Week 9 Reading Assignments: XML

The Brighton University Resource Kit for Students
http://student.brighton.ac.uk/burks_6/

From what is posted here, I must say that I would have loved to have access to this while I was an undergrad, especially while I was programming. Even now, there may be some use to have compilers and programming guides on hand. . .

I'm also a fan of the concept as a whole: open source software to fulfill student needs at the beginning of the year. Who has gone to college and did NOT wish for something like this at the start of the year?

I'll download the ISO after work (if the other assignments don't get in the way) and see how it goes.


A survey of XML standards: Part 1

A basic set of notes on XML standards (which, when you think about it, "standards" in any programming field are loose at best and impossible at worst), including version history, a note on the "flavors of standards," and even external links for training purposes and furthering your knowledge. I liked the way it breaks down individual aspects of XML into chunks for easier degrees of understanding.

My only objection to this is the method of writing. It seems rather drab, much like my old programming books, and some of the information that I should have been picking up seemed to just slide away.

I do wish this actually opened with an explanation of XML. As someone with no applicable experience with this, it would have been nice to know a bit more about it.


Extending Your Markup: An XML Tutorial

By opening up with the comment of XML being simple and can solve "all your problems," this article's writer already caught my attention. Thankfully, this article explains that XML is heavily impacted by HTML and SGML, setting my mind at ease when I start noticing too many similarities in style and questioning if I've started looking at the wrong assignment or somehow accidentally discovered time travel. . .

I also seem a few correlations between XML and C++ regarding the "declarations" (i.e. the prolog) at the beginning of an XML document. Just a note for personal reference, feel free to ignore it.

The rest of the article seems to be a bit more "user friendly" compared to the previous reading assignment. There's still a bit that's over my head (I still feel as though I am not smart enough for programming), but perhaps after I read this a second (or third) time, I will have a better understanding of what is actually being discussed and explained in this and the other articles.

W3 XML Schema Tutorial
http://www.w3schools.com/Schema/default.asp

Once again, we find ourselves back with another tutorial from W3. This time, we get some basic XML notes and explanations, and then we are neck deep in the concepts of a Schema and how to use it.

There is clearly a trend here; explanation, elaboration, hands-on-tutorials, done.
I do like the approach of showing what the "writing" actually looks like, as I personally tend to learn more from having the design in front of me than by just simple reiteration of terms.



Sadly, there really wasn't much I had to say. I am a bit off due to a few things that have occurred, so please bear with me (and my not-to-par writing style) as I move through these things.