Block quotes with a blank line between them get merged

[Michel Fortin]

Le 19 oct. 2006 à 0:30, John Gruber a écrit :


>>     ~~~

>>     function db_like($first, $pattern) {

>>         $pattern = preg_quote($pattern);

>>         $pattern = preg_replace('/(?<!\\)_/', '.', $pattern);

>>         $pattern = preg_replace('/(?<!\\)%/', '.*?', $pattern);

>>         return preg_match('{^'.$pattern.'$}', $first);

>>     }

>>     ~~~

>>   The code block begins with three or more consecutive tildes `~`  

>> alone on a  line, and ends with the same number of tildes `~`  

>> alone on a line.

>

> I don't hate it, but it's not doing it for me. If you're going to

> have stuff on separate lines like that, why not just use

> `<pre><code>` and `</code></pre>`?


Using `<pre><code>` for the example above means you have to manually  
escape two '<' with `&lt;`. Luckily, there is no '&' in that code.  
And you'd have to put the first line of the content on the same line  
as `<pre><code>`.



> And don't forget that we'd need some sort of escape so that you

> could put a literal `~~~` line in a code block.


You don't need that for code spans do you? You don't need that  
because the final marker must be the same as the one at the beginning  
-- the same applies here. If you choose the number of tilde  
carefully, there is no problem.

If you have many tilde-only lines of all lengths in the code block,  
it'd probably be wiser to choose an intended code block instead, if  
only for clarity, but I can't see that happen very often.



> I'd rather have line prefixes. I know they're harder to generate

> in textarea fields, because you have to do them by hand, but I'm

> finding it harder and harder to care about the plight of the

> textarea-field-writer.

>

>     ~   function db_like($first, $pattern) {

>     ~       $pattern = preg_quote($pattern);

>     ~       $pattern = preg_replace('/(?<!\\)_/', '.', $pattern);

>     ~       $pattern = preg_replace('/(?<!\\)%/', '.*?', $pattern);

>     ~       return preg_match('{^'.$pattern.'$}', $first);

>     ~   }


Personally, I don't find that aesthetically better than my proposal.  
The only problem it solves is the one of two consecutive code blocks,  
or a code block following a list. Other than that, it has no use; I  
don't see how anyone will prefer that syntax over simple indentation,  
except in the two corner cases mentioned above.

My proposal is some sort of a lazy syntax for code blocks, building  
on what some people use lazily in their emails, and it has more use  
than these two corner-cases. Just as you said, you don't have to use  
it if you prefer the other one.



> One nice thing about '~' is that (on U.S. keyboards at least) it's

> on the same key as '`' -- so you'd use the same key for inline

> code spans as for code blocks.


Interesting. On my Canadian-French (CSA) keyboard, '~' is Option-Ç  
and '`' is Option-À, two adjacent keys.

  - - -

That said, we could also take a hybrid approach where there is only  
one syntax for code block: indentation; but where you can use an  
optional tilde '~' maker at the start of a new one when you need some  
disambiguation:

     Standard paragraph.

         <title>My Page</title>

     ~   <title>
         <?php echo $title ?>
         </title>

     *   List item
     *   List item

     ~   <style>
         <?php echo $stylesheet ?>
         </style>

The downside of this approach is that it looks like some kind of list  
item marker. But so do this:

     Standard paragraph.

     ~   <title>My Page</title>

     ~   <title>
     ~   <?php echo $title ?>
     ~   </title>

     *   List item
     *   List item

     ~   <style>
     ~   <?php echo $stylesheet ?>
     ~   </style>

(Of course, the first tilde for the first code block is optional:  
both code block syntaxes can be used there.)

Now let's compare to my approach:

     Standard paragraph.

     ~~~
     <title>My Page</title>
     ~~~

     ~~~
     <title>
     <?php echo $title ?>
     </title>
     ~~~

     *   List item
     *   List item

     ~~~
     <style>
     <?php echo $stylesheet ?>
     </style>
     ~~~

Which one do you prefer?


Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://www.michelf.com/