i once thought that SGML was for specifying document structures, but
considering SOIF and SBENTO and SGML (which has program, eg, Java classes,
object entities as well as character or system data (SGML) entities)
together there is interchange and content specification suitable for what i
believe is a broad range of systems.
i am presently working on the specification of protocols with SGML. of
course the syntax is there and then one has to produce a way of associating
syntax with semantics. i am progressing to the point of attempting this
with Java, wherein i can readily name a class in a DTD, load it within a
Java SGML parser-shell, and thereby associated the program object with the
protocol syntax on the DTD-level.
the reason i like this approach is that i will (hopefully) produce a very
open shell program which via initialization with a DTD (or via SOIF with
multiple DTDs) i can boot a server with protocol *and content*. nice for
web servers.
also , see HyTime.
-john