I've been using Linux since 1997, and first used FreeBSD in 1995. In that time, I've gradually been teaching myself the POSIX shell utilities for data manipulation, and I've also done some database driven Web programming with PHP and My/PostgreSQL.
Maybe I just haven't been working on sufficiently complex projects, but I've honestly never seen a legitimate reason for XML to exist. There honestly doesn't seem to be anything that can be done with it, that can't be done much more simply and easily with something else. If I want non-relational data, I can use read or cut with a shell script, and if I need relational data, I can use Postgres with PHP, or possibly even a spreadsheet.
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/XML_vs_CSV__0x3a__The_Choice_is_Obvious.aspx - Articles like this, while admittedly snarky and sarcastic, only seem to offer reinforcement for my opinion.
I think there are two real reasons why this bothers me so much. It's because whenever I've read any attempt at XML advocacy, it has always had the following two problems.
a} There will either be an appeal made to corporate buzzwords, or some other appeal to unnecessary complexity, which can always (literally; always) be proven false by practical demonstration.
b} There will be an appeal to arrogance and elitism. "XML is awesome, but the reason why I can appreciate its' awesomeness and you can't, is because I'm more intelligent than you, and can therefore understand said complexity."
I do not, however, want to be a bigot; if it was not for the above two points, XML would not bother me. I wouldn't even think about it. If someone here can provide me with a genuine demonstration, of a situation in which XML can solve a problem, which cannot be solved more easily with any other method, then I will change my view. I am, however, fairly confident that nobody will be able to do so.
If this thread does not receive sufficient responses here, I will repost it in /r/learnprogramming, if that would be more appropriate.
EDIT: I'm wishing I could edit the headline now, as I realise that it was a little harsh. Still, it's probably good for controversy, at least!
e.g. C#/XAML, Java/XML, JS/HTML, Objective-C/Storyboard XML.. or Kotlin (Jetpack Compose), Dart (Flutter), JSX (React), Swift (SwiftUI)
I, for one, much more prefer working with a programming language alone. Microsoft tries too hard to push the C#/XAML with Windows GUI programming or cross-platform Xamarin.Forms. I prefer it because I don't have to switch tabs and also I don't need to do weird-finding-the-widget code like in Java (#getViewById). Jetpack Compose is a godsend for Android programming. Dart/Flutter is as well. Everything fits so nicely. Not so with markup language programming.
Happy New Year!
I created a new markup language during the New Year holidays.
https://pub.dev/packages/simple_widget_markup
You can also try it out on the following sites. However, a full HD or higher display is recommended.
https://simple-widget-markup-editor.web.app/
The reason I made this was because I wanted to deliver to my app users new information on Flutter Web, but HTML was difficult to use and markdown was not expressive.
The parsed markup text is replaceable with Flutter's Widget, so most of the static parts of the layout can be written in this language as well.
Also, This language is inherently simple, so even non-programmers should be able to use it immediately after training. (Although the documentation is still inadequate ...)
I don't know how much it will be accepted, but I hope it helps someone who has the same worries as me.
Thank you.
The compiler targets C and is written in Haskell.
Hi, assuming that I have already come up with the design/rules of my markup language (not XML-based), what would I do next in order to "publish" or "release" it. (like making a parser etc)
For those that want to see it right away: GitHub: https://github.com/touchmarine/to Online Playground: http://touchlabs.io/play
I used markdown to write all kind of docs, mostly for my projects, but it started to become a PITA. Using markdown for online comments/posts or short docs is great but try anything more and it becomes increasingly frustrating.
Markdown is lightweight and that's one of the best things about it and I don't want to change that. But it's missing some very basic features like comments, notes/admonitions, and attributes. To get those features you have to use a markdown flavor that's incompatible with others or abandon markdown altogether and write your docs in an unreadable language.
I designed Touch to come with a default set of semantic elements that are common in writing. This set is not yet final (it might shrink) but in addition to markdown it provides:
- comments
- attributes (note: they're intended to be used very sparingly and serve as an escape hatch)
- numbered headings
- notes (or also known as admonitions or callouts)
- description lists
- subtitles (might be removed from default)
- captions (might be removed from default)
I very much enjoy working with Go so I designed Touch based on similar principles:
- it is explicit and has simpler syntax with fewer rules (e.g. both
-aand- aare list items unlike in markdown; see also 17 principles governing emphasis in markdown) - simpler syntax allows for easier tooling
- it is orthogonal and prefers composability (e.g. a named link element is composed from a group and a link element)
- comes with auto-formatting like gofmt
Touch is the result of my experieces with markdown, John MacFarlane's post beyond markdown, and my "research" of other people's problems with markdown. I would like to add that Touch really tries to stay similar to markdown as to stay familiar but, unlike markdown flavors, it's not constrained by it.
Would love to hear your thoughts! Best, touchmarine
Dear fellow PL enthusiasts!
A quick status update Not too long ago I've posted about a new library, Yoakke that we are developing as a tool to help compiler development with. The goal is to implement all the "crud" that compilers have usually, so the developer can concentrate on the language-specific stuff. Last time you couldn't even try out the library, as it wasn't released in some package manager. Fortunately, we now have nightly builds, which should let you experiment until the first official release!
About that intermediate language Soon, the symbols library will be in a usable state, so we started thinking about what comes next. We have figured, the next step would be finally getting something compiled or executed: an intermediate language. We have been throwing around some rough ideas, so far it's summarized in this GitHub issue.
We need to think about every aspect of this IR (adapting to backends, extensibility, API, ...), so we need to be careful with what we plan out. We don't need to have absolutely everything in the first version, but definitely enough to be able to compile a procedural language to it with relative comfort.
We would like to hear your ideas, given what we have gathered in the issue so far. Ideas, sources of inspiration, anything is welcome!
Mau is a lightweight markup language heavily inspired by AsciiDoc that makes it a breeze to write blog posts or books. If you already know Markdown or AsciiDoc you already know which type of software Mau is, and you will quickly learn its syntax.
The main goal of Mau, however, is to provide a customisable markup language. While Mau's syntax is fixed by its implementation, its output is created through user-provided templates. This strategy gives the user great flexibility with no added complexity.
I currently use Mau to write posts for my blog The Digital Cat and to write my book Clean Architectures in Python. The Mau documentation is also written using Mau.
I hope someone else can find it useful!
Source code: https://github.com/Project-Mau/mau
Official documentation: The Mau book at https://www.thedigitalcatbooks.com/
