Study Questions

You should be able to answer each of the following questions.

1. Why should we bother with SGML when there are already a large number of choices of representations and systems for word processing and document creation/ editing/ formating/ displaying/ printing/ searching?
2. What is SGML --- from the perspectives of: grammar systems, document modeling and representation, user manipulation of texts, document interchange, electronic publishing, and document analysis?
3. What are the main types of markup, how and when are they used, what are their relative advantages and disadvantages, what are some typical systems used with each, and what are the main categories of markup processing?
4. Why do we need to translate between document forms, how can that best be accomplished, what are the problems that may lead to the need for human intervention on occasion, and what can be done to help make this process fully-automatic?
5. How good are tools to help with SGML and document translation, where is there room for improvement, and what are some possible lines of further development in these areas?