From: Erik Naggum <SGML@ifi.uio.no>
Organization: Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Date: 05 Oct 1992 00:24:10 +0100
Subject: Re: How to get started

Zhahai Stewart <zstewart@nyx.cs.du.edu> asks:
|
|   Please excuse me if this is too common a question; I did not find
|   any FAQ for this group (is there one?).

It's in the making.

|   How would a low budget novice best learn more about SGML?

The best solution I can think of is to borrow "The SGML Handbook" from
your nearest well-equipped library.  Oslo has two such libraries, so any
reasonably sized city should have at least one.

|   In a local technical bookstore there are 3 books (from memory, imperfect):

I would consider that a pretty well-equipped bookstore.  In other words,
I don't know of any other SGML books.  (Barring "SGML -- A user's guide
to ISO 8879", which is essentially obsoleted after The SGML Handbook.)

|   SGML Handbook/Goldfarb $95!! looks good

Warmly recommended.  You can't get a better book on SGML.  The tutorial
annexes (to the standard) are informative and readable, and should be a
user's first contact with SGML.  I have long wished we could have them
electronically, since they're very well written, and most every other
intro is redundant in comparison.  Also, the Overview is the best thing
that ever happened to an ISO standard.  All standards should have a
Goldfarb to comment on and organize its definitions.  This is SGML's
concepts and vocabulary, and any SGML novice will find this extremely
valuable to go through a couple times, and use as reference.  The only
problem with the Handbook is that the alphabetical list of definitions
doesn't point back to the annotation in the Overview.  You have to
consult the index for that.  You will find that the definitions and the
concepts behind them, make some really obscure passages in the standard
quite easy reading.  (All larger standards are like this, and it _does_
take some getting used to.)

|   Practical SGML ($45)

Recommended.  This book has a slight bias towards problems with SGML in
practice, but is also well suited for people with some programming
background.  The two-dimensional explanations of the syntax is valuable
and is consistently used throughout the book.  I wouldn't recommend it
for complete beginners, though.  SGML is a fairly advanced language, and
you have to have some idea of what syntax and computer languages are
about before you get the most out of this book.

|   SGML author's guide (or similar, white) $33

Not recommended.  It confuses several issues, and is very far from "an
author's guide".

|   Any reviews or pointers would be appreciated.  FTP documents or
|   software would also be great.  Thanks!

"Practical SGML" was reviewed in an issue of <TAG>, and you'll find it
in the archive under by.date/19910412045610.  I have "reviewed" The SGML
Handbook several times.

ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/SGML contains several parsers and other information.
Do take a look.  The comp.text.sgml archive is also worth looking into.

|   (Um, all I know is from an article in Byte this year, plus browsing
|   in the bookstore; sounds interesting given my interest in structured
|   text.)

Hope this helps.  Robin Cover's bibliography is a good source of further
information.  The complete, larger bibliography is referenced in the
on-line version, and can be obtained from Queens U, Toronto, Canada.

Best regards,
</Erik>
--
Erik Naggum             :  ISO  8879 SGML     :      +47 295 0313
                        :  ISO 10744 HyTime   :
<erik@naggum.no>        :  ISO 10646 UCS      :      Memento, terrigena.
<enag@ifi.uio.no>       :  ISO  9899 C        :      Memento, vita brevis.