SGML - sgml/signature GitHub Wiki

DSSSL

Erik Naggum

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erik_Naggum

http://erik.naggum.no/

https://www.w3.org/blog/2009/06/for-erik-naggum/

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/nocebo

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9228348

Enamel

He spoke against SGML with measured scorn.
Its structure, born of bureaucratic need,
Obscured the clarity that code demands.
To Naggum, tags were noise, not signal pure.
He praised the Lisp tradition, not for ease,
But for its honest form—S-expressions,
Where syntax yields to structure, not to style,
And meaning flows without pretense or gloss.
SGML, he claimed, was built to serve
The whims of those who feared the source of truth.
Its layers leaked, its schema cracked with strain,
While Lisp remained a mirror to the mind.
He urged the use of Enamel, a tool
That honors Lisp and keeps the markup lean.
No tangled trees, no brittle nested tags—
Just code that speaks in forms both clear and deep.
Let others chase the XML parade.
He stood with those who seek the root of thought.