...and we're back!
Over the course of the last several weeks, we've been gathering, assembling, and sorting through all the notes and feedback we've collected on the AsciiDoc language over the last decade. On the one hand, we need to ensure we consider all the terminology/lexicon, syntax, assumptions, and behavior in the language. On the other hand, we want to try to address as many of the pitfalls in the language as we reasonably can, especially as it pertains to the inline syntax. The research we've done thus far has proven to be very promising.
The first outcome of that research is an outline of the specification document. The purpose of this outline is to corral all the aspects of the language that are going to be covered by the specification and to identify any proposals that will impact how the language is specified. Aspects include things like fundamentals, concepts, structure, block variations and styles, inline syntax, preprocessor directives, references, extension points, and so forth. Proposals include how the inline syntax will be described [1], backslash escaping, preprocessor behavior, and so forth. In essence, we want to establish a clear picture of what the specification needs to cover before we jump into writing it. What we aren't concerned about at this point are the details of how the particulars are going to be phrased or explained. That comes later.
Once all proposals mentioned in the draft outline have been filed as issues and linked to from the outline, and we're comfortable with the coverage the outline provides, we'll merge in the MR. But that doesn't mean the outline is final. Contributors are still welcome to submit updates to it after that date. In fact, we welcome it. It will take several milestone releases to get the outline right (though we may start filling in parts of it before then). Watch the issue tracker at
https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipse/asciidoc-lang/asciidoc-lang/-/issues for more information about how this process will play out.
Best Regards,
-Dan
--
Dan Allen, Vice President | OpenDevise Inc.
Pronouns: he, him, his
