computer science

James Clark (programmer)

James Clark (programmer) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James Clark (programmer) rather than just read about it. In short: James Clark (born 23 February 1964) is a British software engineer and creator of various open-source software including groff, expat and several XML specifications. Education and early life Clark was born in London and educated at Charterhouse School and Merton College, Oxford where he studied Mathematics and Philosophy.

Key takeaways

James Clark (programmer) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect James Clark (programmer) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James Clark (programmer) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James Clark (born 23 February 1964) is a British software engineer and creator of various open-source software including groff, expat and several XML specifications.

Education and early life Clark was born in London and educated at Charterhouse School and Merton College, Oxford where he studied Mathematics and Philosophy.

Career Clark has lived in Bangkok, Thailand since 1995, and is permanent Thai resident. He owns a company called Thai Open Source Software Center, which provides him a legal framework for his open-source activities. Clark is the author and creator of groff, as well as an XML editing mode for GNU Emacs.

Work on XML Clark served as technical lead of the working group that developed XML—notably contributing the self-closing, empty element tag syntax, and the name XML. His contributions to XML are cited in dozens of books on the subject. Clark is the author or co-author of a number of influential specifications and implementations, including:

DSSSL: An SGML transformation and styling language. Expat: An open-source XML parser. XSLT: XSL Transformations, a part of the XSL family. He was the editor of the XSLT 1.0 specification. XPath: Path language for addressing XML documents; used by XSLT but also as a free-standing language. He was the editor of the XPath 1.0 specification. TREX: Tree regular experessions for XML (TREX) is a schema language for XML. TREX has been merged with RELAX to create RELAX NG. RELAX NG: an XML Schema language, with both an explicit XML syntax and a compact syntax. Clark was critical of the XML Schema (W3C) language (also known as XSD) and developed RELAX NG in response Jing: An implementation of RELAX NG. Clark Notation: A way to express an XML Name in a compact way Ballerina: Ballerina is an open source general-purpose programming language for application programmers. Clark is listed as a member of the working group that developed the Java Stream processing API for XML (StAX) JSR 173 at the JCP.

Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) From November 2004 until late 2006, Clark worked for Thailand's Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA), to promote open source technologies and open standards in the country. This work included pushing the Thai localization of OpenOffice.org office suite and the Mozilla Firefox web browser, along with other open source software packages. Other projects at SIPA include:

Chantra: An open source Thai project with programs for Windows, like the OpenCD project. Suriyan GNU/Linux: A user-friendly "instant server" system for small and medium-sized companies not to be confused with SIPA's new, unrelated project with a similar name, Suriyan Linux Live CD.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Clark (programmer)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Clark (programmer) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James Clark (programmer) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James Clark (programmer) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James Clark (programmer)

In research: James Clark (programmer) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses James Clark (programmer) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: James Clark (programmer) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 births, Alumni of Merton College, Oxford, British computer programmers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Clark (programmer) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study James Clark (programmer) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what James Clark (programmer) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain James Clark (programmer) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Clark (programmer) in simple terms?

James Clark (born 23 February 1964) is a British software engineer and creator of various open-source software including groff, expat and several XML specifications. Education and early life Clark was born in London and educated at Charterhouse School and Merton College, Oxford where he studied Mat…

Why does James Clark (programmer) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James Clark (programmer)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James Clark (programmer).