You should know something about markup languages
In addition to the above requirements, I would add the fact that a grasp of the theory behind markup languages is very helpful. By definition, a markup language is coding system used to structure, index, and link text files.

The first module of the course compares SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and XML in terms of their respective scope as markup languages. These comparisons illustrate the scope of XML very well for a reader who has a fundamental grasp of the kind of decoupling (the separation of content from presentation) performed by markup languages. For more information on XML as a markup language, check out "Beyond HTML: XML and Automated Web Processing," by Tim Bray at http://developer.netscape.com/viewsource/bray_xml.html/ and "Frequently Asked Questions About the Extensible Markup Language," the XML FAQ at the University College of Cork, in Ireland at http://www.ucc.ie/xml/.

Cost and focus
The cost of the course is $399.00, which may limit who might be interested in taking "Using XML in R5 Domino" to those who work in a Domino development environment and expect some return on their investment. For that group of developers, the Domino-centric focus, amount of online help, access to the discussion forum (which is very reminiscent of the Notes.net forums), personal help from instructors, and volume of code presented make TLCC's course a great value.

"Using XML in Domino R5," as the name indicates, is Notes and Domino oriented. However, almost 50% of the course time is dedicated to Java agents and servlets. I would recommend that Notes and Domino developers investing in the course be comfortable with Domino's Java classes, Java agents, and their syntax, and Java syntax in general. Figure A shows one of many Java-filled code boxes presented in the material.

FIGURE A


This course includes a lot of Java code. Roll over picture for a larger image.

How to buy and what to do once you've bought
Students can purchase their coursework from TLCC online. If you're interested, you should visit TLCC's site at http://www.tlcc.com. It's pictured in Figure B.

FIGURE B


Order coursework from TLCC's Web site. Roll over picture for a larger image.

There you can click on the upper left-hand navigation option to "Order a Course," register with TLCC, and submit your registration information (including a credit card number and your fully qualified Notes ID). Helpful emails from the staff at TLCC will provide you with contact information and notify you of your registration status.

To start the course, you just have to return to the TLCC site and download it. In the case of "Using XML in Domino R5," the download is a 5.17MB self-extracting ZIP file. Once the course has been downloaded and extracted, users can start up Notes and complete the installation by double-clicking on the R5XML1 Course Installation bookmark in the Notes workspace.

What you'll find cookin' in the kitchen
The estimated time for completion of "Using XML in Domino R5" is 13.5 hours. The coursework begins with an extremely helpful preface module. It goes beyond the typical "conventions used in the course" format by offering step-by-step guides for optimizing your workstation setup and leads into a brief introduction to XML. The first half of the course takes you through pertinent parts of the Notes containment hierarchy, starting with forms and pages and moving on to views.