Section: IT Training & Careers

A pair of Canadian companies are teaching people to speak the e-commerce language of tomorrow.

Quantum Training and SoftQuad Software Inc. are addressing the need for extensible markup language (XML) programmers from different directions.

Analysts say XML will supplant HTML as the language of choice for designing e-commerce Web sites.

Aberdeen Group Inc. analyst Kate Fessenden calls XML's future "the life blood of the Internet computing environment."

She says XML makes data portable, enabling data exchange between servers and automating Web sites.

Quantum is a Fredericton IT training school.

For five years it has offered standard classroom instruction. Its XML training, however, marks a radical departure from its roots.

Steve Montgomery, a Web developer at Quantum, says it is offering the XML course online.

He says the impetus behind conducting it online is because the Web seems like the natural venue.

In essence, it's practising what it preaches. "It's not just developed for XML, but we actually have it all coded in XML, too. I think we're actually one of the first to have done that," Montgomery says.

The entire process, from enrolment to graduation, is conducted over the Internet.

Prospective students can register through Quantum's Web site where they are given a user ID, usually within 24 hours.

The course is divided into 18 lessons in five modules plus a final exam.

The modules include an introduction to XML, tools and advanced features, and cascading style sheets and document type definitions.

"It's fully interactive -- there's audio for them, examples of code that will pop up for them, Montgomery says.

"There are assignments that they have to submit as well as questions at the end of each lesson. At the end of each module there's a small exam and the final exam."

The course costs US $479 and takes about 60 hours to complete. Students have 90 days to finish the work and take the final exam.

He says the program was developed for those with little or no experience with XML or its cousin, HTML, but adds it's definitely an asset if you do.

For those looking for something more complex, courses in advanced XML, XML for IT managers and XML Java programmers are in the works.

Should students need a helping hand, Montgomery says, "we have a chat room built into [the Web site], and we have a section where there are frequently asked questions from students that they can refer to. They can e-mail us at any time."

There is also a technical support line open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. AST.

So far, Montgomery says most of the interest in the online instruction has come from corporations in the United States looking to train employees.

XML authoring tool developer SoftQuad is also involved in the training game, but from a slightly different perspective.

The Toronto-based company recently launched its authorized training program.

Jonathan Sachs, SoftQuad vice-president of marketing, says the instruction it provides is specific to its XML authoring tool, XMetaL.

Like Quantum, Sachs says the majority of the students are coming from corporations south of the border.

He attributes this to their market being 10 times the size of Canada's and a faster adoption rate, but adds Canada has been on the fast track of late.

Sachs says customers can take a five-day course from one of 11 authorized instructors.

"We recommend that you take the first three days, go away and take the last two days some weeks later so you can absorb the first level, encounter some of the practical issues, come back and nail it," Sachs says.

In the first three days, Sachs says users are introduced to XML and learn how to create and edit documents.

The second half of the course isn't for a neophyte developer.

He says to qualify for the advanced portion, users must have Java scripting or some kind of scripting knowledge and a working knowledge of XML.

The end payoff, he says, "is you have all of the requisite knowledge to make XMetaL dance on the head of a pin."

PHOTO (COLOR): Steve Montgomery, Web Developer, Fredericton, N.B.-based Quantum Training

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By Geoffrey Downey, Computing Canada