On Tuesday, 30 December 2014 at 01:35:57 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu
wrote:
On 12/29/14 12:04 PM, Jacob Carlborg wrote:
On 2014-12-29 20:48, Walter Bright wrote:
I don't care much for hybrids, they are confusing and ugly.
Markdown already support raw HTML. We could use Markdown but
with Ddoc
macros instead of raw HTML.
BTW, Ddoc macros are really ugly.
Ideas for a better syntax? I like the idea of a uniform syntax
for all macros instead of learning one syntax for each artfact.
-- Andrei
Current syntax:
$(B bolded)
OO O O
* 4 characters of overhead
* The characters are 'big' and seem like text (especially $),
taking attention away from the actual content. Different
from e.g. **bold** or `italic`
* To type, needs 6 keypresses
- 2 shifts + 4 keys (shift held for one key)
- as a person with RSI, this is relevant to me
* Need parens even for 1-argument version, increasing
lisp-ness with nested macros
-----------------------------
Idea: short 1-argument syntax
-----------------------------
I think one way to improve this would be to add an equivalent of
the
short template instantiation syntax:
someFunction(to!(ReturnType!T))
is less lispy and more readable than
someFunction(to!(ReturnType!(T)))
(especially with longer lines, more args, deeper nestings)
similarly e.g. (not proposing this exact syntax - just an example)
$(LI B$bold D$true)
is more readable than
$(LI $(B bold) $(D true))
And requires only 2 keypresses (including shift) for the
1-parameter macros.
Of course, this only helps with 1-parameter macros, but that's
very often the worst source of visual noise in DDoc, especially
with things like list items and tables (nesting), especially if
the lines are long.
--------------------------------------
Idea: 2(3 with space) character syntax
--------------------------------------
I'm not sure if this is viable without causing more damage than
benefit (too much escaping).
Idea: use 2 delimiting characters, preferably 'small' characters
that don't distract.
E.g (again, these are not actual proposals, just to illustrate
the point):
`B bold`
(very little visual noise but perhaps a bit too little/easy to
miss, 3 keypresses including space)
;B bold;
(slightly more visual noise but not too distracting, but
';' is probably too common character so there could be
too much escaping, 3 keypresses)
.. etc.
