IBM Generalized Markup Language
| Industry | Information technology |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 16, 1911 |
| Headquarters | Armonk, New York , United States |
Generalized Markup Language (GML) consists of a collection of macros that provide intent-driven (procedural) markup tags designed for IBM's text formatter, SCRIPT. At the heart of IBM's Document Composition Facility (DCF) lies SCRIPT/VS, which incorporates an initial set of GML tags.
Characteristics
Created during the period from 1969 through the early 1970s by Charles Goldfarb, Edward Mosher, and Raymond Lorie—whose initials compose the acronym GML—this language employs tags to identify structural components such as paragraphs, headers, lists, and tables. This approach facilitates automated formatting tailored to different output devices, including laser printers, dot matrix printers, and display screens, by applying device-specific profiles without modifying the original document content.
GML served as the foundational technology for the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), an ISO-standard method for defining generalized markup languages. The broadly utilized Extensible Markup Language evolved as a simplified form of SGML and has since achieved greater worldwide adoption and support.
A GML script example
:h1 id='intr'.Chapter 1: Introduction :p.GML supported hierarchical containers, such as :ol. :li.Ordered lists (like this one), :li.Unordered lists, and :li.Definition lists :eol. as well as simple structures. :p.Markup minimization (later formalized in SGML), allowed omission of end-tags for elements like "h1" and "p".
Related programs
In the early 1980s, IBM introduced the Information Structure Identification Language (ISIL), a publishing tool built upon GML that produced much of IBM PC documentation. By the late 1980s, BookMaster—a commercial product heavily based on ISIL—was launched.
Don Williams at IBM developed DWScript in the early 1980s to enable SCRIPT/VS functionality on IBM PCs. Subsequently, in 1986, he created DWISIL, a PC adaptation of ISIL; both tools remained proprietary within IBM.
IBM still employs GML as a descriptive language within IBM i and its antecedents for "panel groups." These panel groups provide formatted help text, menu-like interfaces with integrated assistance, or comprehensive application displays containing input/output fields alongside other text-based user interface (TUI) elements formatted according to IBM Common User Access (CUA) guidelines. This framework is known as User Interface Manager (UIM) and is elaborated upon in Application Display Programming.
See also
- HyperText Markup Language
- Standard Generalized Markup Language
- XML
- SCRIPT (markup)
- Information Presentation Facility – a derivative of GML employed by IBM for OS/2 electronic books and online help systems.
External links
- Document Composition Facility Generalized Markup Language Implementation Guide (SH35.0050-2), IBM, 1985
- GML Starter Set Tag Reference, IBM
- Creating help text using UIM, RPGPGM.com, 2017
- Application Display Programming (SC41-5715), IBM, 2006