Re: what I learned from today's discussion of delimiters

On Wed, 26 Jan 2022 at 14:11, C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
<cmsmcq@blackmesatech.com> wrote:

> >  Is this what you mean by 'checking the internal structure' Michael?
>
> It is part of what I mean but not necessarily all of it.
>
> If and when we integrate pragmas into the ixml spec, there will be rules
> in the ixml specification grammar defining a set of strings (or, if you
> prefer, saying what strings count as pragmas and what strings don't).

Understood.


> > If not then you're putting a lot of work (and nuisance value) on that
> > implementation IMHO.
>
> There I think our opinions diverge.  For an implementation capable of
> parsing arbitrary input against arbitrary context-free grammars,
> checking that an input grammar is itself grammatical is neither a lot of
> work nor a nuisance.  Checking the input grammar against all parts of
> the ixml grammar *except* the rules defining pragmas would be a
> nuisance.

Yes, our opinions do. I viewed a pragma-oblivious processor as not
needing to know about pragma content inside delimiters.
I *think* you mean pragma structure must meet some grammar (tbd?).
If that's the case, no problem.


>
>
> > Issue - minor.
> >    I'm assuming we pick a non ASCII delimiter. In emacs, easy.

> Since you mention guillemets, I will observe that they have one slight
> complication:  if I understand correctly, in different European
> typographic traditions (e.g. French and German) some nations tend to
> place guillemets pointy-side out and others pointy-side in, so that in
> one country the form of pragma that might feel natural would be «...»
> and in another »...«
>
> My understanding may of course be incorrect.

Drat and double drat! I can see the nuisance value to someone used to
outwards facing guillemets, that would be a problem, minor though.

Ah well. I'd still support 'inwards' facing guillemets :-)

regards



-- 
Dave Pawson
XSLT XSL-FO FAQ.
Docbook FAQ.

Received on Wednesday, 26 January 2022 14:21:47 UTC