On 05/03/2011 08:28 PM, Neil Harris wrote: > On 03/05/11 19:44, MZMcBride wrote: ... >> The point is that the wikitext and its parsing should be completely separate >> from MediaWiki/PHP/HipHop/Zend. >> >> I think some of the bigger picture is getting lost here. Wikimedia produces >> XML dumps that contain wikitext. For most people, this is the only way to >> obtain and reuse large amounts of content from Wikimedia wikis (especially >> as the HTML dumps haven't been re-created since 2008). There needs to be a >> way for others to be able to very easily deal with this content. >> >> Many people have suggested (with good reason) that this means that wikitext >> parsing needs to be reproducible in other programming languages. While >> HipHop may be the best thing since sliced bread, I've yet to see anyone put >> forward a compelling reason that the current state of affairs is acceptable. >> Saying "well, it'll soon be much faster for MediaWiki to parse" doesn't >> overcome the legitimate issues that re-users have (such as programming in a >> language other than PHP, banish the thought). >> >> For me, the idea that all that's needed is a faster parser in PHP is a >> complete non-starter. >> >> MZMcBride >> > > I agree completely. > > I think it cannot be emphasized enough that what's valuable about > Wikipedia and other similar wikis is the hard-won _content_, not the > software used to write and display it at any given, which is merely a > means to that end. > > Fashions in programming languages and data formats come and go, but the > person-centuries of writing effort already embodied in Mediawiki's > wikitext format needs to have a much longer lifespan: having a > well-defined syntax for its current wikitext format will allow the > content itself to continue to be maintained for the long term, beyond > the restrictions of its current software or encoding format. > > -- Neil
+1 to both MZMcBride and Neil. So relieved to see things put so eloquently. Dirk -- Website: http://dirkriehle.com - Twitter: @dirkriehle Ph (DE): +49-157-8153-4150 - Ph (US): +1-650-450-8550 _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
