Märgistuskeelekeeli

Märgistuskeelekeeli, often abbreviated as markup languages, are systems for annotating a document in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from the text. This annotation provides additional information about the structure, meaning, or presentation of the document's content. Unlike programming languages that are used to control computer behavior, markup languages are primarily designed for human-readable text and describe data.

The core principle of markup is to embed codes or tags within the text that indicate how the content should be interpreted or displayed. These tags are typically enclosed in delimiters, such as angle brackets. For example, in HTML, the tag `<b>` would indicate that the enclosed text should be displayed as bold.

Markup languages serve various purposes. Some, like HTML (HyperText Markup Language), are used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. Others, such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language), are designed for storing and transporting data in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable, allowing for flexible definition of custom tags. SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) is a meta-language that provides a framework for creating other markup languages.

The use of markup languages allows for a separation of content from its presentation. This means that the same content can be displayed in different ways without altering the underlying data. Furthermore, markup enables richer semantics, allowing for the annotation of meaning, relationships, and other contextual information within a document, facilitating easier processing and understanding by both humans and machines.