I've not tried this, but it would be even better to have a mechanism to
directly include a chunk of code from another file, ie specify "give me
lines 24-40 from some/path/foo.rb, starts with 'class Something'" - the
last bit in the same spirit that diff/patch use context to warn when
things don't match up. That would be the ultimate "make the examples
match the book" technique.
agility uses git to do this.
Another advantage is that you don't need to learn another editor --
you need an editor with a good markdown mode. Luckily, the editor
you currently use for programming will probably work. Both emacs and
TextMate have good markdown modes, as will any popular ruby
programmer's editor.
I can't think of any reason that the same editors couldn't be used to
handle LaTeX - TextMate's got a sizable mode for it, and I remember
editing TeX code in emacs on a vt220... Certainly, Markdown is easier
for inexperienced users, but I doubt anybody who's afraid of structured
markup is hanging around here... :)
The difference is that markdown looks reasonable in a text editor --
LaTeX looks strange, which is why LyX was created.
The biggest issue I could see in transcoding between the two is getting
the right figure / chapter markings in. Automatic figure numbering,
tables of contents and back/forward refs are some of the major wins for
TeX - no more stray references to "Figure XX" floating around.
This is partially mitigated by writing the chapters in markdown and
putting the book together in LaTeX. We'd have to have a consistent
strategy for figures, tables and indices, but it would be doable, since
LaTeX would do the hard stuff.
My other peeve with Markdown is the silly "internal emphasis" rule,
which tends to munge Ruby variable names. We've run into it on the
cookbook, and Github got so tired of tripping over it that they dropped
it in "GitHub-flavored Markdown". Maybe there's a workaround for that?
I think so. The cookbook should definitely steal the underscore rule
from GFM. There's too much that would be broken with their new-line
rule, though.
cheers,
Bryan
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hobo
Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/hobousers?hl=en.
