On May 18, 11:24 am, "Edward K. Ream" <[email protected]> wrote:
> **Important**: as with all kinds of @auto nodes, clone links will
> break the next time you load Leo if the @auto-otl tree contains any
> kind of cloned nodes. This is pretty much a fundamental limitation of
> @auto trees.
I'd like to add two points to this discussion:
1. This limitation instantly disappears when you convert from (any
kind of) @auto to @file. The reason is that the sentinels that Leo
writes "carry" both outline structure *and* node identity. It is this
unique, immutable node identity which provides for robust linking of
clones.
I hinted in another thread that a smallish addition to the otl format
would allow .otl files to carry identity. For example, suppose that
headlines were optionally represented in the file format as::
<indentation: hard tabs> :: gnx :: headline
The VO folks could do this in an upward compatible manner without
changing vim's core in any way. True, it doesn't give VO Leo's clone
capabilities, but it *retains* the information necessary to use clones
*in Leo*.
2. Unlike .otl, the external files produced by Leo can be used
*unchanged* as program source files. Indeed, all of Leo's Python
source files contain outline structure and node identity--Leo
sentinels are simply comment lines in the appropriate language. In
contrast, the format of .otl files ensures that body text can not be
used untranslated as source code. It is the ability to *be* source
code, even more than cloning, that makes Leo's external file format so
useful.
Edward
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