On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 12:54 AM, Esteban A. Maringolo <emaring...@gmail.com > wrote:
> You hit several birds with one single mail. > > 2017-08-14 13:34 GMT-03:00 Tim Mackinnon <tim@testit.works>: > > Jimmie et al. nicely reasoned arguments - and Doru's point about > controlling > > the syntax is an interesting one that I hadn’t thought about. > > > > Personally, I find having too many similar syntax’s confusing - > contributing > > to things is hard enough - having to remember that its !! Instead of ## > and > > “” instead of ** is just frustrating for me. > > +1 > Not only for docs, most platforms like Slack/Discord share the syntax, > so now I'm getting "muscle memory" when typing literals using the > backtick (`) character, quoting with > or pasting snippets using ``` > +1. So I've posted this before... https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/06/03/strategy-letter-iii-let-me-go-back/ describing that "The only strategy in getting people to switch to your product is to eliminate barriers" But more... the best reason for Pillar to support a Markdown-ish syntax, is that when we scratch-our-own-itch (nominally for Pillar) to build the best damn markup-editor ever (because we can!) - if this happened to support Markdown it can draw in Markdown-non-Pharo users (because its the best editor ever!). Those users later want to make modifications, and now have a *reason* to learn Pharo... ahHaA! now you see the cunning plan... So don't just promote to people "hey come and play with this cool toy of ours (Pharo)." Instead give them a toy they *already-want* (Markdown editor) and then when they want to change the batteries, they *need* to use our special screwdriver (Pharo). cheers -ben > > > Sure, maybe we were first with Pillar, but for me, lots of programming > is in > > other languages, and I use Smalltalk where I can, and a hybrid of > multiple > > languages and projects is often the reality - so a lowest common > denominator > > of Markdown is just easier. The fact that we are quite close to what our > > colleagues in other languages use (regardless of what Python has > chosen), is > > quite interesting. > > This helps building "bridges" with other communities. > > The language as a means of exchange is always the lowest common > denominator. > As long as it's "efficient enough" then I vote to use what other > communities use. > > > That said, if the community wants to stick to its gun’s thats fine - I > will > > probably still investigate how to use Commonmark for myself, and will > still > > contribute to Pillar docs where I can (and curse history) - but I think > we > > are long better off trying to join emerging standards where we can > > particularly if they aren’t our core language thing. And it just makes it > > less frictionless for ourselves and newcomers. > > The "Not Invented Here" syndrome is strong among Smalltalkers, it's > important to be aware of this bias and think more than once whether > eating our own dogfood adds value to the core of what Pharo brings. > > I think we missed some good years fighting with our own SCM and in the > end git (or any other file based SCM) prevailed, even when it has > limitations. > > Pareto (80-20) for everything non-core business should be a guide. > > > Of course, if we were to move, we would need to translate a lot of > quality > > docs to a new format - but I would be up for contributing to that if that > > was a deciding factor. > > There are some Markdown exporters AFAIK, or it could be written. > > > Esteban A. Maringolo > >
