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TeX is a programming language, and a quite peculiar one at that (it's not possible to parse it without executing it, for example); while MathML is merely descri
by nsajko 5y ago
TeX is a programming language, and a quite peculiar one at that (it's not possible to parse it without executing it, for example); while MathML is merely descriptions of mathematical expressions.
The idea of having native support for describing mathematics that the browser can render is not so crazy. On the other hand, MathML is sadly based on XML, which is an abomination that can't "decide" whether it should be human- or computer-readable, so it ends up being none, as opposed to S-expression-like formats which are both. But, at the end, SVG and HTML are already in the same (SGML?) family, so it might not be so bad that MathML belongs there, too.
- MontyCarloHall 5y ago> it's not possible to parse it without executing it, for example It’s possible to define useful subsets of LaTeX (e.g. math markup only) for which this is not the case. MathJax does just that, in fact.
- tannhaeuser 5y agoActually, in SGML (but not the XML subset of SGML) it's common to define char sequences (shortrefs) an SGML parser would replace into tags, which together with tag inference (also left out from XML) can make it possible to at least type casual and high school math naturally as ASCII math expressions and have those render into presentational MathML. Though that approach clearly has limitations (fraction style, roots, infix expressions, etc.). It's also conceivable to attempt to customize SGML's concrete syntax to recognize LaTeX (but not TeX proper) such that it treats "\bla{...}" as <bla>...</bla>, etc. But the fact that nobody had bothered probably tells us it's not all that useful.