293 lines
8.4 KiB
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293 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
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notableofcontents()
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article(YODL - or, Yet Oneother Document Language)
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(Karel Kubat tt(karel@icce.rug.nl))
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(1996)
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quote(This file double-serves as the announcement that goes to
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em(comp.os.linux.announce), and as a message to the maintainers of
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em(sunsite.unc.edu) and em(tsx-11.mit.edu). So it's a slightly unpersonal
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message... sorry 'bout that.
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What's more, this message is in the YODL document language. What better
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way to demonstrate? If you see a lot of parentheses, just read over them.
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This file in `source' format should be readable nevertheless.)
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nsect(What's YODL?)
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YODL (Yet Oneother Document Language) is a package that consists of
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programs, some shell scripts, and auxiliary "lib" files for which hold
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macro files. The whole purpose of the package is to provide a
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simple-to-use and extensible document language, that can be used to
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convert documents in the YODL format to a variety of other formats. In
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this purpose, YODL somewhat resembles generic markup languages, e.g. SGML
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footnote(Standard Generalized Markup Language) but:
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nsubsect(How easy to use is it?)
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YODL is easier to use. Well I find so. Typing parentheses is I think
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less work than typing <> or \{}.
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nsubsect(How good is the documentation?)
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YODL is very well documented. That my version of SGML isn't is, I
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guess, no fault of SGML, but I had a bf(very) hard time getting SGML
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to do what I wanted it to do! Well, YODL should be easier to handle.
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The docs include various manpages and a full document of approximately
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60 DIN A4 pages. (If you don't like DIN A4, just make your own
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reference docs! The sources for the document, of course in YODL
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format, are included.)
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nsubsect(Does it use tags?)
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YODL doesn't insist on weird tags. YODL is not a markup language in
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that sense (starting and ending tags), YODL handles all its commands
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in a C-style manner; e.g. tt(em(...)) will set the text emphasized.
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Similarly, macros can have two arguments or more, also all in a
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parameter-list format. This is more of an advantage than you might
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think at first glance: e.g., my editor won't match a closing tag in
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HTML with the opening tag, but it bf(will) show the open-parenthesis
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when I type a closing parenthesis!
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nsubsect(Does it have conditional parsing?)
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YODL has support for conditional processing: by testing for some
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symbol, or say for the presence of an argument, you can do different
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things in a macro. Or you can redefine macros, and the such.
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nsubsect(What can it do?)
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Currently the package supports conversions to LaTeX, HTML, to the
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"man" format, to the "ms" format, and poor-mans conversions to plain
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ASCII and SGML (for compatibility reasons at our site). Other
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conversions are of course possible, but these are the formats that I
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use and hence the converters that I put some effort into.
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nsect(Where to get it?)
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If you want to obtain YODL and try it out, ftp to
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ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/ and look for a file yodl-X.YY.tar.gz, with
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X.YY being a version number (0.00 is of course the first). The YODL
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distribution is also on the `standard' Linux sites.
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Unpack it in a "sources" directory and type "make htmldoc" or "make
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latexdoc" and see for yourself...
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nsect(Last remarks)
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YODL has evolved from the previous DOM package, that I developed but
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didn't distribute yet. DOM used to be "DOcument Maintainer", but I don't
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think that the nomenclature was too good. (Besides, I can now use ".yo"
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for file extensions ;-)
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YODL is currently beta-state, that means that it may not be very complete
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(but I'm working on it), that there may be bugs in it (not that I know
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of), and that new versions may arrive quickly. Yes, I am looking for
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testers! If you're interested, get YODL and mail me what you think.
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Just for fun, at the end the same document is included, but converted to
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plain ASCII via the "groff -ms" route. Well, that's all, I hope that I've
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tickled your curiosity!
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Karel.
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YODL - or, Yet Oneother Document Language
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Karel Kubat karel@icce.rug.nl
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1996
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This file double-serves as the announcement that goes
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to comp.os.linux.announce, and as a message to the
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maintainers of sunsite.unc.edu and tsx-11.mit.edu. So
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it's a slightly unpersonal message... sorry 'bout that.
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What's more, this message is in the YODL document lan-
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guage. What better way to demonstrate? If you see a lot
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of parentheses, just read over them. This file in
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`source' format should be readable nevertheless.
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What's YODL?
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YODL (Yet Oneother Document Language) is a package that
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consists of programs, some shell scripts, and auxiliary
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"lib" files for which hold macro files. The whole pur-
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pose of the package is to provide a simple-to-use and
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extensible document language, that can be used to con-
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vert documents in the YODL format to a variety of other
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formats. In this purpose, YODL somewhat resembles
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generic markup languages, e.g. SGML [1] but:
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How easy to use is it?
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YODL is easier to use. Well I find so. Typing parenthe-
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ses is I think less work than typing <> or \{}.
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How good is the documentation?
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YODL is very well documented. That my version of SGML
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isn't is, I guess, no fault of SGML, but I had a very
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hard time getting SGML to do what I wanted it to do!
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Well, YODL should be easier to handle. The docs
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include various manpages and a full document of approx-
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imately 60 DIN A4 pages. (If you don't like DIN A4,
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just make your own reference docs! The sources for the
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-----------
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[1] Standard Generalized Markup Language
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-2-
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document, of course in YODL format, are included.)
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Does it use tags?
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YODL doesn't insist on weird tags. YODL is not a markup
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language in that sense (starting and ending tags), YODL
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handles all its commands in a C-style manner; e.g.
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em(...) will set the text emphasized. Similarly,
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macros can have two arguments or more, also all in a
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parameter-list format. This is more of an advantage
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than you might think at first glance: e.g., my editor
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won't match a closing tag in HTML with the opening tag,
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but it will show the open-parenthesis when I type a
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closing parenthesis!
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Does it have conditional parsing?
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YODL has support for conditional processing: by testing
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for some symbol, or say for the presence of an argu-
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ment, you can do different things in a macro. Or you
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can redefine macros, and the such.
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What can it do?
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Currently the package supports conversions to LaTeX,
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HTML, to the "man" format, to the "ms" format, and
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poor-mans conversions to plain ASCII and SGML (for com-
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patibility reasons at our site). Other conversions are
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of course possible, but these are the formats that I
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use and hence the converters that I put some effort
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into.
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Where to get it?
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If you want to obtain YODL and try it out, ftp to
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ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/ and look for a file
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yodl-X.YY.tar.gz, with X.YY being a version number
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(0.00 is of course the first). The YODL distribution is
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also on the `standard' Linux sites.
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Unpack it in a "sources" directory and type "make html-
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doc" or "make latexdoc" and see for yourself...
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-3-
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Last remarks
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YODL has evolved from the previous DOM package, that I
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developed but didn't distribute yet. DOM used to be
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"DOcument Maintainer", but I don't think that the
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nomenclature was too good. (Besides, I can now use
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".yo" for file extensions ;-)
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YODL is currently beta-state, that means that it may
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not be very complete (but I'm working on it), that
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there may be bugs in it (not that I know of), and that
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new versions may arrive quickly. Yes, I am looking for
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testers! If you're interested, get YODL and mail me
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what you think.
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Just for fun, at the end the same document is included,
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but converted to plain ASCII via the "groff -ms" route.
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Well, that's all, I hope that I've tickled your curios-
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ity!
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Karel.
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[25;1H[K |