Scope of this Review
October 18, 1999
In the sections that follow, I'll cover some of the conference
highlights, based on the talks I attended. Sharp-eyed readers
may notice a preponderance of
speakers with the
name David. As a speaker myself, but not being so named, I
found myself at a distinct disadvantage, but remarked
"Does it count that my father's name was David?"
No one was very impressed.
Since I had to leave the conference Wednesday evening to
experience what turned out to be a Hurricane Floyd-cancelled
flight, I cannot report about the Thursday morning session.
Instead I direct readers to the
Thursday sessions page.
Readers may also find the
Tuesday sessions overview
and the
Wednesday sessions overview
useful.
Conference Opening
Joseph Gollner of XIA Information Architects Corp., a familiar
face to attendees from Ontario, contrasted XML with HTML.
HTML is a simple SGML application for viewing data (or perhaps
just documents), whereas XML is an intelligent data format
for complex systems. XML permits specification of data
constraints, expressing complex relationships,
and defining application behavior. But XML can be a
double-edged sword:
XML leads to simplicity which leads to interchangeability
which leads to complexity. No two instances of nay system
will be the same.
Gollner spoke of the transition in the mid 1980's from
procedural markup, such as Microsoft Word,
to generic markup, such as SGML. XML provides the best
of SGML for the Web.
XML World Conference Overview
What Happened at XML World?
XML Update
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