and feel very rapidly without having to
change content. It allows Web shops to communicate seamlessly with their
suppliers, distributors, fulfillment houses, and so on - and communicate
even without human intervention beyond checking reports and intervening when
problems arise.

>From my perspective, this is the important thing to remember about XML,
HTML, and other mark up languages. They do have family resemblances and the
history of their development makes them kin to one another, but they were
all designed to address different problems. SGML comes out of the
documentation field; it's excellent at enabling large corporations to create
very large documents, and by separating content from format, the content can
be ported to different publication models easily and quickly. SGML was
developed in the 70s, but wasn't 'standardized' until 1986. It came out of
IBM and has been used to document complex programming languages and big
engineering projects like airplanes.

HTML came out of CERN at the end of the 80s, and it is most closely
associated with the World Wide Web. HTML is simple where SGML is complex.
HTML is loose where SGML is tight. HTML tags can be upper or lower case, and
often they don't have to be "well formed" for a browser to parse them
correctly. HTML is also shaped by the browser wars of the 90s.

XML extends HTML by allowing developers to design their own tags. XML must
be well formed, and most browsers I know of don't parse XML directly. You
need to have an XSL file to convert the XML to HTML display format. But that
is not seen as a big drawback for XML, because XML was intended to operate
largely without human interference or observance. XML allows machines to
communicate with other machines; machines in banks with machines in other
banks; machines in distribution centers with machines in retailers, etc.
etc.

I am quite sure that soon we'll see technical documentation using XML as a
primary mode of delivery, even though it was not intended for that use. But
XML is best at communicating very rapidly changing data (like stock quotes,
bank balances, foreign exchange rates, commodity prices, sports scores,
products and service descriptions and details, etc.). If the stuff you are
documenting changes in a way that needs documenting only twice or four times
a year, perhaps XML isn't the vehicle of choice?

My current problem to solve is how to embed documentation in the source in
such a way that when the source changes (a code module, a database stored
procedure, a database table, etc.) one can automatically update the
documentation. I would like to have say a Web site that documents my
department's application modules, the backend systems, everything, that I
can regenerate each day and bring it up to date as of that day. This is not
so any client or prospects can have access to the material. It's rather so
the engineers can be confident that what I have documented represents what
they have worked on, changed, accurately and reliable. I don't think XML is
the answer to that problem necessarily; automation is the answer, and a lot
of work creating a useable documentation format. And a lot of documentation
effort itself. But so far I have not solved the problem, at least not in my
current work context.

Andrew Lakritz
Ruesch International

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