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Re: Emacs as word processor / Text Properties


From: T.V. Raman
Subject: Re: Emacs as word processor / Text Properties
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 15:06:19 -0800

Internal data structures being XML is a small step -- but only a
very small step. Angle brackets do not in themselves semantics
make:-)

For seeing what I mean, just take a look at the xml files in any
of the modern MS  Office file formats.  Most word-processors
after a while lose the distinction between layout style and
content, and what results in the file format is a messy bag of bits.
-- 

-- 


On 11/27/13, Drew Adams <address@hidden> wrote:
>> All that said, *every* known WYSWYG word-processor also degrades
>> to using a dump of its internal data structures as its file
>> format.
>
> Not sure just what you mean by that.  But if the internal data
> structures faithfully represent XML data, and the output file
> format is a serialization of that XML data, then this is hardly
> messy or lossy.
>
> And that is the case for more and more "WYSIWYG" editors, at
> least the "high-end" ones.  The internal data structures are XML,
> and the file format is XML.  From the internal XML, or from the
> output XML file, is generated XHTML, PDF, or whatever.
>
> Internally, an XML representation might use a DOM or binary XML
> or any number of other implementation means.  But the only
> important question is whether the output (serialized) form and
> the internal form mirror each other properly.
>
> (For that, there can be considerations of whether document
> fidelity is needed or just DOM fidelity (i.e., whether or not
> insignificant whitespace needs to be preserved).
>
> Sometimes an editor ("word processor") has additional output
> file formats, even if it is capable of saving as XML.  But
> that's another story.  More and more, the "real" output file
> format is XML.  (Yes, for MS Word, most people still see
> *.doc files, not XML files.)
>



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