Why SGML and DocBook?
Well, I’m not getting paid for my work, so I tried to learn something new while writing this piece of documentation. SGML is one of the dinosaurs of information technology, an endangered species that may be killed by the more agile XML. So maybe feeding dinosaurs is just cool. DocBook is just another monster that is used by even larger monsters like HP for documentation. Definitely it’s also animal, because it’s used by O’Reilly & Associates, Inc.[1] Finally it’s an open technology: All specifications (and many tools) are freely available. Specific output formats are generated by applying style sheets within a framework consisting of James Clark’s JADE (James’ DSSSL Engine) and Norman Walsh’s Modular DocBook Stylesheets. While this document probably will be used mostly in HTML format, other formats like TeX and RTF (Rich Text Format) can be generated as well.
