Standard Generalized Markup Language

The Standard Generalized Markup Language (ISO 8879:1986 SGML) is an ISO-standard technology for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 defines generalized markup:

Generalized markup is based on two novel postulates:

  • Markup should be declarative: it should describe a document's structure and other attributes, rather than specify the processing to be performed on it. Declarative markup is less likely to conflict with unforeseen future processing needs and techniques.
  • Markup should be rigorous so that the techniques available for processing rigorously-defined objects like programs and databases can be used for processing documents as well.

HTML, XHTML, and XML are all examples of SGML-based languages.

Read more about Standard Generalized Markup Language:  Standard Versions, History, Document Validity, Syntax, Formal Characterization, Applications, Open Source Implementations

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