3 ms·

A brief summary, then: Remove the syntactic mess that is attributes. (You will then find that you do not need them at all.) Enclose the /element/ in matching

A brief summary, then: Remove the syntactic mess that is attributes. (You will then find that you do not need them at all.) Enclose the /element/ in matching delimiters, not the tag. These simple things makes people think differently about how they use the language. Contrary to the foolish notion that syntax is immaterial, people optimize the way they express themselves, and so express themselves differently with different syntaxes. Next, introduce macros that look exactly like elements, but that are expanded in place between the reader and the "object model". Maybe I'm weird, but to me (this part) sounds like LISP.

wvenable 17y ago
"Enclose the /element/ in matching delimiters" I don't understand this part? What is he proposing this looks like?
- mcav 17y ago
  I don't understand it either. You somehow have to differentiate the tag from the content; maybe he wanted to reduce the redundancy of the open/close tags. Something like CSS: h1 { this is a header } p { this is the content. } HTML5-style optional ending tags might also work: <h1>This is a header <p>This is some content. (Though I remain confused about which closing tags are optional in the HTML5 spec. I think h1 tags have to be closed.)
  - CodeMage 17y ago
    Both of those are valid examples. A LISP-like syntax would also work: {h1 This is a header}
  - DougBTX 17y ago
    I think h1 tags have to be closed. Assuming they are much the same as the HTML 4 tags: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/index/elements.html http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/index/elements.html
  - blasdel 17y ago
    That's not "HTML5-style"! HTML5 has nothing to do with this. HTML has always had optional closing tags when dealing with non-nesting elements. Purge the nonsense XML propaganda from your brain. Your example doesn't work though, as heading elements can contain paragraphs -- it's identical to "<h1>This is a header <p>This is some content.</p></h1>" A better example would be: <h1>This is a header</h1> <p>This is some content. <p>This is more content. <ul> <li>Red <li>Blue </ul>
- olavk 17y ago
  He is proposing turning XML into s-expressions. Eg. <p>Hello world!</p> turns into (p Hello world!)

wvenable 17y ago

"Enclose the /element/ in matching delimiters" I don't understand this part? What is he proposing this looks like?

mcav 17y ago
I don't understand it either. You somehow have to differentiate the tag from the content; maybe he wanted to reduce the redundancy of the open/close tags. Something like CSS: h1 { this is a header } p { this is the content. } HTML5-style optional ending tags might also work: <h1>This is a header <p>This is some content. (Though I remain confused about which closing tags are optional in the HTML5 spec. I think h1 tags have to be closed.)
- CodeMage 17y ago
  Both of those are valid examples. A LISP-like syntax would also work: {h1 This is a header}
- DougBTX 17y ago
  I think h1 tags have to be closed. Assuming they are much the same as the HTML 4 tags: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/index/elements.html http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/index/elements.html
- blasdel 17y ago
  That's not "HTML5-style"! HTML5 has nothing to do with this. HTML has always had optional closing tags when dealing with non-nesting elements. Purge the nonsense XML propaganda from your brain. Your example doesn't work though, as heading elements can contain paragraphs -- it's identical to "<h1>This is a header <p>This is some content.</p></h1>" A better example would be: <h1>This is a header</h1> <p>This is some content. <p>This is more content. <ul> <li>Red <li>Blue </ul>
olavk 17y ago
He is proposing turning XML into s-expressions. Eg. <p>Hello world!</p> turns into (p Hello world!)