[Doc-SIG] lightweight markup: bullets
Edward D. Loper
edloper@gradient.cis.upenn.edu
Wed, 11 Apr 2001 15:33:59 EDT
> If we're reserving X<...> notation, let's use it uniformly:
>
> L<-> This is an unordered list item.
> L<1> This is an ordered list item.
> L<foo> This is a description list item.
> L<When C<x==0>> This is a descriptive item with embedded code in
> the description.
Perhaps. The reason that I didn't do that is that the use of <...> or
L<...> for bullets is really very different from the use of X<...> for
coloring. X<...> coloring is something that happens within a
paragraph.. L<...> is a structuring primitive.. For example, you
can't say::
This makes L<no> sense.
But you can say::
This I<does> make sense.
Of course, if we decided to use '{' and '}' instead of '<' and '>',
and used 'L{...}' instead of '{...}', then we could say that '{...}'
when not preceeded by a capitalized letter will have the '{' and '}'
rendered as braces (c.f., Guido's suggestion to allow things like
'C{x={1:2, 3:4}}'..
> > ...
> > The main disadvantage that I see is:
> > - It's uglier than just using '-' or '1.'.
>
> Ya, and I'm uglier than my sisters, but that's no argument for
> letting them write your docstrings <wink>.
The main reason for not just using something established like XML or
LaTeX is that they're too complex/ugly. There's no point in having a
new markup language if it's also complex/ugly.. :) So I'd like to keep
this markup language as simple and clean as possible.
-Edward