Existing Formats

Scriba

Scriba is a markup format with a syntax similar to that of Scribe, the late-seventies markup language.

@title(My Document)

@begin(section)
@title(Lists)

This is a list with two items:

@begin(list)
@item(As promised)
@item(Just two)
@end(list)

And this is an enumerated list:

@begin(enum)
@item(This is the first item)
@item(And this the second)
@end(enum)

The real numbers have these properties, among others:

@begin(deflist)
@term(Associative Law for Addition)
@def($(x + y) + z = x + (y + z)$)

@term(Commutative Law for Addition)
@def($x + y = y + x$)
@end(deflist)

@end(section)

Emacs Mode

The Scriba repository contains a file, scriba.el, which implements an Emacs mode for .scr files. The following commands are defined:

Tab

Insert an at sign.

C-c C-c b

Prompts for a tag name and inserts the begin/end block with that name.

C-c C-c s

Prompts for a title and inserts the section block.

C-c C-s b

Inserts bold markup around the selection.

C-c C-s i

Inserts italic markup around the selection.

C-c C-s u

Inserts underline markup around the selection.

C-c C-s s

Inserts strikethrough markup around the selection.

C-c C-s c

Inserts code markup around the selection.

C-c C-s ^

Inserts superscript markup around the selection.

C-c C-s v

Inserts subscript markup around the selection.

VerTeX

VerTeX is a markup format with a TeX like syntax.

An example of VerTeX syntax is:

\title{My Document}

\section{
\title{Lists}

This is a list with two items:

\list{
\item{As promised}
\item{Just two)
}

And this is an enumerated list:

\enum{
\item{This is the first item}
\item{And this the second}
}

The real numbers have these properties, among others:

\deflist{
\term{Associative Law for Addition}
\def{$(x + y) + z = x + (y + z)$}

\term{Commutative Law for Addition}
\def{$x + y = y + x$}
}

}

One disadvantage of using VerTeX comes when writing documents with TeX (to be rendered, say, by MathJax in the HTML backend). Because TeX mathematics has operators which would be parsed as VerTeX syntax (e.g. \int, \sigma), you either need to escape the slashes or use the \verb tag to enter verbatim text. For example:

The speed of light is $@verb(\frac{1}{\sqrt{\mu_0 \epsilon_0}})$.

The derivative of $\\log(x)$ is $\\frac{1}{x}$.

As such, documents using TeX extensively should consider Scriba.

The parser uses the plump-tex library.

Defining Formats

To define a new format, you simply subclass document-format and define the necessary mehods.

API

Examples

Here's how the VerTeX format is defined:

(defclass vertex (document-format)
  ()
  (:documentation "The VerTeX format."))

(defmethod parse-document ((vertex vertex)
                           (string string))
  "Return a VerTeX document parsed from a string."
  (vertex.parser:parse-string string))

(defmethod parse-document ((vertex vertex)
                           (pathname pathname))
  "Return a VerTeX document parsed from a file."
  (vertex.parser:parse-file pathname))

(defmethod emit-document ((vertex vertex)
                          (node common-doc:document-node)
                          stream)
  (vertex.emitter:emit-to-stream node stream))

(defmethod emit-document ((vertex vertex)
                          (doc common-doc:document)
                          stream)
  (vertex.emitter:emit-to-stream doc stream))