Hi List,
when writing the picolisp-wiki-mode for Emacs, I began to understand why
mark-up syntax is usually symmetric, i.e. the end-tag looks like a
180° mapping of the start-tag (e.g. the JSP Scriplet <% ... %>).
This makes parsing the file and constructing regexp much easier, because
its always clear which end-tag belongs to which start-tag.
The PicoLisp Wiki Syntax does not follow this convention:
,-------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3{Heading} Heading (level 3)
| Levels 1 .. 6 are allowed
|
| &{3} Insert 3 line breaks
| &{-3} Insert 3 line breaks, clear float style
|
| /{italic} Italic font
| !{bold} Bold font
| _{underline} Underlined font [...]
`-------------------------------------------------------------------
Considering the possible nesting of elements (e.g. a bold word inside a link
inside a list item), it becomes very difficult to construct regexp that
reliably identify elements (necesary for fontification) because there
are so many closing braces '}' around (and there might even be closing
braces in the text itself).
What about changing the syntax to this:
,-------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3{Heading}3 Heading (level 3)
| Levels 1 .. 6 are allowed
|
| &{3}& Insert 3 line breaks
| &{-3}& Insert 3 line breaks, clear float style
|
| /{italic}/ Italic font
| !{bold}! Bold font
| _{underline}_ Underlined font [...]
`-------------------------------------------------------------------
I know, its one more char to type (not when you use the
picolisp-wiki-mode for Emacs) and looks ugly, but would make things a
bit more 'standard' and easier to deal with. Its not really a big issue,
since the picolisp-wiki-mode works fine even if fontification is a bit
random. Don't know if it would be an improvement and worth the pain.
--
cheers,
Thorsten
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