SPUG: SGML the past language of.. Was: XML: The Future Language of Biology

[Fred Morris]

SGML has been the standard language for retroactively describing large
bodies of government data which I am not inclined to call out for ohhh... a
decade or so?

Not surprising, really, that what with this current state of paranoiac
creep that this country is in, and the CDC, and Poindexter, and whatnot,
that commercial companies won't be cashing in on XML without really telling
it like it is.

None of this invalidates the reality of XML, or that generally speaking
having a standard format for describing data is a Good Thing, really, but
you ought to know about its origins.. or at least know enough to ask. The
bureaucracy which usually goes along with it is a large part of the
process.

Indeed, accurately characterizing and specifying metadata is the issue.
Just saying everybody should go along is... well... Why is it that the cart
before the horse doesn't work? Ducks fly fine, seems to me.

IG. FWIW.

--

Fred Morris
m3047 at inwa.net



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