+++ Tao Klerks [Oct 20 11 12:52 ]: > OK, I interpret this (besides the quite-reasonable "why should I care?" > vibe), combined with previous references to the PEG grammar(s) implicit > in MultiMarkdown and peg-markdown's implementations, as "a formal > specification already exists". > > > That sounds fine - I'd love to use peg-(multi)markdown in my programs, > but I see two practical problems for that right now: > > · A C library, while portable to any processor architecture, if > not portable to any development environment, and certainly not > future-proof. I, personally, would like to be able to rely on the exact > same syntax not only across the OSs that Fletcher mentions, but also in > C# code (that can be sandboxed safely - no P/Invoke calls to unsafe > code) and also in browsers. There are numerous other environments > (Java, etc) where a similar "safe code" requirement precludes the use > of a C library (at least in browser and other high-sandboxing > environments). > > · The PEG grammars(s) may be formal reproducible reusable > specifications, but my understanding is that they are not so meaningful > without a definition of what they map to. If my brief reading on this > is correct, a PEG grammar allows you to define behaviours to be > executed upon encountering certain source structures; those behaviours > implement a conversion to HTML, or latex, or whatever, but are implicit > in the Program, not the Specification/Grammar > > > So if we take the current PEG-based implementations as a starting > point, what would it take to produce a specification that formally > establishes not only the source structures to be matched, but also the > behaviour/conversions to be implemented against them? Is this just a > question of detailed documentation and an open test-suite? > > > Another applicable question is: are PEG grammars easily usable in other > environments? A brief search suggests so (js: > [1]http://stackoverflow.com/questions/79584/are-there-any-parsing-expre > ssion-grammar-peg-libraries-for-javascript-or-php, C#: > [2]http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/grammar_support_1.aspx not > GPL-compatible, sadly…); does anyone know how fesible it is to take the > existing PEG grammar(s) and reuse them in other languages?
Translation of peg-markdown to Go: https://github.com/knieriem/markdown Java markdown parser based on peg-markdown: https://github.com/sirthias/pegdown And of course a PEG could provide a reference specification even for implementations that use other parsing methods. John _______________________________________________ Markdown-Discuss mailing list Markdown-Discuss@six.pairlist.net http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/markdown-discuss
