<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Is sgmlspl the best way to convert SGML documents?</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <P><B>Links</B>: <A HREF=specs.html>Next</A> <A HREF=installation.html>Previous</A> <A HREF=sgmlspl.html>Up</A> <A HREF=sgmlspl.html>Top</A></P> <H1>Is <A HREF=sgmlspl.html><TT>sgmlspl</TT></A> the best way to convert <A HREF="http://www.sil.org/sgml/sgml.html"><B>SGML</B></A> documents?</H1> <P>Not necessarily. While <A HREF=sgmlspl.html><TT>sgmlspl</TT></A> is fully functional, it is not always particularly intuitive or pleasant to use. There is a new proposed standard, <I>Document Style Semantics and Specification Language</I> (<B>DSSSL</B>), based on the <TT>Scheme</TT> programming language, and implementations should soon be available. To read more about the <TT>DSSSL</TT> standard, see <A HREF="http://www.jclark.com/dsssl"><TT>http://www.jclark.com/dsssl/</TT></A> on the Internet.</P> <P>That said, <B>DSSSL</B> is a declarative, side-effect-free programming language, while <A HREF=sgmlspl.html><TT>sgmlspl</TT></A> allows you to use any programming constructions available in <A HREF="http://www.metronet.com/0/perlinfo/perl5/manual/perl.html"><TT>perl5</TT></A>, including those with side-effects. This means that if you want to do more than simply format the document or convert it from one <I>Document Type Definition</I> (<B>DTD</B>) to another, <A HREF=sgmlspl.html><TT>sgmlspl</TT></A> might be a good choice.</P> <P><B>Links</B>: <A HREF=specs.html>Next</A> <A HREF=installation.html>Previous</A> <A HREF=sgmlspl.html>Up</A> <A HREF=sgmlspl.html>Top</A></P> <ADDRESS>David Megginson <A HREF="mailto:dmeggins@aix1.uottawa.ca"><dmeggins@aix1.uottawa.ca></A></ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>