IBM Generalized Markup Language

IBM Generalized Markup Language ( IBM GML ) is a collection of macros that contain formatting commands for the IBM word processing program SCRIPT . SCRIPT is the main component of IBM's Document Composition Facility (DCF). DCF offers a collection of such formatting commands (tags) for beginners.

GML was developed in 1969 and in the early 1970s by Charles Goldfarb , Edward Mosher and Raymond Lorie .

GML makes electronic documents transportable and compatible with different devices. By providing the text elements with a markup with regard to their content , the document is structured logically and not related to presentation .

GML tags are markups that identify elements as chapters, headings, lists, paragraphs or tables.

GML frees writers of texts from document-specific formatting such as defined fonts, line spacing and page layout that are required by a script. If GML is used, a document is marked with tags that determine how a character has to look; this can also be transferred to paragraphs, lists, tables and others. The document can then be automatically formatted for a variety of different peripheral devices by specifying a profile for each device. For example, by defining a profile, it is possible to determine how a document is output on a laser printer , a dot matrix printer or just a screen without changing the document itself.

With BookMaster , IBM later offered a product that could handle many more formatting commands than SCRIPT.

With the further development of GML, it became one of the two sources that are used today as the basis for the industry standard Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), a set of instructions for a structured markup language .

Extensible Markup Language was initially an adapted and simplified further development of SGML, but quickly developed into its own standard due to its widespread use and widespread use.

By the way, GML is not to be confused with Game Maker Language or Geography Markup Language , which was developed by the Open GIS Consortium .

A sample page in GML

   :h1.Erstes Kapitel:  Einführung
   :p.GML unterstützt hierarchische Container, wie etwa
   :ol
   :li.geordnete Listen,
   :li.ungeordnete Listen,
   :li.Definitionslisten
   :eol.
   sowie einfache Strukturen.
   :p.Die vereinfachte Auszeichnung erlaubt es, abschließende
   Formatierungsbefehle wie zum Beispiel für die Elemente "h1"
   oder "p" auszulassen.

additional

Web links

GML Starter Set User's Guide (English)
GML Starter Set Reference (English)

Individual evidence

^ Charles F. Goldfarb: The Roots of SGML - A Personal Recollection . 1996. Retrieved July 7, 2007.

[TheRootsOfSgml-1] Charles F. Goldfarb: The Roots of SGML - A Personal Recollection . 1996. Retrieved July 7, 2007.