School Papers

Here are pdf files of some of the papers I wrote in school:

• An XML Overview - Written as a final paper for my independent contract on XML during the summer of 2003, this paper starts with a gentle introduction to basics of the Extensible Markup Language. It then hits the high-points of some important XML technologies: DTDs, Schema, XSL, XPath, and gives a quick introduction to the Cocoon XML publishing framework.

• An Introduction to Java Generics - Written as a final paper for a seminar on classic computer science papers during winter term, 2004, this paper gives an overview of the mechanism for using generics in Java added to the language in version 5.0. It discusses the pros and cons of the tough design decisions Sun’s engineers had to make when adding generics and compares Java generics to C++ templates. I was studying C++ Standard Template Library at the same time as this seminar, so choosing Java Generics for my paper topic offered a nice way to tie the two threads together (no pun intended).

• The “Lowercase Semantic Web” - During spring term 2004, we had a lecture series on the Semantic Web. This paper was written as my final paper for the class and it discusses a movement among the Web movers and shakers to use existing features of XHTML and XML to add more semantic meaning to current web pages. It was a very interesting topic to research and one that the lecture series and our class discussions did not cover at all.