[Doc-SIG] Structuring: a summary; and an attempt at EBNF..

[Tony J Ibbs (Tibs)]

Edward D. Loper wrote:
>   2. Literal blocks start after a paragraph that ends with "::",
>      and end before the next (non-blank) line whose indentation is
>      less than or equal to that of the paragraph that introduced them.
>
> or something like that, anyway.. The language could still use some
> cleaning-up.  If anyone on the group doesn't understand, say so, and
> I'll try to explain it better.

I think it still needs work (!) but it's getting there...

> > And terms like "the paragraph that started them" is why I like terms
> > like "parent paragraph" - it's a lot easier to work with.
>
> But it's not great for a 1-minute overview that's supposed to be
> accessible to anyone. :) (And, actually, I would say that that's the
> previous sister paragraph, not the parent, at least in the resultant
> DOM tree).

Well, in the DOM tree, yes (I forgot that).

The term "preceding non-literal paragraph" is indeed a bit
cumbersome... - perhaps we're best off with "the '""' paragraph", which
is (sort of) fairly obvious.

> As I said, I think that leading and trailing blank lines should be
> stripped..  (but not any internal blank lines) Do you disagree?

No - it is clearly correct to strip preceding and trailing blank lines,
mea culpa for not being pedantic about that!

I also think that we agree on the "awkward examples" (which is why I
didn't copy them again).

> > Damn - I was trying not to get involved...
>
> Don't let us drag you into this too much.. Feel free not to respond to
> anything I send...  Sanity can be a nice thing.  (I've been close to
> going sane, myself, a few times over the last month).

I'm trying to maintain the attitude that I can be quieter on the grounds
that you and David are working on things - with TWO people arguing (erm,
discussing) their way towards something, I'm sort-of happy. Not that I'm
necessarily happy with the final result *in total*, but if I don't have
time to argue and/or implement, that's just tough luck.

Besides, I think the *structuring* is getting there (although I am a
little worried that an implicit goal of being able to cope with "text as
it were wrote" that already exists may be being lost - not a problem if
it's not an aim, but grist for an email at another time, I think).

Tibs
--
Tony J Ibbs (Tibs)      http://www.tibsnjoan.co.uk/
"How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive
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