Re: SGML macros using DSSSL expressions

On Mon, 4 Mar 1996, Daniel W. Connolly wrote:

> In message <199602261722.MAA07293@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>, Paul Prescod wr
> ites:
> >At 09:40 AM 2/24/96 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >>The other thing is that some folks want to be able to use expressions as
> >>attribute values. I thought about defining a new media type, say text/ehtml,
> >>where the lexical syntax of HTML is extended to include the lisp backquote
> >syntax:
> >>
> >>	<h2>Section `,(set! counter (+ 1 counter))</h2>
> >>
> >>Anyway... just a few ideas I wanted to jot down before I forgot.
> >
> >How do these ideas fit in with your document [Toward a Formalism For
> >Communication On The Web]
> 
> They clash like plaid on plaid.
> 
> But some folks want/need it badly enough for it to happen.
> 
> I think there's a time and place for turing-complete documents, but
> it's NOT in HTML. Hence the new media type: text/ehtml.

I think that using an established and widely-distributed macro
language like m4 would give sufficient power and would be more
effectively deployed than text/ehtml.  It's easier to use an
existing program than trying to cram a LISP interpreter into 
user agents.  Besides, i believe a few user agents already deal
with Content-Encoding: tar and Content-Encoding: gzip.  Having

    Content-Encoding: m4

invoke an external interpreter would be quite easy to do.

Content-Type: text/html with a separate Content-Encoding
makes more sense to me than a new text/ehtml type, since the
result after macro processing really is to be treated as HTML.


Ping (Ka-Ping Yee):  3A Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada
kryee@csclub.uwaterloo.ca, St. Paul's College, Waterloo N2L 3G5, 519 7258008
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Received on Monday, 4 March 1996 18:23:48 UTC