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Given
the technologies you intend to use, not much. I do
understand
MSThrallDOM and won't berate you for that.
Business wise, it
makes
a lot of sense so you can blow off the short shrifters. However,
you
seem
to be in the "empowering" business, so:
1. DTDs are the easiest of the schema
technologies to learn. Really.
Compared to other candidates, the basics come
quickly. And in
XML,
much easier than SGML. Faster to type too.
2. Much of the thinking about using validating
technologies for
markup
originates in DTDs. Until you understand them, there
will
be discussions here and elsewhere that you won't understand.
3. DTDs are the only validation technology that
goes hand in
hand
with XML 1.0. As such, they form a part of what XML 1.0
is. Until you understand them, you have an
incomplete understanding
of XML
1.0.
4. Many application developers and application
languages still use
DTDs. They are the soul of brevity and for some
tricks, still the
only
way to get it done. Even if you don't use them, until you understand
them,
you won't be able to work with those that do. Say someone
asks
you to
produce a multimedia version of an existing IETM database
that
uses
MIL-M-87269 or even ATOS data as a source. Where will you
start?
Being
On The Web means "interoperating" not just fielding your own work.
You
might want to have a basic familiarity with DTDs. It won't
hurt.
Learn
about them, and put them in the kit bag next to other seldom used
but
nice to have tools.
Technical
religions worship merciless divinities.
len
I'm
an ex-HTML and ex-Cold Fusion programmer retraining for the
future. I started learning XML technologies and .NET in January 2002
and skipped learning anything about DTDs in favor of learning about
Schemas. However, in reading the last 3 months of the xml-dev posts I
find that you all are referring to DTDs a lot in your posts. Do I
need to go back and learn about DTDs? When will I need to use DTDs
instead of Schemas?
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