Copyright (c) Robin Cover 1994-97. Last modified April 21, 1997.
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The brief bibliographic list offered below has been extracted from titles in the main reference list. These titles will provide access to the basics of SGML, and should be sufficient to give any researcher a foundation for further study and implementation of the Standard.
Contents:
Coombs, James H.; Renear, Allen H.; DeRose, Steven J. "Markup Systems and the Future of Scholarly Text Processing." Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery 30/11 (1987) 933-947. ISSN: 0001-0782. Reprinted in The Digital Word: Text-Based Computing in the Humanities, eds. George P. Landow and Paul Delaney (Cambridge/London: MIT Press, 1993) 85-118. A pioneering article on SGML and descriptive markup. See the abstract in the full bibliographic entry, or the online version [mirror copy].
"A Gentle Introduction to SGML." Pages 13-36 (Chapter 2) in Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange (TEI P3). Edited by C.M. Sperberg-McQueen and Lou Burnard. Chicago: ACH/ACL/ALLC [Association for Computers and the Humanities, Association for Computational Linguistics, Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing], April 8 1994. 2 volumes, xxvi + 1290 pages. Chapter 2 supplies an excellent introduction to SGML; the remainder of the two volumes will be of interest to anyone planning to implement SGML for analysis of literary and linguistic data. See the full reference for availability on the Internet, on CDROM, and in print copy. The HTML version for the 'Gentle Introduction': http://sable.ox.ac.uk/ota/teip3sg/, or from the UIC TEI Web server, or from HTI.
SoftQuad, Inc. The SGML Primer. SoftQuad's Quick Reference Guide to the Essentials of the Standard: The SGML Needed for Reading a DTD and Marked-up Documents and Discussing them Reasonably. Version 3.0 (Correction and revision of Version 2.0, May 1991). Toronto: SoftQuad Inc., December, 1991. 36 pages. The SGML Primer provides a highly readable and even enjoyable introduction to the essential concepts and features of SGML. See the bibliographic entry for ordering information, or access the work online via SoftQuad's WWW server: (1) The SGML Primer: Introduction, and (2) The SGML Primer: Main Text. An HTML client capable of handling graphics is necessary for viewing the color figures.
Goldfarb, Charles F. The SGML Handbook. Edited and with a foreword by Yuri Rubinsky. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 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. See the full bibliographic entry for summary and Table of Contents.
Usenet News: comp.text.sgml (CTS). Monitored, archived, and quality-maintained by Erik Naggum. In terms of currency, interactivity, volume, and high technical quality, the CTS group and its archive constitute a superior and probably unmatched resource for critical commentary on SGML. Its 7000+ contributions are not individually referenced here. See the main CTS entry for full and current details, or the CTS shadow archive maintained by Arjan Loeffen.
Alschuler, Liora. ABCD. . .SGML: A User's Guide to Structured Information. London/Boston: International Thomson Computer Press, 1995. xviii + 414 pages; diskette with SoftQuad's Panorama FREE browser and SGML Resource Guide. ISBN: 1-850-32197-3. A highly readable, carefully researched, and informative guide that includes over a dozen case studies. The book deals not so much with the technical details of the SGML standard as with structured information as a corporate asset -- and why it makes sense that SGML is being implemented widely in the industry, government, and academic sectors. "The book is for managers of publishing projects -- electronic or print or both -- who are in the initial stages of adopting SGML or are considering adopting SGML or who see this new technology looming over the horizon and need to know more about it before they plot their own course in response. It is also intended for programmers and system implementors, again, as a general framework that describes the new processes and changes to workflow that inevitably accompany a new technology" [author's description]. A review of the book from Seybold Report on Publishing Systems is available online. See the bibliographic entry for abstract, overview and other reviews, as well as links to the publisher's WWW server giving the full text of the volume Preface, Table of Contents, and Microsoft's Cinemania case study [from Chapter 4].
Bryan, Martin. SGML: An Author's Guide to the Standard Generalized Markup Language. Wokingham/Reading/New York: Addison-Wesley, 1988. 380 pages. ISBN: 0-201-17535-5. A highly detailed manual explaining and illustrating features of ISO 8879. See the bibliographic entry for summary.
Colby, Martin; Jackson, David S. Special Edition. Using SGML. QUE Special Edition Series. Indianapolis, IN: QUE Corporation, Macmillan Publishing. ISBN: 0-7897-0414-5. Extent: 600+ pages, with CDROM. Note: In light of review by SGML experts, this book cannot be recommended without qualification for SGML beginners, as it apparently contains an excess of typographic error and/or errors of fact in technical areas. See the main bibliographic entry for further volume description, including links to the online version, and caveats.
Donovan, Truly. Industrial-Strength SGML: An Introduction to Enterprise Publishing. Charles F. Goldfarb Series On Open Information Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1997. ISBN: 0-13-216243-1. The book is written "for people who need to understand how publishing applications and publishing systems can be built around this [SGML] technology to achieve a wide variety of objectives, the most critical of which is the systematic development and maintenance and use of the enterprise's information assets." [from the Preface] See the main bibliographic entry for further description.
Ensign, Chet. SGML: The Billion Dollar Secret. Charles F. Goldfarb Series On Open Information Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1996. ISBN: 0-13-226705-5. The book contains a "series of detailed case studies of companies that have successfully deployed SGML to solve common information problems like document assembly lines that won't work because the pieces won't fit together, or products that can't get to market because an army of writers can't keep up with the changes, or support costs that are going through the roof because the published information is too complicated for the buyers to read." See the bibliography entry for other details.
Herwijnen, Eric van. Practical SGML. 2nd edition. Boston/Dordrecht/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994. xx + 288 pages. ISBN: 0-7923-9434-8. One of the best general and introductory texts on SGML currently available. Available in paper and as an electronic book (SGML tutorial). See the bibliographic entry for details, including online Table of Contents.
Maler, Eve; El Anduloussi, Jeanne. Developing SGML DTDs: From Text to Model to Markup. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1996. Extent: 560 pages. ISBN: 0-13-309881-8. The books offers detailed treatment of the 'SGML Document Type Definition (DTD) -- the formal specification that forms the foundation for every document based on the SGML language. This guide shows how to develop DTDs that work, based a proven methodology and techniques. It explains how DTD development benefits from the same rigorous treatment as software development: Articulate project goals, analyze requirements, write specifications, design and implement readable and maintainable code using good programming style, perform thorough testing, and document the work along the way' [text adapted]. See the main bibliographic entry for details, including link to the online table of contents.
Travis, Brian E.; Waldt, Dale C. The SGML Implementation Guide: A Blueprint for SGML Migration. Berlin/New York: Springer-Verlag, 1995. xxiv + 552 pages. ISBN: 0-387-57730-0; 3-540-57730-0. "The philosophy behind this book is to provide a pragmatic working knowledge of SGML and related disciplines and techniques needed to actually achieve a successful implementation. . .The book is not a review of products, but it does contain mention of some products as an example of what is available. It is not an executive briefing offering a high-level view of the advangates of implementing a structured approcah to data, nor is it a nuts-and-bolts description of how to write SGML applications. Rather, it strikes a ground between those two extremes, offering to the people who must make the decision to implement, then the implementors, enough information to get well down the road to SGML." [authors' description] See the bibliographic entry for abstract, reviews, and HTTP links to the full text of the Table of Contents and sample chapters. [NB. I have not yet seen this book -rcc]
Turner, Ronald C.; Douglass, Timothy A.; Turner, Audrey J. README.1ST: SGML for Writers and Editors. Charles F. Goldfarb Series On Open Information Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR, 1995. xxi + 241 pages, diskette. ISBN: 0-13-432717-9. "This is a non-technical introduction to SGML for writers and editors who need to work in an SGML environment. The focus is not on the technical details of the standard but rather on how writers and editors can benefit from and work effectively with SGML. Included with the book is a diskette that contains SGMLAB, a DOS-based SGML application that includes a parser and browser and numerous sample SGML documents. Using SGMLAB, readers can view on-line both the structure and output of SGML documents, and validate those documents." [publisher's description] See the bibliographic entry for detailed overview and published book reviews.
DeRose, Steven J.; Durand, David G. Making Hypermedia Work: A User's Guide to HyTime. Boston/Dordrecht/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994. xxii + 384 pages. ISBN: 0-7923-9432-1. HyTime is an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 10744) and is an application of SGML for hypermedia and other time-based documents. A very readable introduction to SGML is provided in Chapter 3 of the book (pages 35-61), "Overview of SGML." See the bibliographic entry for details.
Ferris, Ralph E.; Newcomb, Victoria Taussig (ed). HyTime Application Development Guide. Version 1.2.4. San Jose, CA and Rochester, NY: Fujitsu Open Systems Solutions and TechnoTeacher, Inc., February 27, 1996. Extent: 8 chapters, approximately 106 pages. The Guide clarifies the relationship between SGML and HyTime, shows how HyTime constructs can be used to extend the basic capabilities of SGML, and describes some of the basic features of HyTime, with examples. The document is available in PostScript format from TechnoTeacher's FTP server. Version 1.2 of the document is also available in PDF format through PHOENIX DATA LABS.
Kimber, W. Eliot. Practical Hypermedia: An Introduction to HyTime. Charles F. Goldfarb Series On Open Information Management. New York: Prentice-Hall Professional Technical Reference, [forthcoming 1997]. ISBN: 0-13-309899-0. Approximately 250 pages. See the fuller entry for details. Eliot Kimber's HyQ tutorial, HyTime and SGML: Understanding the HyTime HyQ Query Language, is very useful meantime.
SoftQuad, Inc. The SGML World Tour. Toronto, Ontario: SoftQuad, Inc., Spring, 1994. ISBN: 1-896172-01-6. This CDROM publication stores a large and valuable library of SGML resources on CDROM disk. including sample SGML applications. See the full entry for details.
Exoterica Corporation. The Compleat SGML. CD-ROM disc. Ottawa, Ontario: Exoterica Corporation, August, 1993. This hypertext tool for Microsoft Windows (using an Asymetrix Toolkit) links the full online text of the ISO8879:1986 SGML standard with 2348 SGML test documents and other SGML resources. See the bibliographic entry for fuller description.
The SGML University Board of Regents. SGML Power Tools. Denver, Colorado: SGML University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-9649602-0-6. "The CD-ROM is full of information, applications, software demonstrations, and other resources needed to get started using SGML. Leading companies in the SGML industry provide information about their products, and some have included demonstration software or outright free software on the disc." See the full bibliographic entry for details.