ABCD SGML: A Users Guide to Structured Information

by Liora Alschuler and ALSCHULER

Anyone involved in designing, creating, evaluating, or using SGML applications will need this book as a definitive reference and sourcebook. The book clears up the confusion about SGML--what it is and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1850321973
• ISBN13: 9781850321972
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Niso Press
• Length: 414 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A readable account of SGML

The full title of this book is *ABCD...SGML A User's Guide to Structured Information*; the author is described as "a writer and consultant in SGML and technical publishing", which is an understatement - Liora Alschuler is an authority on, and an articulate advocate for, SGML. I am impressed by her ability to discuss technical matters in plain language, something that should make the subject of SGML accessible to a wide audience. The Standard Generalized Markup Language is an ISO standard (ISO 8879:1986) that "originally ... was just another way to set type". Since then it has had a tremendous impact on electronic publishing and served as a template for the ubiquitous HTML. Who uses SGML? There is a formidable user-base that includes DoD (and the defence establishments of many countries), government instrumentalities world-wide, large corporations (including Intel, Butterworth, Ericsson, Standard & Poor's, and Columbia University Press), and even Microsoft (in Cinemania). This book describes what SGML is, what it is capable of doing - in both print and electronic media - and discusses the question: Should I use SGML? The author's passion for SGML does not cloud her objectivity; she makes it quite clear that SGML is not an appropriate solution for every application, and her in-depth discussion of the issues should enable readers to make informed assessments. An extensive chapter entitled, Who Uses It?, presents several detailed case studies and some brief "sketches" covering a wide range of applications. A reading of just this chapter, which does not demand any special technical knowledge, will give a clear picture of SGML's versatility and power. If one wants to persuade management to consider SGML, this is a most lucid and convincing argument. A chapter, Who Needs It?, opens with the sentence, "The truth is, not everyone needs it". The author then discusses in remarkable detail cost-effectiveness issues; this is no superficial analysis, but sets out the questions that have to be answered in order to make a sound, economic decision. However, to go back to the beginning. The book opens with a chapter, Understanding SGML and Where It Came From, in which the concept, origins, and its development are described. That flows on to the next chapter, which further elaborates on what SGML is and how it compares with other markup systems, DTP software, and Web publishing systems. There is a very good discussion of how SGML can be applied to database-structured data, an application used by Standard & Poor's. Also briefly discussed are ODA, OpenDoc, OLE, RTF, and PDF. The author then goes on to discuss the tools, such as parsers and editors. An SGML document can be created using a text editor that produces an ASCII file with embedded markup, but there are now specialist tools that produce SGML files. The book contains a considerable amount of technical and