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Subject:Re: XML - where's the beef? From:"Simon North" <north -at- synopsys -dot- COM> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Jun 2001 15:57:43 +0200
I'm afraid Leslie and Scott are both wrong.
> That is an interesting interpretation of it. XML is not a standard for
> creating languages. It IS a markup language. As for HTML, it IS a
> subset of SGML. You cannot have an animal descended from a bird and
> call it a horse. It is still a bird.
XML is a set of rules for defining markup languages, just as SGML
is. Officially, XML is an application profile of SGML.
HTML is an SGML application, it is a markup language that
complies with SGMLs rules (it was never meant to be, but that's
another story).
XHTML is an XML application, it is a markup language that
complies with XMLs rules.
> So, if HTML is a specific document type, then its parent, SGML, is
> also a document type. So is XML. That is what the element <!DOCTYPE is
> declaring.
No, neither SGML nor XML are specific document types, but rather
an infinite classes of document types. HTML is a specific
document type in the same way that Microsoft Word is a C++
application. Needless to say, Microsoft Word is not C++, and
neither is SGML a document type.
The <!DOCTYPE statement is a document type declaration that
pioints to a document type declaration; a document (a DTD) that
obeys the rules that govern the application (SGML or XML) and
specify the markup language applicable for that document type.
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