Xerox makes new programming language for document transformations available for `test drive'.

An experimental programming language now available for testing makes it easy to transform documents and data between specific formats so that documents can be read no matter what application or device is used.

It's posted on www.alphaAve.com, a site that is jointly managed by Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for programmers and software developers who want to try out promising software from both commercial and academic research centers.

This is among the most recent of eight emerging technologies that have been added to alphaAve.com, which celebrated its first anniversary in November. The site is designed to move research out of labs and into products faster. The new language, called Circus-DTE, is a research project developed at the Xerox Research Centre of Europe in Grenoble, France.

Circus-DTE is designed for a world where document portals are everywhere and documents and data must move from one to another on the Web or in business processes, so-called "document transformations."

Until now, there was no middle ground for document transformations between a general-purpose, low-level language that required lengthy development of complex algorithms and a high-level, but inflexible approach. Circus-DTE answers that need. A specialized programming language, it is particularly suited to data processing or the transformation of structured documents, and it automatically validates the results produced so that input into another application is sure to function properly. Circus-DTE instantly translates the document so it can be viewed from a PDA, mobile phone or laptop with a variety of applications.

XRCE scientists believe that Circus-DTE could be especially useful when there are multiple document transformations, such as document content processing, Internet publishing, publishing on handheld devices and database-to-XML conversions. For example, processing a customer order requires a series of transformations--data must be input into applications that check inventory and availability, that prepare shipping documentation, that generate an invoice, that process payments and perhaps even publish to the Web so a customer can track progress online.