Re: Semantic Document Framework(s) [language]

Nic Ferrier writes, citing Sean Palmer:

> >It's just unbelievably complex. What you aare all saying is 
> >that there is no system as clever as a human: if there was, 
> >we could process it.

Not that all humans are equally clever, but doesn't their existence
suggest the existence of "systems" that clever.

> No. That's not the point really. The point is that even humans can't
> parse languages like English with any reliability.

Witness my last sentence above.

> We *think* we know what we and others mean *most* of the time... but
> we often make mistakes. That's why politicians can exist.
. . .
> Teaching non-ambiguous English is a LOT harder than teaching
> non-ambiguous XML.

Indeed.

A small amount of markup can clarify greatly.

Systems can be designed that enrich it to the point of creating
bloated-for-public-web-client xml.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    (Is this "English"?)

What sometimes happens is that compulsive authors equipped with a
powerful and succinct markup tend to over-elaborate, making their
markup source look overly complex to others.

My first awareness of such markup happened many years ago when I was
taught always to leave two spaces (or a newline) after sentence-ending
punctuation.

                                    -- Bill