Re: Alternative syntaxes for the prolog

Steven Pemberton <steven.pemberton@cwi.nl> writes:

> ...
>
> I heard a request at the meeting for bracketing.
>
> So that would mean that any bracketing characters are perfectly
> reasonable, non-ambiguous, syntaxes:
>
> 	[ixml version "1.1"]
>
> 	<ixml version "1.1">
>
> 	(ixml version "1.1")
>
> but there is no functional reason for the "ixml", so better:
>
> [version "1.1"]
> (version "1.1")
> <version "1.1">

Actually, I think there is a reason for the "ixml":  human readers who
are trying to figure out what format the file they are looking at is in
(my mental scenario is someone at a help desk trying to help a
bewildered user who has been sent a bunch of files they don't know much
about, but anyone asked for help will be in this situation) will have a
much better chance of figuring out that the grammar is something to do
with something called "ixml" if that word is present -- just as the XML
declaration uses 'xml' as a keyword for the same reason.

That is or is not a "functional reason", depending on what one takes
that phrase to mean.

> I personally like the ( ) style, since it looks like you're indicating
> "just saying". Steven

My first thought, looking at the examples, was that we could do a lot
worse than using the syntax of XML processing instructions with
pseudo-attributes, and use

  <?ixml version="1.1"?>

Michael

-- 
C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
Black Mesa Technologies LLC
http://blackmesatech.com

Received on Friday, 15 December 2023 16:25:00 UTC