CERN SGML

In 1984, CERN started the CERNDOC project, a document filing and retrieval system that would standardize CERN's manifold and mutually incompatible documentation practices.{{Cite conference| conference = SHARE Conference| last1 = Esteveny| first1 = L.| last2 = Van Herwijnen| first2 = Eric| title = CERNDOC : A Document Filing and Retrieval System| book-title = CERN Document Server: a document filing and retrieval system| location = Chicago| access-date = 2017-09-03| date = 1987-10-01| url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/181736/files/CM-P00059873.pdf}} The project adapted an earlier documentation system developed at the Rutherford Laboratory, a British particle physics research facility. Written in the Rexx programming language, installed on an IBM 3090-200 mainframe computer, and running on the VM/CMS operating system, the system stored tens of thousands of documents in a hierarchical structure. It offered keyword searching and was able to display documents on a screen or send them to a printer.

CERNDOC supported two markup systems: a GML application named CERNPAPER, developed locally in 1985,{{cite news|last=van Herwijnen| first=Eric| title=CERNPAPER Users guide| work=CERN Internal US Note DD/US/50 |date=May 1985|place=Geneva| publisher=CERN}}{{Cite interview| interviewer = Dave Walden| last = Goossens| first = Michel| title = Michel Goossens - Interview| access-date = 2017-09-03| date = 2013-06-14| url = https://www.tug.org/interviews/goossens.html}} and a SGML application created in 1986 by Anders Berglund, who was at the time responsible for text processing in the CERN data handling division. Berglund mapped a Waterloo SCRIPT macro set onto SGML, basing his application on the document type defined in Annex E of ISO 8879{{Citation| publisher = CERN| last = Berglund| first = Anders| title = CERN SGML User's Guide| date = 1986-10-27 | page=v |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/997909/files/cer-002659963.pdf}} and on AAP DTD, the American Association of Publishers' document type.{{Cite web| last = Berners-Lee| first = Tim| title = HTML Tags| work = W3.org| access-date = 2017-08-24| date = 1992| url = https://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/Tags.html}}{{Cite news| last = Hopgood| first = Bob| title = History of the Web| work = W3.org| access-date = 2017-08-24| date = 2001| url = https://www.w3.org/2012/08/history-of-the-web/origins.htm}} Prior art also includes the IBM GML starter set.{{ citation |title= Document Composition Facility: Generalized Markup Language Starter Set Reference, SG20-9187-3|publisher= IBM|date=1985}}{{ citation |title= Document Composition Facility: Generalized Markup Language Starter Set User's Guide, SH20-9186 |publisher=IBM |date=1985}}{{Cite book| publisher = Kluwer| isbn = 978-0-585-34049-4| last = DeRose| first = S. J.| title = The SGML FAQ Book: Understanding the Foundation of HTML and XML| location = Dordrecht| date = 1998|page=37}} The application features an extensive tag set for preparing foils, memos, letters, scientific papers, and manuals, amongst other use cases.

In 1990, when Eric van Herwijnen acted as head of text processing in the CERN Administrative Services Department, CERN replaced CERNDOC with the IBM Document Composition Facility (DCF), thereby obsoleting both CERNPAPER and CERN SGML. To replace these applications, Herwijnen and Michel Goossens mapped IBM's Bookmaster macro sets onto a number of DTDs.{{Cite book| publisher = CERN| last = Goossens| first = Michel| title = The SGML/BookMaster System at CERN: User's Guide| location = Geneva| access-date = 2017-09-01| date = 1990| url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1107236}}

CERN announced plans to discontinue its use of mainframe computing in 1994,{{Cite news| volume = 34| issue = 3| pages = 16–17| last = Williams| first = David| title = Computing – Moving Away from the Mainframe| work = CERN Courier| date = April 1994 |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1732264/files/vol34-issue3-p016-e.pdf}} and the CERNVM service eventually ended on 30 June 1996.{{ cite news | url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1023485/ | title=Interactive Services during CERNVM Rundown | work=CERN Computing News | issue=223 | last1=Marquina | first1=Miguel | date=1 June 1996 | access-date=31 May 2025 | pages=4 }}

Tim Berners-Lee, who was working as a CERN contractor when he created the Web, encountered CERNguid in October 1987, when CERN's Online Computing Group started to maintain its documentation in CERNDOC. Berners-Lee found its hierarchical structure highly limiting.{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-286207-5| last1 = Gillies| first1 = James| last2 = Cailliau| first2 = Robert| title = How the Web was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web| location = Oxford| date = 2000| page = [https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill/page/178 178]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill/page/178}}

For HTML, Berners-Lee adopted SGML syntax and a subset of the tags specified in CERN SGML.

{{Reflist | 2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20020504095301/http://www.uga.edu/~ucns/stddocs/script-gmlref-tso.txt Waterloo SCRIPT GML User's Guide] (1988)
• [https://cds.cern.ch/record/997909/files/cer-002659963.pdf CERN SGML User's Guide] (1986)
• [https://cds.cern.ch/record/1107236 The SGML/BookMaster System at CERN: User's Guide] (1990)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150829174716/http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/features/printsoftware/dcfhome_z_ww.html IBM Document Composition Facility]

Category:Markup languages

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Category:CERN

Category:SGML