Re: RFC 357 (v1) Perl should use XML for documentation instead of POD

[Tom Christiansen]

>- Done right, it could be easier to write and maintain

Strongly disagree.

>- Why make people learn pod, when everyone's learning XML?

Because it is simple.  It is supposed to be simple.
It is not supposed to do what you want to do.
In fact, it is suppose to NOT DO what you want to do.

>- Pod can be translated into XML and vice versa

Then do that.

>- Standard elements could be defined and utilized with the
>  same or greater ease than pod for build and configuration.

></pod>
>  <Name>Module::Name</Name>
>  <Version>0.01</Version>
>  <Synopsis>short description</Synopsis>
>  <Description>
>    <name>=head1 long description</name>
>    <section>
>      <name>=head2 heading</name>
>      <list type="ordered" symbol="1">
>        <item>foo</item>
>      </list>
>      Type in some text here...
>    </section>
>  </Description>
>  <Author>Eliott P. Squibb</Author>
>  <Maintainer>Joe Blogg</Author>
>  <Bugs>none</Bugs>
>  <Copyright>Distributed under same terms as Perl</Copyright>
>  <section>
>    <name>define your own section</name>
>    blab here
>  </section>
></pod>

That is an excellent description of why THIS IS COMPLETE 
MADNESS.  

--TOM