Re: [Texmacs-dev] TeXmacs server

[David MENTRE]

Hello,

Henri Lesourd <address@hidden> writes:

> This point is a blocking point, because one of the main
> features of wikis is of course that one can access them
> with a simple browser.

This is an essential point. But as TeXmacs is available under different
OS (Windows, ...), this is not a really blocking point. And having a
collaborative editor capable of better user interface instead of HTML
textboxes would be a real plus. 

That's said, I would prefer seeing currently annoying bugs fixed
(slowness, weird behavior regarding X focus handling[1], not capable of
reading its own document produced by earlier versions[2], etc.) rather
than introducing fancy features. And again, there are other tools
already doing what Joris wants to implement, like Gobby[3]. But I
suppose Joris is scratching his own itch.


> is to have an SGML DTD where all
> the parts of the documents are multilingual. For
> example :
> [[
> <DOCUMENT ID=DOC1>
> <TITLE>
>   <PARAGRAPH ID=PAR1>
>     <DATA LANG=EN>Hello</SENTENCE>
>     <DATA LANG=FR>Bonjour</SENTENCE>
>     <DATA LANG=DE>Guten tag</SENTENCE>

This approach is clearly not scalable and cannot be used in practice
beyond a few lines (been there, used that).

As Joris underlined, a scalable approach:

 1. allows the user to write a document in his prefered language;

 2. uses an *automatic* computer system to find "things" to translate
    and find translation if already known.

This is the approach used everywhere in the computer industry, like
gettext and .po format in the Unix world. In this particular case,
"things" are strings. Fundamentally, Joris approach seems quite good to
me but, once again, I would have much prefered seen TeXmacs use standard
tools and format (.po files) than re-inventing its own and incompatible
world.

Those who code decide, but don't be surprised if they are not
followed. Sorry for the harsh tone of this email, but I was once seduced
by TeXmacs features description and I was then strongly dissatisfied by
daily use of TeXmacs.


Best wishes,
david


Footnotes: 

[1]  TeXmacs is the only application that is able to freeze my whole
     desktop!

[2]  http://lists.texmacs.org/wws/arc/texmacs-users/2006-04/msg00030.html

[3]  http://darcs.0x539.de/trac/obby/cgi-bin/trac.cgi

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GPG/PGP key: A3AD7A2A David MENTRE <address@hidden>
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