There are so many XML resources on the Web, I've had to categorize. The first section here is the most useful, since the documents
are either high-level summaries or excellent link sites. Apologies to anyone who was omitted.
XML and JavaGeneral XML resources
"XML, Java and the Future of the Web," Jon Bosak. The paper that started it all, at least from a Java programmer's point of
view. Definitely worth a read, even if it's a bit dated. Jon is commonly considered to be the father of XML. Funny how all
of these technologies seem to have paternity http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/sun-info/standards/xml/why/xmlapps.html
The W3C's XML resource page lets you cheer from the sidelines as XML technology proposals develop into recommendations, or
join in the fray on their active mailing lists http://www.w3.org/XML/
OASIS, the Web site of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, offers general news and information
about XML http://www.oasis-open.org
The Graphics Communications Association, host of the XTech '99 conference (March 11 to 13, 1999, San Jose, CA) and the upcoming
XML Europe '99 conference in Granada, Spain, (April 26 to 30, 1999) has a Web site packed with XML information http://www.gca.org/
XML.com is great for watching trends and digging up XML news http://www.xml.com
Textuality hosts Tim Bray's site. Check it out for a look at the "big picture" of how XML fits into the structured document
universe -- and for a look at Lark, Tim's nonvalidating XML processor http://www.textuality.com/
Generally Markup, Richard Lander's Web site may be of interest to you if you haven't yet read enough about markup languages http://pdbeam.uwaterloo.ca/~rlander/
The Mulberry Technologies Web site is a good resource for commercial training in XML, as well as general XML and SGML consulting
by seasoned SGML experts http://www.mulberrytech.com
The Web Developer's Virtual Library Series on XML offers good summaries of various XML technologies, as well as annotated
indices of XML software http://wdvl.com/Software/XML
Microsoft's Site Builder Network provides a series of articles called "Extreme XML," one of which appears in the following
link. While some of it focuses on Microsoft-only, Windows-only technology, there's still some great stuff here http://www.microsoft.com/sitebuilder/magazine/xml.asp
Microsoft's XML and XSL tutorial site is especially interesting because of the recent release of client-side XSL in Internet
Explorer 5.0. Extensive and excellent http://www.microsoft.com/xml
Though the details aren't yet worked out, Sun Microsystems will soon announce a call for proposals for a 0,000 grant to develop
a client-side processor for full XSL implementation in Mozilla. It will also announce, in conjunction with Adobe, a contest (first prize 0,000, second prize
0,000) to develop a pure-Java, server-side processor of the entire XSL language, to format XML to PDF (Adobe's document format).
Keep watching the Java Developer Connection (requires free registration), and Mozilla sites for the eventual announcements.
A great DOM tutorial by William Robert Stanek appears on PC Magazine Online in "Object-Based Web Design." This tutorial includes a discussion of using DOM with IDL, CORBA's Interface Definition Language http://www8.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/17/13/tf1713.001.html
More XML (and other Java) technology than you can shake a stick at is available at IBM's alphaWorks http://alphaworks.ibm.com
Version 2 of IBM's excellent XML parser package, xml4j, is available for download. This package includes several parsers,
both validating and nonvalidating http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/xml4j
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0, released this month, implements part of the XSL spec. You can find it on Microsoft's Web
site -- and also just about anywhere else http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm
Nothing to do on Friday night? Why not read up on the history of SGML? Charles Goldfarb, considered by many to be the "father
of SGML," reminisces publicly at http://www.sgmlsource.com/Goldfarb/history/index.htm
Useful XML and SGML information appears at Goldfarb's Web site, including a comprehensive XML book list http://www.sgmlsource.com
Bluestone Software has recently made a splash with pure-Java XML application servers, and a freely downloadable Swing package
called XwingML http://www.bluestone.com
Everyone (except Microsoft) is pretty freaked out about the US Patent Office awarding Microsoft a patent for certain kinds
of functionality in style sheets. What happens with this patent, and its impact on developing technology, remains to be seen.
Judge for yourself by reading the patent at http://www.patents.ibm.com/patlist?icnt=US&patent_number=5860073
The title of the sample recipe is actually the title of a very funny song by William Bolcom. Similar recipes may be found
at http://www.b4uby.com/granny/gsoup.htm