Unit 7 XML

Unit 7 Blog

I found the UACBT “Introduction to XML” by Mark Long to be very helpful for learning about XML. Over the last few years I've seen many references to XML but never really understood just what it is or how it relates to HTML. Another term that I've come across a lot in the professional literature is XHTML - same problem - a lot of folks writing about it but until this week I didn't understand that XHTML is really HTML with a structure and rules that makes it more interoperable with XML. While HTML is fat and lazy and is helped out by the “understanding” browser, XHTML is highly structured and won't display properly in a browser unless it is well formed. At least I think that is the concept behind XHTML. Also XML is a way of tagging your data so that it can be reused for a variety of purposes. Generally HTML is good at presentation and style but isn't very good at describing the data embedded in the HTML document.

Anyway returning to XML the UACBT videos are really helpful, and Mark Long is excellent at breaking down the concepts of XML in a way that allows a newbie like myself to understand some of the basics. On the other hand I found the YouTube video “Just Enough XML to Survive” to be way over my head. The pace was too fast; I kept stopping and restarting and the part about XML Schemas was way more than I could digest in this my first week's exposure to XML. I'll try reading more about XML and going through more of the UACBT videos on DTD and XML Schemas before going back to the YouTube video. Perhaps by then it will make more sense.

As to my Ubuntu practice system, everything is operational and going well. I followed all of the directions in the Unit 7 Assignments and all went according to plan. The PuTTY application gave me access to a command line console that I needed in the absence of a monitor. Using my host machine to send commands to the practice system was very cool. Didn't shove my practice system behind the sofa though, since my Ethernet cable isn't that long and I know it needs to be connected to the router. My study is now a hopeless jumble of ups, cables, cable modem, router, desktop, etc. , and likely to remain so until 672 and 675 are completed.