CodeDown = Markdown as the universal language for program documentation
bucephalus org
bucephalus.org at gmail.com
Mon Apr 11 16:32:56 EDT 2011
Hi Sherwood,
Thank you very much for your interest and reply!
On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 9:05 PM, Sherwood Botsford <sgbotsford at gmail.com>wrote:
> Interesting concept, but I think you have it partially reversed.
>
> You want php -> codedown -> web
>
> I think it would be better:
>
> codedown -> php
> codedown -> markdown -> web
>
I am not sure, if I understand what you mean. But I am under the impression,
that maybe you don't understand what the general idea of CodeDown is. There
is not separate code called "CodeDown", that could or should be translated
into PHP or Markdown. There is only the source code of a particular given
programming language, say PHP.
Consider the following simple script, called `example.php`, comprising the
following code
<?php
/*
tripleThis($n) returns the three-fold of the given number $n.
*/
function tripleThis ($n) {
return 3 * $n;
}
?>
This is plain standard PHP, with one comment between /*...*/.
I can run this through my ElephantMark converter, like so
php elephantmark.php example.php
and that returns an empty HTML document, pretty much like this
<html>
<body>
</body>
</html>
You can also run the example.php script itself and use the triple()
function, as usual with PHP!
The thing is, that a little modification of the script (in fact, there are
three simple syntax rules), turns it into a potential self-documentation of
the script. But note, that the script as PHP script is totally unchanged!
For example, by turning the ordinary command /*...*/ into what I called a
Markdown block /*** ... ***/, allows us to apply proper Markdown (as a
super-set of HTML). And putting the function definition between two lines of
// // // makes that part a literal block.
So our modified example.php is now say
<?php
/***
# A nice function
`tripleThis($n)` returns the three-fold of the given number `$n`.
Its implementation is as follows:
***/
// // //
function tripleThis ($n) {
return 3 * $n;
}
// // //
?>
If we now run the same command
php elephantmark.php example.php
the output will be a HTML document
<html>
<body>
<h1>A nice function</h1>
<p>
<code>tripleThis($n)</code> returns the three-fold of the given number
<code>$n$</code>.
</p>
<p>
Its implementation is as follows:
</p>
<pre><code>function tripleThis($n) {
return 3 * $n;
}
</code></pre>
</body>
</html>
So this is a HTML document generated from the PHP source, which is thus
both, a PHP script and its own documentation.
(I left away the intermediate step, that the script is first translated into
Markdown, and that is then translated into HTML. But the normal user will
not need this intermediate Markdown step.)
> One of the weaknesses for most programming is that people postpone writing
> the documentation.
>
> In one of the few programming courses I had, the instructor had us write
> the user manual first. THEN write the top level description of the program,
> including documenting the algorithms. ONLY then could we write the
> program. After we had to correct the previous levels.
This is exactly the way I personally use my ElephantMark (or PhpCodeDown)
all the time! Both the PHP program and its HTML documentation can grow
gradually and simultaneously, and both have the same single source file!
>
There is a lot of merit in this for anything that is too complicated to fit
> into a single file.
>
> In addition this approach requires no changes to markdown.
>
> Codedown then only has to recognize a different commenting style for
> whatever language you are using, which I think would make it quick to write.
>
I am not sure again, if I understand this last part. But maybe, it only
makes sense in your interpretation.
Thank you again, Sherwood, for your comment.
I think, for people knowing Markdown, the CodeDown idea is all too simple:
you just need one, two, or three syntax rules concerning the modification of
comments in the original programming language. And just that makes it so
universal and easy.
But maybe, it is so simple, that it is too difficult for me to explain.
Greetings,
Thomas
>
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 10:17 AM, bucephalus org <bucephalus.org at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Dear Markdown enthusiasts out there!
>>
>>
>> Sure, I don't need to tell you how great an versatile Markdown is for
>> writing standard documents.
>> I think, that it would make a really great universal standard as a
>> programming documentation language, too, and maybe "CodeDown" would be a
>> good title for this approach.
>>
>>
>> The idea started when I was trying to document some PHP scripts. I need to
>> use different programming languages for different purposes, but I am not a
>> full time programmer. The problem is, that for most of these languages, the
>> standard documentation tools are yet another language on their own, and I
>> already have difficulties remembering the idioms of the programming
>> languages. When I was working on the PHP scripts, I was looking for a
>> standard tool to write some docs, but I was overwhelmed by phpDocumentor.
>>
>> In the past, I often used Perl's POD to write tutorials for some of my
>> programs, and that always did a good job. But a while ago I discovered
>> Markdown, and I found that even more convenient and intuitive. I thought, it
>> would be very easy to use that as the format for literal programming in PHP:
>> by a simple modification of the usual comment delimiters /* ... */ and // in
>> PHP, these comments would become designated blocks for Markdown comments or
>> delimiters for source code parts, that would appear in the documentation.
>> The possibility these literal code blocks is an essential part of Donald
>> Knuth's literal programming concept, and most standard documentation tools
>> are not even capable of realizing that.
>>
>> In a first conversion step, these blocks would turn into Markdown, and in
>> a second conversion step, the Markdown is converted to HTML.
>>
>> phpToMarkdown
>> markdownToHtml
>> PHP source code ------------------------------> Markdown
>> --------------------------> HTML
>>
>>
>> For the markdownToHtml function, I used Michel Fortin's PHP Markdown, so
>> my actual converter is a pretty small script. I called it ElephantMark (see
>> http://www-bucephalus-org.blogspot.com/2011/01/elephantmark.html) and the
>> according script is its own documentation.
>>
>>
>> This approach can be used for any mainstream programming language. My
>> current favorite is Haskell, and I wrote a HaskellDown module, that does
>> similar things for Haskell. The main converter is just a composition of two
>> functions
>>
>> haskellToMarkdown
>> markdownToHtml
>> Haskell source code ---------------------------------> Markdown
>> ------------------------> HTML
>>
>>
>> For the markdownToHtml part I used the very powerful Pandoc module,
>> written by John MacFarlane.
>> This week, I'll give a talk about it on a meeting of the Dutch Haskell
>> User Group, and I intend to publish it, as soon as possible.
>>
>>
>> During the preparations for the talk, I thought I should call the whole
>> idea "CodeDown", including "Php(Code)Down" as the CodeDown for PHP,
>> "PythonCodeDown" as the CodeDown for Python, etc. There could even be a
>> general CodeDown tool, that does the conversion for all these particular
>> languages alltogether.
>>
>>
>>
>> But before I put any more work into this project, I would like to find
>> out, if there is really a general interest or support for this idea. Please,
>> don't spare on your comments, answers or questions.
>>
>>
>> Greetings, Thomas
>> (bucephalus.org)
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Markdown-Discuss mailing list
>> Markdown-Discuss at six.pairlist.net
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/markdown-discuss
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Markdown-Discuss mailing list
> Markdown-Discuss at six.pairlist.net
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/markdown-discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/markdown-discuss/attachments/20110411/5dcbd3ab/attachment.htm>
More information about the Markdown-Discuss
mailing list