Chuck Esterbrook wrote:
>
> At 09:54 AM 4/30/2001 -0700, Jon Stevens wrote:
> >on 4/30/01 9:38 AM, "Chuck Esterbrook" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > > I prefer ()s myself. I think they are a bit more normal
> >
> >Please define "normal".
>
> normal=what people normally/often see. Curly braces are not often used in
> English or in HTML. So your average HTML template writer will not consider
> them normal/familiar/friendly unless they happen to be a shell programmer.
>
> On the other hand, ()s are used in English and in mathematics for grouping,
> so the idea of using ()s to group the characters should be palatable to
> just about anyone.
:) That's quite a stretch - if you want to be intellectually honest
here, you would argue that you want '<' and '>' because that's the what
HTML people are used to - designers aren't generally mathematicians
anyway.
I was trying to think of where you use parens for grouping in common
english - I can just see grandma making a shopping list :
dinner friday (
chicken parmesian (
cheese
sauce
)
basil potato (
potato
basil
butter
)
)
great. grandma does lisp...
>
> Consequently, I think choosing {}s over ()s just to make shell programmers
> happier, at the expense of all others, is a poor design choice. Coupled
> with the increased incompatibility with webmacro, it gets even poorer.
Come on. I think you are pushing it. It wasn't to make shell
programmers happier. Shell programmers, if there is such a thing, don't
usually do HTML anyway. The thought was that a set of symbols was
needed to contrain a reference token, and '{' '}' were chosen.
Yes, I guess it's a pain when converting WM, but you would do it
carefully anyway, I hope, and only once.
> >You might look into Edna (search on sourceforge.net). It has something
> >similar to Velocity done in Python. Although, (of course), it uses a
> >different syntax as well. :-)
>
> Thanks. I'll definitely check it out.
>
> -Chuck
--
Geir Magnusson Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
System and Software Consulting
Developing for the web? See http://jakarta.apache.org/velocity/
