Incremental parser

Jacob Rus jacobolus at gmail.com
Mon Sep 3 01:52:57 EDT 2007


Michel Fortin wrote:

> That's assuming you have a separate preview mode, are using a special

> preview stylesheet, and that you actually look at the preview before

> publishing.

>

> I would not expect Markdown's usability to depend on such a precise

> workflow. For instance, have you thought about the poor commenter on a

> website who doesn't know the comment form use Markdown, writing:

>

> Type these three keys in sequence: [1] [2] [3]

>

> getting this:

>

> <p>Type these three keys in sequence: <a href="#">1</a> [3]

>

> and seeing that in his browser:

>

> Type these three keys in sequence: 1 [3]


Notice, this is why I was opposed months ago to the `[foo]` format for
links, and am still opposed to it now. What's the likelihood of the
same user typing:

Type these three keys in sequence: [1][] [2][] [3][]

I'd guess vanishingly close to none. If `[foo]` is still allowed as a
syntax for links, I would never suggest automatically putting links in
for `[foo]` unless there is a corresponding reference definition,
because square brackets are far too commonly used for other purposes
(and note, TextMate's syntax highlighting for markdown wisely does not
highlight [this] as a link).

-Jacob



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