DOCBOOK: Re: Markup for exercises

[Joachim Ziegler <ziegler@algorilla.de>]

Am Donnerstag, 10. Oktober 2002 14:46 schrieb Norman Walsh:
>
> In computer hardware and software documentation? Maybe. Maybe not.
>
> Exercises seem more like a teaching tool, an extension for tutorial
> documentation, perhaps. Still, the question has come up before. I
> wonder what else fits in that category?
>

I often give courses about programming and software technologies. In these 
course, the participants have to do a lot of exercises. Normally I use Latex 
to produce the handouts. 

My last course was on XML and of course, *this* handout had to be written in 
XML itself in order to demonstrate the power of the technology. I was using a 
simple DTD and stylesheets of my own to produce HTML and PDF.

Now I want to change to DocBook (as Docbook is a major subject in this course 
and as the stylesheets are much more sophisticated than mine). I really miss 
an exercise-tag, but maybe that's not what DocBook was designed for.

BTW, I've written a book about learning programming. It was coded in Latex 
(and in German). I'm currently evaluating DocBook as a basis for the second 
print of this book or for some other book about programming (mainly because I 
like the ability to output HTML). The more I learn, the less I'm convinced 
that the current state of the XSL technology will produce a high quality PDF 
output comparable to Latex. Am I right? 
(I you want to peek at it: www.algorilla.de/PLMP)

If DocBook is not the right DTD for writing a book about programming 
(including exercises), what else in the XML world is? Should I stick with 
Latex?

Greetings,
Joachim