XML
Europe '99; A Smashing Success!
After
making a rather lengthy and at times difficult
journey, I can report that the trip to Granada
Spain to attend 1999's XML Europe was well worth
the effort! Despite the travel difficulties, aggravated
by an airline showdown and lost luggage, over
950 people showed up to participate in this year's
European conference.
This
year, the name of GCA's major conference in Europe
focused on "Information - Cheaper, Faster,
Better!" It provided a wide variety of tutorials,
outstanding keynotes, and comprehensive track
content focusing on applications, trends, and
technologies that support the use of both XML
and SGML. Tracks included Application Technologies,
Core Technologies, Information Technology Executive
Briefings, and Graphics. The exposition ran from
Tuesday through Thursday and provided our first
view of some exciting new tools from European
vendors.
Standards
Update
This
year three major information standards organizations,
OASIS (the Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards), ISO (the International
Organization for Standardization) and W3C (the
World Wide Web Consortium), joined forces to present
the XML Europe Standards Update. Norbert Mikula
from OASIS was joined in the Standards Update
by ISO representative, Dr. Charles F. Goldfarb
and by W3C representatives, Dan Connolly, Jon
Bosak (Sun Microsystems) and Tim Bray. Each reported
on their organization's standards activities.
You
can find out more about this update by linking
to the article focusing on the update!
Adding
XML to Databases
One
of the split plenary sessions on Wednesday focused
on two leading database providers and how they
intend to add XML capabilities to their databases.
Steve Munsch, the XML Evangelist for Oracle Corporation
and Paul Nerger, Executive Director of Marketing
for Informix provided us with radically different
approaches to the integration of XML and databases.
You
can find out more about this update by linking
to the article focusing on these presentations!
To
Parse; or Not to Parse?
XML
Allows the interchange and use of DTD-less documents.
Does this mean that validation is no longer necessary?
Some say that DTDs are a holdover from the SGML
days where all we did was publish aircraft maintenance
manuals. Others believe that DTDs are still important
and that the use of un-validated XML is a poor
business decision. At XML Europe 99, a panel of
experts were asked whether there is a place for
un-validated XML.
You
can find out more about what the experts think
when it comes to Well Formed Vs. Validated by
linking to the article focusing on this panel!
I
hope everyone enjoyed the conference as much as
I did. In addition to outstanding conference facilities,
Granada provided the best in sights, food, and
entertainment. If you want to see some images
of Granada, just follow this
link
Dianne
Kennedy
Editor,
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