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I neglected to provide requisite bibliographic
information for the (cited) SGML FAQ Book,
in case anyone needs it:
http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/deroseFAQ-TOC.html
http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/deroseFAQ-DES.html
Derose, Steven J. The SGML FAQ Book: Understanding the
Foundation of HTML and XML. [Kluwer Academic] Electronic
Publishing Series, Number 7. Dordrecht/Boston: Kluwer
Academic Publishers, [July] 1997. Extent: xxiv + 250 pages,
appendices. ISBN: 0-7923-9943-9 (Hardbound). Author's
affiliation: Inso Corporation, formerly Electronic Book
Technologies, Inc.
Another excellent source of information (though not the
desired "note") is of course, the SGML Handbook, edited
by Charles Goldfarb. It contains a fair amount of
commentary of this sort:
"The original idea behind the CONCUR feature was to
allow the results of one or more formatting processes
to coexist [...] I therefore recommend that CONCUR
not be used to create multiple logical views of a
document, such as verse-oriented and speech-oriented
views of poetry..."
Of course, this is just the recollection and interpretation
of one person, reflecting upon and rethinking 1980-vintage
decisions in 1990, but Goldfarb is the key person.
Goldfarb, Charles F. The SGML Handbook. Edited and
with a foreword by Yuri Rubinsky. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1990. Extent: 688 pages. ISBN:
0-19-853737-1. This volume contains the full annotated
text of ISO 8879 (with amendments) and complete
commentary on the SGML standard by its major architect
and editor.
http://xml.coverpages.org/goldfarbTOC.html
http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-853737-9
-----------------------------------------------------
Robin Cover
XML Cover Pages
WWW: http://xml.coverpages.org
Newsletter: http://xml.coverpages.org/newsletter.html
Innodata Isogen: rcover@innodata-isogen.com
OASIS: robin.cover@oasis-open.org
On Fri, 30 Apr 2004, Robin Cover wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 jcowan@reutershealth.com wrote:
>
> > Robin Cover scripsit:
> >
> > > Are you forgetting about some of the
> > > untested SGML 'FEATURES' that got into ISO 8879, and by common
> > > consent (from my POV) represent engineering monstrosities?
> >
> > Something I'd like to see: a historical note explaining the features of
> > SGML that didn't make it into XML, particularly focused on what they were
> > intended to be used for.
>
> I'm not sure this note will ever be written, as it would likely not be
> flattering to any of the people who deserve credit for making the
> core ideas of SGML a success. Read between the lines in Steve DeRose's
> SGML FAQ Book, and read (twice) through the postings of Erik Naggum
> to comp.text.sgml, and ask some of the people who witnessed the ISO
> process at work in the final months before 8879 became cast in steel.
>
> I could write what I think I know about this, but I don't think it
> would serve any interest other than historical, and it would represent
> disproportionate focus on a part of the story that's not so pretty.
> One example: we know a lot about the 'CONCUR' problem (some
> refs at http://xml.coverpages.org/hierarchies.html ) but the experts
> I know will tell you that the SGML CONCUR feature did not solve the
> "real" concur problem, and arguably, not even the problem it tried
> to solve, because of ambiguities [things not/under-specified] in the
> standard.
>
> My intent was not to discredit the 8879 Standard, nor to discredit
> the principal designers (most of whom were not formally trained
> computer scientists, as has often been observed), but to offer one
> small example showing how the ISO process itself does not guarantee
> QA. That's important if the notion of "guaranteeing a better chance"
> is fundamentally and profoundly non-determinative.
>
> Robin
>
>
> > --
> > "May the hair on your toes never fall out!" John Cowan
> > --Thorin Oakenshield (to Bilbo) jcowan@reutershealth.com
> >
>
>
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