Subject: SGML/XML syntax for DSSSL From: James Clark <jjc@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 10:57:45 +0700 |
I think it will help the discussion if we can use reasonably meaningful subject lines. At 06:49 18/05/97 -0400, Paul Prescod wrote: >Let's moot a couple of heretic ideas. > >Syntax less like Lisp? >====================== > >Maybe a CSS-like syntax? I'm strongly supportive of the existing DSSSL >syntax for the full DSSSL constituency, but I don't want to turn off >Dirty Perl Hackers. One possible kind of alternative syntax is a C/C++/Java/CSS like one. Another possible kind is an SGML/XML based one. For the non-programmer (who presumably already knows SGML), I think something like: <element name=WARN> <paragraph font-size=12pt font-family-name=Times-Roman first-line-start-indent=20pt> <chars font-weight=bold>WARN</chars> <children> </paragraph> </element> is quite natural. I think this stops being natural when you start trying to doing programming. But for this, an alternative syntax seems less important to me: the fact that you have to program in a functional way is a far bigger leap for a C/C++/Java programmer than is the syntax. One approach that makes sense to me is: - Provide an SGML/XML syntax for the non-programmatic parts of DSSSL. This should support calling procedures. You would also need some very simple "expressions" within attribute values (ie +2pt, 10%). - Use the current syntax for defining procedures. - Provide a more extensive library of procedures to make it possible to handle a wider range of documents without having to do any programming. This approach I think also makes sense in the context of GUI tools: they would fully support GUI editing of the XML parts, but the Scheme parts would be edited as text. James DSSSList info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/dsssl/dssslist
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