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.  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.

> HTML shouldn't be considered a "programming language." If anything,
> sgml/xml-style dtd's are, but html should really be considered as being a
> dtd... one in which mathmatical functions have not been supported yet.

What I see is a DTD (possibly something like MML) where some type of
external style sheet (be it written in CSS, XSL, or even some sort of
scripting language (like JavaScript)) processes the markup to give you the
desired calculation.  But, IMHO, markup languages alone aren't really
supposed to do that.

-- 
 -Ryan Fischer <fischer@email.unc.edu> ICQ UIN - 595003

Received on Tuesday, 26 January 1999 19:21:23 UTC