Although not evident to all, many people have been waiting more than a decade for The SGML FAQ Book by Steve DeRose. It has been "brewing" for a long time, with many hours, months, years of research talking to people, gathering their ideas, listening to their frustrations, applauding their successes. Only Steve with his experience, credentials, wit, and enthusiasm for the subject could have written this book. But it is also a measure of the success and maturity of ISO 8879 and its amazing longevity that allows an "SGMLer" to write such a book. We can now laugh at ourselves, even disclose our mistakes without fear of the other guy. While most would not recognize it, the revolution known as the World Wide Web would not have happened without a non-proprietary, easy, and almost "portable way to create and distribute documents across a widely disparate set of computers, networks, even countries. HTML, an SGML application, enabled this and as a result the world and the SGML community will never be the same. For some the term SGML means order, management, standards, discipline; to others, the term brings images of pain, confusion, complexity, and pitfalls. To all who have engaged in it, the Standard means hard work, good friends, savings in terms of time, money, and effort, a sense of accomplishment and best of all - fun. This book adds immeasurably to all of these. Enjoy the quote from Through Looking by Lewis Carroll as much as we have.

Peter Flynn has been an enthusiastic and skillful contributor in the world of SGML and XML for many years, and it is a pleasure to see him set some of his expertise down in writing as well. The range and power of SGML tools have taken a sharp upward turn: the first step leading to this was that the Web came along with HTML, and showed the whole world that pointy brackets and (at least somewhat) descriptive markup could make a difference. Soon afterward, 'HTML claustrophobia' began to grow and XML came to the rescue. Since XML is fundamentally an elegant subset of SGML that reduces complexity without reducing functionality, the movement to XML is great for SGML too. The massive interest in XML is bringing forth a huge variety of new, faster, more powerful, and cheaper software tools. Peter has caught the cusp of this change and shows in detail how SGML and XML tools fit together into integrated solutions that return value for your investment in structured information.

The next five years will see a revolution in computing. Users will no longer have to work at every computer task as if they had no need or ability to share data with all their other computer tasks, they will not need to act as if the computer is simply a replacement for paper, nor will theyhave to appease computers or software programs that seem to be at war with one another. The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the technical advance enabling this revolution, and Dr Charles Goldfarb of the IBM Almaden Research Center is its inventor. The SGML Handbook gives the readerDr Goldfarb's thoughts on each clause in this widely adopted international standard, and guides the reader through every detail of SGML. The SGML Handbook includes the up-to-date amended full text of ISO 8879, extensively annotated, cross-referenced, and indexed; a detailed, structured overview of SGML, covering every concept; additional tutorial and reference material; a unique 'push-button access system' that provides hypertextlinks between the standard, annotations, overview, and tutorials. SGML will improve the productivity and competitiveness of all computer users if its sophistication is now harnessed by developers of SGML applications and implementors of SGML systems. These are the people who will find this book an invaluable guide and an authoritative voice.

The first systematic, comprehensive reference covering the ideas, genres, and concepts behind digital media. The study of what is collectively labeled “New Media”—the cultural and artistic practices made possible by digital technology—has become one of the most vibrant areas of scholarly activity and is rapidly turning into an established academic field, with many universities now offering it as a major. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media is the first comprehensive reference work to which teachers, students, and the curious can quickly turn for reliable information on the key terms and concepts of the field. The contributors present entries on nearly 150 ideas, genres, and theoretical concepts that have allowed digital media to produce some of the most innovative intellectual, artistic, and social practices of our time. The result is an easy-to-consult reference for digital media scholars or anyone wishing to become familiar with this fast-developing field.

This work defines the relationship between SGML and HTML, and how both apply to the World Wide Web. It enables readers to define document structures and apply them to real situations. It also includes a complete listing of SGML terminology, shortcuts and advice on software packages supporting SGML.

Since the initial publication of Practical SGML the computer industry has seen a dramatic increase in the use and acceptance of SGML and many of the concepts derived from it. The existence of Practical SGML has helped to foster this growth as it provides a practical and vital introduction to the many facets of SGML and how its fits into an organization, whether it be business or government. Practical SGML, Second Edition is an extensive revision and update that puts greater emphasis and focus on helping the novice work his or her way through the vast amounts of information required to become proficient in SGML. Practical SGML, Second Edition provides the reader with an understanding of: the tools currently on the market that enable the easy creation of SGML data and the use and distribution of that data in a variety of forms; the minimum amount of information needed by people who wish to understand and use ISO 8879; aids and information on how to stay current with the volumes of material written on SGML in publications throughout the world; practical examples of the many SGML constructs and guidelines on their appropriate uses; other helpful hints and insights based on years of working with the standard and integrating it into a complex and challenging computer environment. Exercises throughout the text allow the readers to test their understanding. Answers are given in Appendix A. Practical SGML, Second Edition is an invaluable reference manual for anyone interested in understanding and using SGML.

The emerging Second-Generation Web is based entirely on XML and related technologies. It is intended to result in the creation of the Semantic Web, on which computers will be able to deal with the meaning ("semantics") of Web data and hence to process them in a more effective and autono mous way. This new version of the Web introduces a multitude of novel concepts, terms, and acronyms. Purpose, Scope and Methods This dictionary is an effort to specify the terminological basis of emerging XML and Semantic Web technologies. The ultimate goal of this dictionary is even broader than just to define the meaning of newwords - itaims to develop aproper understandingofthese leading-edge technologies. To achieve this, comprehensible definitions of technical terms are supported by numerous diagrams and code snippets, clearly annotated and explained. The main areas covered in this dictionary are: (1) XML syntax and core technologies, such as Namespaces, Infoset and XML Schema; (2) all the major membersofthe XML family oftechnologies, such as XSLT, XPath and XLink; (3) numerous XML-based domain-specific languages, such as NewsML (News Markup Language); (4) the concept and architecture of the Semantic Web; (5) key Semantic Web technologies,such as RDF (Resource Description Framework), RDF Schema and OWL (Web Ontology Language); and (6) Web services, including WSDL (Web Services Description Lan guage) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).