RE: Which mathematical operator is allowed in HTML

> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-html-request@w3.org [mailto:www-html-request@w3.org]On Behalf
> Of Ryan Fischer
> Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 1999 7:21 PM
> To: Inanis Brooke
> Cc: www-html
> Subject: Re: Which mathematical operator is allowed in HTML
>
>
> On Tue, 26 Jan 1999, Inanis Brooke wrote:
> > I completely agree with Frank's assessment of HTML. From my
> comprehension,
> > HTML is merely a formatting language. Just about everything in
> HTML pertains
> > to formatting how information is presented,
>
> HTML is neither a formatting language nor a presentation language.
>
> > which is a good reason why HTML
> > and CSS go hand-in-hand. CSS should be considered a part of
> HTML, just as
> > much as an <img> element is.
>
> CSS is more accurately compared to any client-side scripting language than
> to HTML.  HTML is a *markup* language.

Yes, but that fact in itself doesn't exclude it from being a formatting
language. The term "markup" just means that it marks text. It doesn't say
anything about the purpose of the markings.

In fact, there are several constructs in HTML that have exclusively to do
with formatting, though almost all of them are deprecated in HTML 4.0. Since
HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0 Transitional include a number of formatting
mechanisms, it is not entirely inaccurate to call HTML a formatting
language. Nor does it tell the whole story.

At its core, HTML is a logical markup language, meaning that it includes
markup that attempts to qualitatively describe content, so that a user agent
can interpret it appropriately.

>  As with JavaScript, CSS adds
> functionality (especially in newer versions) as well as visual, etc.
> enhancements.
>
> > If not, then another markup language will
> > undoubtadely replace HTML that does things HTML can't.
>
> HTML was not meant to be a programming language, or a language that
> provided any sort of functionality, so the need for variables really isn't
> that great.  In SGML, the only thing close is the !ENTITY declaration, but
> that really doesn't add all that functionality -- only a few abbreviations
> here and there.
>
> > XML will be able to have mathmatical operators,
>
> Really?  That's news to me.  I heard that was a possibility in XSL,
> however small, but definitely not XML, which is just an application of
> SGML.

No. HTML 2.0, 3.2, and 4.0 are examples of SGML applications. XML is a
*derivative* of SGML. For the most part, it can be considered a subset of
SGML.

Braden

Received on Tuesday, 26 January 1999 20:14:46 UTC