Unit 9: Comments

I commented on Sarah's blog at: http://2600infototechnology.blogspot.com/2009/11/9th-readings.html#comments and on Erin's at: http://erinlis2600.blogspot.com/2009/11/week-9-notes.html#comments

Unit 9: Muddiest Points

I had no muddiest points for this week.

Unit 9: Reading Notes

Introduction to the Extensible Markup Language (XML)

While reading this article it finally sank in that languages such as HTML and XML truly are just like other languages. These particular ones take words, grammar, and symbols from the English language and create a language to bridge the gap between human and machine. I'm not sure why this revelation took me so long, but it helps me study and absorb the languages now that I'm thinking of them as though I'm learning a foreign language very similar to English. That being said, I can't imagine having a language other than English as my native language, and needing to become semi-fluent in English in order to write HTML or XML. so far XML seems more complicated and/or confusing than HTML. I'm hoping the tutorials will shed some light as it sounds like knowing XML will be necessary for building digital databases.

A survey of XML standards: Part 1

This article honestly just confused me and made me nervous. It talked about the different languages that are called XML. Basically it seems as though there is a specific format for every specific need that could arise. The confusion and nervousness came from the multitude and complexity of XML. It would take a lot of time to understand and utilize it fully.

Extending Your Markup: An XML Tutorial

Yay! This article began by reassuring me that thinking XML is simple then discovering it's really not is typical and okay. The reassurance made me want to read the article. Things are still a bit hazy, but I'm starting to get a better grasp of how XML works just by understanding its syntax a little better.

XML Schema Tutorial (W3 Schools)

This tutorial was not as useful as the HTML one last week. I kept expecting them to let me try XML myself, but this interactive feature was missing to my dismay. I am beginning to see better how XML can help define relationships within a database. I hope our lecture makes things a little more clear though.