Laurie Griffiths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> It's your turn to say what you find unacceptable in the proposal put forward
> by me and Simon (the two were pretty much identical).
As far as I'm concerned, the main problem with these proposals is that
the syntax they define is pretty much particular to the `Q:' field. So
we get a `-' here and a mandatory space delimiter there, and in another
field, once we get around to discussing it, maybe a magic squiggle here
and a couple of dots there if that looks nice and useful. Now that the
ABC standard seems about to be extended in all sorts of directions we
should instead be aiming for a consistent style of syntax that allows us
to express these extensions. For example if we accept the `key=value'
style of options in fields such as `K:' or `V:' then we should define
extensions of the `Q:' or `L:' fields in a similar fashion, for
consistency, instead of giving these fields their own syntax because in
the short term that seems to be the easier choice and sufficient for
`everything that is needed'. (This is incidentally why I would prefer
something like `L:1/8 grace="1/32"' to `L:1/8 {1/32}' as proposed in
Ewan Macpherson's message, even though it may be wordier in the short
term.) Chances are that it won't be. I have also tried to illustrate how
this approach lets us easily introduce further extensions in the future
-- something that is difficult to do if more ad-hoc stuff is heaped upon
the layers of ad-hoc stuff introduced in earlier rounds of updates --
but that doesn't seem to have got through.
The other issue is one that I have expounded upon several times already,
namely that the ABC standard should as far as possible stick to
expressing musical content, and leave presentation issues like what kind
of ancillary ABC information is and isn't printed where and in what
style to individual ABC-processing software, which is where it belongs
and how most of this material (such as titles, guitar chords and the
like) is already being treated. This is a very important distinction,
and for a famous and spectacular example of getting this wrong look at
HTML after Netscape and Microsoft were through with it. I would hate to
see the same thing happen to ABC.
Anselm
--
Anselm Lingnau .......................................... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I think there is a world market for about five computers.
-- Thomas J. Watson, CEO, IBM Corporation, 1947
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