1. Introduction

Welcome, Newbie! Here's a bit of info.

This was written to help you get started with SGML. There are better introductions and one may be available on the CTS. Just remember that FREE is FREE and worth whatever you can get from it. Let the Buyer Beware.

This is quick and shallow dive into a deep and powerful current. Don't use it as a reference as it was written for brevity and is imprecise. Get a GoodBook on the subject and form your own opinions.

1.1 What IS SGML?

(This is very loose because the formal, precise explanation requires a GoodBook.)

• A markup language in which the user can design or apply an abstract data type that does not necessarily reference the operations that are posted to the data type. The ADT is applied to document instances that correspond to its type. Depending on the operations that are defined for the type, many processes can be supported.
• A system-independent metalanguage for the generic coding of a data structure, that is, a neutral markup language for unfielded data.
• A rigorous syntax for describing the structures of a document class as a hierarchy where the document is a class of unfielded data
• A wrapper for data that contains external references to data types encoded in another language (e.g., an external notation).

1.2 What SGML is NOT

• A page description language for formatting documents.
• System-specific instructions to a formatting language.
• An object-oriented programming language.