From: Malik R. <mal...@gm...> - 2014-01-26 19:31:48
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Hello all, This is my first post. I just joined because I was led here by the instructions for getting admindocs working on django. I looked around, followed some links, and think I learned a lot. But I do have a question. My question is, why is rST any better than just putting the text in a text editor and marking it up with html directly? Why would you chose to use rST (or any 'lightweight markup language') instead? And I ask that in all serious, trying to understand, as opposed to tying to cause controversy. Thanks for enlightening this newby. |
From: Marc 'B. R. <ma...@ri...> - 2014-01-26 20:41:38
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On 26/01/14 20:31, Malik Rumi wrote: > My question is, why is rST any better than just putting the text in a > text editor and marking it up with html directly? Why would you chose to > use rST (or any 'lightweight markup language') instead? And I ask that > in all serious, trying to understand, as opposed to tying to cause > controversy. The term `lightweight markup language` contains a hint: It is easier to write text with some lightweight markup syntax than marking it up with something ”heavy” like HTML. Also easier to read, and therefore easier to maintain. You may try it yourself: Take each reST syntax construct and use it and then write the same text directly in HTML. See which markup is more disruptive to the thinking and writing process and which is more error prone. The ”lightweight” markup languages are more suitable for humans to read and write, while HTML is designed to be easy readable by the computer. HTML has the additional ”problem” that it is, or at least was in the beginning, meant to describe the layout and looks of the document while for a human writer (and reader) semantics are more important for most kind of documents. Ciao, Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch -- “A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.” -- Alan J. Perlis |
From: Alan G I. <ai...@am...> - 2014-01-26 21:55:55
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On 1/26/2014 3:41 PM, Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch wrote: > The ”lightweight” markup languages are more suitable for humans to read > and write That's certainly a key reason: pretty much anyone will be able to read it, without instruction. My original reason was that I was submitting papers to places some of which did not accept LaTeX, while others did. By using reST I could produce LaTeX or HTML as needed. (This was not quite as clean as I hoped, since the no-LaTeX outlets generally wanted Word (I kid you not). Word's import of HTML left much to be desired, and at the time the Word writer for reST had too many missing features. It was still better than converting LaTeX however! Alan |
From: Roberto A. <ra...@ne...> - 2014-01-26 22:17:05
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On 26/01/14 16:31, Malik Rumi wrote: > Hello all, > > This is my first post. I just joined because I was led here by the > instructions for getting admindocs working on django. I looked around, > followed some links, and think I learned a lot. But I do have a question. > > My question is, why is rST any better than just putting the text in a > text editor and marking it up with html directly? Why would you chose > to use rST (or any 'lightweight markup language') instead? And I ask > that in all serious, trying to understand, as opposed to tying to > cause controversy. > > > Thanks for enlightening this newby. > > +---------------------+-------------------------------+ | This is a table. | It's not a big table. but it's| | | mine. | +---------------------+-------------------------------+ <table><tr><td>This is a table</td><td>It's not a big table but it's mine</td></tr></table> |
From: Pete J. <je...@an...> - 2014-01-26 22:43:09
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It also fits inline program documentation easier than direct HTML or many other types of markup. Another plus is that the syntax rules are so easy, it is a low barrier for collaborators to contribute. Another consideration is that HTML might not be the target output. On 1/26/2014 3:50 PM, Roberto Alsina wrote: > On 26/01/14 16:31, Malik Rumi wrote: >> Hello all, >> >> This is my first post. I just joined because I was led here by the >> instructions for getting admindocs working on django. I looked around, >> followed some links, and think I learned a lot. But I do have a question. >> >> My question is, why is rST any better than just putting the text in a >> text editor and marking it up with html directly? Why would you chose >> to use rST (or any 'lightweight markup language') instead? And I ask >> that in all serious, trying to understand, as opposed to tying to >> cause controversy. >> >> >> Thanks for enlightening this newby. >> >> > > +---------------------+-------------------------------+ > | This is a table. | It's not a big table. but it's| > | | mine. | > +---------------------+-------------------------------+ > > <table><tr><td>This is a table</td><td>It's not a big > table but it's mine</td></tr></table> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. > Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For > Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. > Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > Docutils-users mailing list > Doc...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/docutils-users > > Please use "Reply All" to reply to the list. > -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Pete R. Jemian, Ph.D. <je...@an...> Beam line Controls and Data Acquisition, Group Leader Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory Argonne, IL 60439 630 - 252 - 3189 ----------------------------------------------------------- Education is the one thing for which people are willing to pay yet not receive. ----------------------------------------------------------- |