James Clark (programmer): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|British programmer (born 1964)}}

{{Infobox scientist

{{for multi|the entrepreneur and computer scientist born in 1944|James H. Clark|other people named James Clark|James Clark (disambiguation){{!}}James Clark}}

| name = James Clark

{{Primary sources|date=January 2024}}

| image =

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

| birth_place = [[London]], [[England]]

{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}

| birth_date = <time datetime="1964-02-23">23 February 1964</time>

{{Infobox person

| known_for = [[XML]]

| fields name = XML, OpenJames sourceClark

| image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] -->

| workplaces = Thai Open Source Software Center <br>SIPA (Software Industry Promotion Agency, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology)<br />WSO2

| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->

| alma_mater = [[Charterhouse School|Charterhouse]] <br />Merton College, Oxford

| caption =

| awards = In <time>2001</time>, awarded the first XML Cup

| birth_name = James Jackson Clark

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1964|02|23}}

| birth_place = [[London]], [[England]]

| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) -->

| death_place =

| nationality =

| education = [[Charterhouse School]]

| alma_mater = [[University of Oxford]] (BA)

| other_names =

| occupation =

| years_active =

| known_for = {{ubl|

|[[Groff (software)|groff]]

|[[Expat (library)|Expat]]

|[[Document Style Semantics and Specification Language|DSSSL]]

|[[XSLT]]

|[[XPath]]

|[[Regular Language description for XML|TREX]]

|[[RELAX NG]]

|[[Ballerina (programming language)|Ballerina]]

}}

| notable_works =

| spouse = Joy Chanpen

| partner = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) -->

| children = 1

| mother =

| father =

| relatives = {{ubl|[[Robert Sainsbury]] (maternal grandfather)|[[David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville|David Sainsbury]] (maternal uncle)}}

| family = [[Sainsbury family]]

| awards = XML Cup (2001)<ref name=bio/>

| module = {{Infobox scientist |embed=yes

| fields = {{ubl|[[XML]]|[[Open-source software]]}}

| workplaces = Thai Open Source Software Center <br>SIPA<br />[[WSO2]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wso2.com/about/board/|website=wso2.com|title=WSO2 Team|author=Anon|year=2020}}</ref>

}}

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

'''James Clark''' (born <time datetime="1964-02-23">23 February 1964</time>) is a software engineer and creator of various [[open-source software]] including [[Groff (software)|groff]], [[Expat (library)|expat]] and several [[XML]] specifications.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.jclark.com/bio.htm|title=James Clark Biography|first=James|last=Clark|year=2020|website=jclark.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724032845/http://www.jclark.com/bio.htm|archive-date=2020-07-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.jclark.com/|title=James Clark's Random Thoughts|first=James|last=Clark|website=blog.jclark.com|year=2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite interview |last=Clark |first=James |interviewer-last=Kim |interviewer-first=Eugene Eric |url=https://www.drdobbs.com/a-triumph-of-simplicity-james-clark-on-m/184404686 |title=A Triumph of Simplicity: James Clark on Markup Languages and XML |date=2001-07-01 |df=dmy |work=[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020224025029/http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=862/ddj0107e/ |archive-date=24 February 2002}}</ref><ref name=twitter>{{twitter}}</ref>

==Education and early life==

'''James Clark''' (<time datetime="1964-02-23">23 February 1964</time>) is the author of [[Groff (software)|groff]] and [[Expat (library)|expat]], and has done much work with [[open-source software]] and [[XML]].

Clark was born in [[London]] and educated at [[Charterhouse School]] and [[Merton College, Oxford]] where he studied [[Mathematics]] and [[Philosophy]].<ref name=bio/>

==Career==

Born in [[London]] and educated at [[Charterhouse School|Charterhouse]] and [[Merton College, Oxford]], Clark has lived in [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]] since <time>1995</time>, and is now a permanent resident. He owns a company called Thai Open Source Software Center, which provides him a legal framework for his open-source activities.

Clark has lived in [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]] since <time>1995</time>, 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 (software)|groff]], as well as an XML editing mode for [[GNU Emacs]].

===Work on XML ===

For the [[GNU project]], he wrote [[Groff (software)|groff]], as well as an XML editing mode for [[GNU Emacs]].

Clark served as technical lead of the [[working group]] that developed XML&mdash;notably contributing the self-closing, [[XML#Key terminology|empty element]] tag syntax, and the name XML. His contributions to XML are cited in dozens of books on the subject.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} Clark is the author or co-author of a number of influential specifications and implementations, including:

* [[DSSSL]]: An [[SGML]] transformation and styling language.

* [[Expat (library)|Expat]]: An open-source XML [[Parsing|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.

* [[Regular Language description for XML|TREX]]: Tree [[Regular Expression|regular experession]]s for XML (TREX) is a schema language for [[XML]].<ref name="Jones2002">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Christopher A. |last2=Drake |first2=Fred L. |last3=Drake |first3=Fred L. Jr. |title=Python and XML |date=2002 |publisher="O'Reilly Media, Inc." |isbn=9780596001285 |page=21 |language=en}}</ref> TREX has been merged with [[Regular Language description for XML|RELAX]] to create [[RELAX NG]].<ref name="Jones2002" /><ref name="Cover2001">{{cite web |last1=Cover |first1=Robin |title=Tree Regular Expressions for XML (TREX) |url=http://xml.coverpages.org/trex.html |website=xml.coverpages.org |access-date=6 March 2019}}</ref>

* [[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)<ref name="schema-wars">{{cite web|title=Schema Wars: XML Schema vs. RELAX NG|url=http://webreference.com/xml/column59/index-2.html|access-date=11 May 2019|website=webreference.com|archive-date=4 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304043049/http://webreference.com/xml/column59/index-2.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and developed RELAX NG in response

* Jing: An implementation of RELAX NG.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://relaxng.org/jclark/jing.html|title=Jing|website=relaxng.org}}</ref>

* Clark Notation: A way to express an XML Name in a compact way<ref>{{cite web|first=James|last=Clark|title=XML Namespaces|url=http://www.jclark.com/xml/xmlns.htm|website=jclark.com|access-date=17 September 2015}}</ref>

* [[Ballerina (programming language)|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 (programming language)|Java]] [[Stream processing]] API for XML ([[StAX]]) JSR 173 at the JCP.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=173|title=The Java Community Process(SM) Program - JSRs: Java Specification Requests - detail JSR# 173|website=jcp.org}}</ref>

=== Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA)===

== XML-related work ==

From <time datetime="2004-11">November 2004</time> until late <time>2006</time>, Clark worked for Thailand's Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA), to promote [[Open-source software|open source]] technologies and [[open standards]] in the country. This work included pushing the Thai [[software localization|localization]] of [[OpenOffice.org]] office suite and the [[Mozilla Firefox]] web browser, along with other open source software packages.

James Clark served as Technical Lead of the Working Group that developed XML&mdash;notably contributing the self-closing, empty-element tag syntax (for example: "<code>&lt;tagname/&gt;</code>"), and the name <dfn style="font-style:italic">[[XML]]</dfn>.<ref>{{cite web | title = The History of XML |website=Total XML| url =

http://www.totalxml.net/history-xml.php}}</ref> His contributions to XML are cited in dozens of books on the subject.

James is the author or co-author of a number of influential specifications and implementations, including:

;[[DSSSL]]

:An [[SGML]] transformation and styling language.

;[[Expat (library)|Expat]]

:An open-source XML parser.

;[[XSLT]]

:XSL Transformations, a part of the XSL family.

;[[TREX]]

:An XML Schema language.

;[[RELAX NG]]

:An XML Schema language, with both an explicit XML syntax and a compact syntax.

;[http://www.thaiopensource.com/relaxng/jing.html Jing]

:An implementation of RELAX NG.

;Clark Notation

:A way to express an XML Name in a compact way<ref>{{cite web|first=James|last=Clark|title=XML Namespaces|url=http://www.jclark.com/xml/xmlns.htm|website=James Clark's Home Page|accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref>

He is listed as part of the Working Group that developed the Java Streaming API for XML ([[StAX]]) JSR 173 at the JCP.

== Work at <abbr title="Software Industry Promotion Agency ">SIPA</abbr> ==

From <time datetime="2004-11">November 2004</time> until late <time>2006</time>, 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 [[software localization|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 software|open source]] Thai project with programs for Windows., Likelike the [[OpenCD]] project.

* [http://www.suriyan.org/ Suriyan GNU/Linux]: An extremelyA user-friendly "instant server" system for small and medium-sized companies<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.suriyan.org/|title=Default OaO Sedo Frameset|website=suriyan.org}}</ref> ''(not to be confused with SIPA's new, unrelated project with a similar name, [Suriyan Linux Live CD.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://suriyan.in.th/ |title=Suriyan Linux Live CD])|date=11 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.''archive.org/web/20080211194451/http://suriyan.in.th/|archive-date=11 February 2008}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

==External links==

* [http://www.jclark.com/bio.htm Biography], at his own homepage, jclark.com.

* [http://blog.jclark.com/ Blog]

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20020224025029/http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=862/ddj0107e/ A Triumph of Simplicity: James Clark on Markup Languages and XML]

* [http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=173 JSR 173 StAX API Page]

* [http://wso2.com/about/directors/james_clark/ WSO2 Company director's profile page]

{{Persondata

| NAME = Clark, James

| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =

| SHORT DESCRIPTION = British software engineer

| DATE OF BIRTH = <time datetime="1964-02-23">23 February 1964</time>

| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[London]], [[England]]

| DATE OF DEATH =

| PLACE OF DEATH =

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, James}}

[[Category:Living people]]

[[Category:1964 births]]

[[Category:Living people]]

[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]

[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]

[[Category:Free software programmers]]

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[[Category:World Wide Web Consortium]]

[[Category:Troff]]

[[Category:British expatriates in Thailand]]

[[Category:Sainsbury family]]

{{UK-compu-bio-stub}}