Re: Some commentary on the Org Syntax document

[Ihor Radchenko]

Timothy <tecosaur@gmail.com> writes:

> So, the hierarchy appears to be something like.
>
> 1. (Headline / Section / Greater Element / Element / Object)
> 2. Headline
> 3. Section
> 4. Greater Element
> 5. (Greater Element / Element)
> 6. Element
> 7. Object
> 8. Pattern / Form
> 9. Term

> We could say call (1) Components, (7) Units, (6) Objects, (5) Element or
> Object (why not spell it out to avoid telling people to remember
> something).

I am against renaming this. We should rather improve the syntax document
keeping the key concepts consistent with Elisp code.

Org parser distinguish two principal types of syntax structures:
1. Elements
2. Objects

Neither elements nor objects can intersect their boundaries, but they
can be nested.

An object is always a part of some element or other object.
Greater element can contain other elements and objects.
Element that is not greater element can only contain objects.

Headings are an example of greater element with the following structure
(headline (optional section) (optional repeat nested-headline))

Sections can only exist inside headings or top-level document (org-data
element):
1. (org-data (optional whitespace) (section) (optional repeat headline))
2. (headline (optional section) ...)

Best,
Ihor