Future Directions in SGML/XML

Abstract

SGML is unique among information representations for its ability to preserve the abstract data content of arbitrarily complex document structures. That capability has led, over the past ten years, to the near-universal adoption of SGML for large-scale document processing. Now XML — the streamlined subset of SGML for the World Wide Web — is applying generalized markup to a vastly different class of applications, ranging from data interchange to self-describing software.

In this paper, Dr. Goldfarb, inventor of SGML and co-author of The XML Handbook (Goldfarb/Prescod 1998), explains the profound implications of this major shift in computing technology (as an InfoWorld editorial called it). He describes how the SGML family of International Standards has already been revised to accommodate these new applications, and other changes that can be expected in the near future.