General-purpose data-representation formats and markup languages

The definition of XML sparked significant interest in standardized storage and transfer of structured information. While at present, XML enjoys significant interest and investment from industry, it is only one example of a generic data structuring language. XML itself emerged as a simple subset of the Structured General Markup Language (SGML), a mid-1980s ISO standard.

A large number of alternative technologies for representation of structured data are emerging now. Many of these were proposed to address shortcomings of XML. Some are merely alternative syntaxes for XML's abstract data model ("infoset"). Others propose radically different data models, some of which are both simpler to handle and at the same time more expressive.

Survey of general-purpose data-representation formats and markup languages

The first aim of this project is to collect a list of the existing variety of markup languages and similar specifications for generic structures file formats. The preliminary result is our brief survey of general-purpose data-representation formats and markup languages and will be updated as we discover and review more technologies. If you have any suggestions for improvements or other languages, formats, useful links, etc., then please email me at Steven.Murdoch at cl.cam.ac.uk.