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Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 22:14:49 -0500
X-Sender: cbullard@HiWAAY.net
To: john@eco.powernet.co.uk (John Middlemas)
From: cbullard@HiWAAY.net (Len Bullard)
Subject: RE: Web neurons
Cc: hyper-theory@math.byu.edu
X-UIDL: 832931272.001
>
>>What you're proposing is not HTML. HTML is about delivering pages of content
>>for presentation.
>
>Whatever HTML is about can be changed (but probably won't be).
There will be alternatives, hopefully, compatible with HTML.
Check out http://navycals.dt.navy.mil/mid.html and look for a language
called Metafile for Interactive Documents of MID. It uses
chains of infoContainers as state machines for navigation
of database content. The link traversals are gosub, goto, spawn and get.
The links can be strongly typed and are n-way. These links
can be powerful because semantics can be assigned and
used in functions, expressions, and xenoforms
for calls to externals. It was created as a client language
for long lifecycle behaviors (e.g, technical information).
MID was designed to be interpreted or used as an
intermediate transport language. It is verbose but
it was meant to be human readable and reasonable
to teach to humans.
Libraries can be built using SGML general entities
and catalogs. It is ISO 8879 and ISO 10744 conforming.
I realize that cuts little ice in the Web worlds, but this
wasn't designed for the web or HTTP although it could
work in that environment. Three working prototypes exist with
the last built under the MS MFC. The US Navy designed
it but it is an open specification.
len bullard
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/
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John Middlemas
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