Fred Stluka on 26 Nov 2018 10:43:35 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] Open Source Equivalent of WordPerfect 

Rich,

+1 in general.  Specifically:


Markup languages are also great when:

	- some of the content is generated by programs (e.g., shell scripts)

Yes, easier to insert text into a markup doc stored in plain text
(ASCII or Unicode) than into a PBF (proprietary binary format).


	- some of the content needs to be processed by programs

Yes, easier to process text and markup stored in plain text than in
a PBF.


	- documents are assembled by programs (e.g., makefiles)

Yes, obviously easier to assemble text and markup stored in plain
text than in a PBF.  Not only makefiles, but scripts, programs, and
server-side db-driven web apps.



	- revision control is required, in particular revision control
		which integrates with things other than documents

Yes, Git and all other VCS (version control software) systems do a
great job of comparing text files, storing the deltas instead of complete
copies of the file as it changed over time, etc.  For binary files, they,
they don't even try.  They just store the entire file even if only one
byte changed.  Also, they do a great job of showing you the diffs
at each revision for a text file, but don't even try with binary files.
This is true for 35 or more years, with tools like Git, SVN, CVS, VSS,
PVCS, rcs, sccs, VAX CMS, etc.



	- documents are maintained by sophisticated, clueful users

Yeah, I've written tons of tools that automate VCS tools, and
manipulate the files they store, the reports they generate, etc.
If the VCS tool doesn't already do it, I can add new functionality
to do so.  If a standard header, footer or formatting change needs
to be applied to all docs, no problem.  Whip up a quick shell script,
Python or Java program and I'm on my way.



	- documents need to be searchable

Yes, text files are infinitely "grep"-able.  I do this in a casual ad-hoc
way hundreds of times per day.  When did I stop working for Visibiz?
Answer it with a quick grep of the hundreds of HTML files in my
invoices folder!  When did I last meet Joe Smith for lunch?  Grep my
archived ASCII calendar files!



	- documents need to be searchable *including their revisions*

Right!  I frequently grep the Git log to see when a specific line of
code was deleted, by whom, and for what reason.



	- documents need to be ported

Right!  HTML and other Markup languages, stored as ASCII or Unicode
files can be simply copied to any computer, phone, tablet, etc. regardless
of manufacturer, OS, etc.  No actual "porting" required.  Just send it via
email, FTP, scp, rsync, DropBox, Box.net, Google Drive, iCloud, or even
a USB drive.



	- documents need to be rendered in unanticipated ways

Not sure what you have in mind here, but yes, since the source
file is so accessible, you can manipulate it however you like.  No
API needed to access the document contents, just plain text
processing tools.



	- documents need to have a long lifetime

Agreed.  I still have old VAX RUNOFF docs from the early 80's. Can't
run the RUNOFF processor any more but can still read the text, and
easily convert it to HTML for rendering.  Files from that era stored
as WordStar or other PBF formats are totally useless today. Personally,
I still have working copies of 35 years worth of email, requirements
docs, code, tests, invoices, resumes, contracts, etc.  All in plain text
files.

--Fred
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred Stluka -- Bristle Software, Inc. -- http://bristle.com
#DontBeATrump -- Make America Honorable Again!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 11/26/18 2:10 AM, Rich Kulawiec wrote:

On Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 03:17:03AM -0500, K.S. Bhaskar wrote:

Markup languages are great for large documents (whose size means that they
are often maintained by multiple people over long periods of time) and
where you want to separate the content from the presentation.

Markup languages are also great when:

	- some of the content is generated by programs (e.g., shell scripts)
	- some of the content needs to be processed by programs
	- documents are assembled by programs (e.g., makefiles)
	- revision control is required, in particular revision control
		which integrates with things other than documents
	- documents are maintained by sophisticated, clueful users
	- documents need to be searchable
	- documents need to be searchable *including their revisions*
	- documents need to be ported
	- documents need to be rendered in unanticipated ways
	- documents need to have a long lifetime

---rsk
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug