Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
> I believe XML is great for what it was intended: a cross-platform
> vendor-neutral text-based representation of hierarchical
> somewhat-self-describing data, somewhat robust to version upgrade.
>
> However, I hate typing it. I hate having to type </foo> when I get to
> the ending level. I want to just type a right-paren, watch my editor
> flash the corresponding left paren, and be done with it.
Sounds like you need AML - Andy's/Amazing/Abstract/Another/Arsecrack
Markup Language.
It's like XML, but not quite. It's also like Lisp, but not quite,
It's also like, nearly finished, but not quite.
XML: <title>blah blah</title>
AML: <title:blah blah>
XML: <quote>All template languages are <blink>gay</blink></quote>
AML: <quote:All template languages are <blink:gay>>
XML: <b><i>bold and italic</i></b>
AML: <b i:bold and italic>
XML: < silly <br/> entities & blah >
AML: <lt> silly <br> entities & blah <gt>
I started writing it because, like you, I hate writing XML. Too much
verbosity and itty-bitty-get-everything-in-exactly-the-right-place
nonsense. So I devised a stripped-down XML meta-syntax which is easier
for humans to read and write, and a tool to "compile" it into XML or
whatever.
The other important thing about AML is that it's a dynamic language.
You can reference parts of the document object model directly from
within the document. No messing around with separate DOM tools or XSLT
to make your document do what you want.
Example:
<module:
<name:My Funky Module>
<version:3.14>
<author:
<name:Andy Wardley>
<email:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
<about:
This module is called <name> (or I can also reference it as
<module.name>) and it is at version <version> and written
by <author.name> (<author.email>).
>
>
I'll get around to finishing it one of these days. Just haven't got any
time for it right now.
A
