David Megginson
Encyclopedia
David Megginson is a Canadian
computer software consultant and developer, specializing in open source
software development and application. He was the lead developer and original maintainer of the Simple API for XML
, or SAX, a leading streaming API
for XML
.
Megginson has been part of the SGML and then XML
communities since 1991.
For the World Wide Web Consortium
, he served as chair of the XML Information Set Working Group and as a member of both the XML Working Group and XML Co-ordination Group.
In 2000, Sun Microsystems
and JavaPro magazine awarded Megginson the Java Technology Achievement Award For Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Java Community .
He made significant contributions to other open source
software projects including FlightGear
, a cross-platform
flight simulator
making use of XML, the NewsML Toolkit library for NewsML
, the XMLWriter libraries for Perl
and Java
, RDF Filter, and SGMLSpm, a mid-1990s precursor to many XML functionalities.
He is an instrument-rated
private pilot, and maintains weblogs about technology and small-plane aviation
. Formerly employed by the University of Ottawa
, he maintains his consulting and development practice in Ottawa
, Ontario
.
s. A broad exploration of XML applications and standards.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
computer software consultant and developer, specializing in open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software development and application. He was the lead developer and original maintainer of the Simple API for XML
Simple API for XML
SAX is an event-based sequential access parser API developed by the XML-DEV mailing list for XML documents. SAX provides a mechanism for reading data from an XML document that is an alternative to that provided by the Document Object Model...
, or SAX, a leading streaming API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
for XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
.
Megginson has been part of the SGML and then XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
communities since 1991.
For the World Wide Web Consortium
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
, he served as chair of the XML Information Set Working Group and as a member of both the XML Working Group and XML Co-ordination Group.
In 2000, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
and JavaPro magazine awarded Megginson the Java Technology Achievement Award For Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Java Community .
He made significant contributions to other open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software projects including FlightGear
FlightGear
FlightGear Flight Simulator is a free, open-source multi-platform flight simulator developed by the FlightGear project since 1997....
, a cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
flight simulator
Flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...
making use of XML, the NewsML Toolkit library for NewsML
NewsML
NewsML is an XML standard designed to provide a media-independent, structural framework for multi-media news. NewsML was developed by — and is a registered trademark of — the IPTC...
, the XMLWriter libraries for Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
and Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, RDF Filter, and SGMLSpm, a mid-1990s precursor to many XML functionalities.
He is an instrument-rated
Instrument rating
Instrument rating refers to the qualifications that a pilot must have in order to fly under IFR . It requires additional training and instruction beyond what is required for a Private Pilot certificate or Commercial Pilot certificate, including rules and procedures specific to instrument flying,...
private pilot, and maintains weblogs about technology and small-plane aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
. Formerly employed by the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, he maintains his consulting and development practice in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Publications
An advanced guide focusing on XML and SGML document type definitionDocument Type Definition
Document Type Definition is a set of markup declarations that define a document type for SGML-family markup languages...
s. A broad exploration of XML applications and standards.