[REBOL] Re: make-doc-pro: how to handle tables?
From: joel:neely:fedex at: 21-Sep-2001 10:29
Hi, Robert,
Robert M. Muench
wrote:
> Hi, I'm going to add table support to make-doc-pro. I'm
> interested in your opinion how to do it and what syntax
> to use. Currently I'm thinking about something like this:
>
> first cell | second cell | last cell
> second line| ...
>
I used a slightly different approach in a "wiki-like" script
that I wrote a while back.
~|first cell|second cell| ... |last cell|
~!cell first!cell second! ... !cell last!
~:primo cell:secundo cell: ... :ultama cell:
~$unum$
duo$
...
whatever$
In other words, the tilde as a first character identified the
line as beginning another row of the table. The character
immediately following the tilde was taken as the cell delimiter
*for*that*row*only* so that the writer could use whatever
punctuation made sense relative to the actual content (even
if it needed to change from row to row within a single table).
The table was terminated by the appearance of an empty line.
The combination of the two rules above meant that a line that
began with a tilde, along with all subsequent non-empty and
non-tilde-beginning lines, together made up a single row.
This allowed the author the option of entering the cells in a
row vertically instead of horizontally, a convenience in some
cases.
-jn-
--
This sentence contradicts itself -- no actually it doesn't.
-- Doug Hofstadter
joel<dot>neely<at>fedex<dot>com
