ns what, and the span element 2.4.7 is "Abbreviation",
representing an instance of an abbreviation in the text (deduced
automatically by the parser). I'm not sure what is the problem there.
It's pretty much alike 2.2.1 Link Reference and 2.4.4 Link: one is the
definition of the URL and title of a link; the other is the actual link.
* * *
I'm sorry to ditch most of your suggestions like that, but I can't
really do any breaking change to the syntax, or that syntax wouldn't be
Markdown anymore. The idea behind the spec is to give implementors an
unambiguous reference about how to implement Markdown (and Markdown
Extra), allowing documents tested with one parser to work with any
other, unchanged.
Not to worry. I wasn't expecting backward compatibility, so that
flavoured much of what I said. I was not aware of PHP Markdown
extra. I will read further before commenting again.
THAT said, however, maintaining perfect backward compatibility
slows down progress.
Can markdown extra have a configuration file:
The default behaviour is to emulate markdown.
The configuration file allows for new features that don't fit
well into the old set.
Implementation specs: The program should have a compiled in
set of locations to look for the config file, a command line
option, and an environment option.
Consider too, if it is truly an improvement, it can be given a
new name, and a new calling convention, "MarkdownX" This allows
both systems to be in use while a system is in transition.
Couple this with a program that scans old markdown files for
'gotchas' that have changed in the new one.
Given the current situation, it may be a little utopian to believe no
current document will be broken as implementations adjust themselves to
the spec, but we should try to minimize that.
I agree that you need a way for people to gracefully make the
transition. The best approach is a method that allows old
and new systems to co-exist in the same environment. If you call
it with a new name, there shouldn't be a problem.
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