Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!tivoli!lark
From: lark@tivoli.UUCP (Lar Kaufman)
Newsgroups: comp.text.sgml
Subject: Re: hypertext, sgml and latex?
Keywords: SGML SMDL HyTime hypermedia hypertext
Message-ID: <174@tivoli.UUCP>
Date: 8 Nov 90 18:58:40 GMT
References: <3967.27396cba@cc.helsinki.fi>
Reply-To: lark@tivoli.UUCP (Lar Kaufman)
Organization: Tivoli Systems Inc., Austin, TX
Lines: 57

In article <3967.27396cba@cc.helsinki.fi> harmo@cc.helsinki.fi (Timo Harmo, Fac. of Soc. Sci., U of Helsinki) writes:
>Are there any programs to convert sgml-marked text into some decent
>hypertext-system? I have a fairly extensively cross-referenced and indexed
>text of 200 pages written using Latex, and I'll like to build a hypertext
>system (preferably for PC's) out of it. I heard that the conversion from latex
>to smgl wouldn't be too difficult (?).
> 
>A friend claimed that sgml will be very important in the hypertext-arena. 
>Is that so? I dont know anything about sgml but am interested in hypertext, so
>I'd like to know if sgml is something I should learn about.
> -Timo Harmo

I guess I can address this briefly and also some earlier queries about SMDL...
Unquestionably, SGML will be a key standard in the development of hypertext, 
and beyond that, of hypermedia and interactive hypermedia (polymedia).  That 
is because of the context-free information tagging system, primarily.  Adding 
impetus to the development of SGML for hypertext is the U.S. Government's 
"paperless Pentagon" concept, CALS (the exact translation of the acronym 
escapes me at the moment, so I'll leave that to someone else).  CALS adds 
definitions for file systems, graphics formats (vector and bitmap) and the 
like, using established standards.  The SGML standard implicitly supports 
ISO graphic standards and is deliberately extensible to support future needs 
in this area.
 
The author of SGML, Charles Goldfarb, continues to guide development beyond 
basic SGML.  The X3V1.8M Committee of ANSI is developing the SMDL (Standard
Music Description Language) as an extension of SGML, and also HyTime 
(Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring Language), another extension.  These 
standards are ANSI projects X3.542-D and X3.749-D respectively.  

I'm not aware of commercial products that are available to implement either 
of these extensions yet, although a plethora of SGML tools are appearing 
on the market now, and a number of older publishing systems are incorporating 
SGML features or compatibility, including FrameMaker and Interleaf.  I'm 
afraid that TeX is unlikely to be a major part in the development of SGML 
products, although it is easy enough to develop tools to convert SGML into 
TeX, Scribe, troff, or whatever scripting language you like.  The reverse 
translation is difficult because of the contextual tagging that normally   
occurs in these languages.  This is the same limiting factor in developing 
generic hypermedia tools using RFT/DCA formatting.  Getting LaTeX and 
especially man pages into SGML is much easier because most of the tags are 
structural tags.

If you are serious about SGML, you might want to go ahead and move beyond TeX 
platforms to tools that are better positioned for SGML development, such as 
IBM's BookMaster/BookManager (VM systems) and SGML TextWrite (OS/2?), SoftQuad's 
Author/Editor (Macintosh and soon Unix), or FrameMaker (Unix, Macintosh, and 
NeXT).  I'm disappointed to say that MS Dos-based tools are still lacking, but 
I have hopes that all popular U.S. word processor vendors will adopt SGML 
support.  The U.S. government's requirements for these capabilities are a 
powerful incentive to provide the capability.

-lar

(apprentice infotect)