Bryan - An Introduction to the Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Out of all four articles, I believe this one explained the function and advantages of XML over its predecessors most clearly. For example, Bryan writes XML "is designed to make it easy to interchange structured documents over the Internet." "Another succinct definition of XML which encapsulates its function is where Bryan states "XML is formal language that can be used to pass information about the component parts of a document to another computer system."
I believe that one advantage which XML brings is that it forces its coders to think in a very disciplined fashion. Bryan describes this where he states, "To allow the computer to check the structure of a document users must provide it with a document type definition that declares each of the permitted entities, elements and attributes and the relationships among them."
Ogbuji - A survey of XML standards: Part I
Muddiest Point: I felt very frustrated that Ogbuji did not seem to bother with classifying these many standards by like functions. Instead, although I may know how a specific standard functions, I do not know its relationship to XML nor how to employ it. I feel this type of explanatory text is only useful if one already has seen each of these standards in action. Perhaps a fifteen minute demonstrative video would be better.
Tidwell - Introduction to XML
Tidwell's guide really helps me create DTDs. I use it all the time when I have a DTD assignment. However, I use the W3CSchools reference first, because it is online and therefore most likely updated often. Tidwell's piece is ten years old and is in danger of becoming obsolete.
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