Moin-devel digest, Vol 1 #585 - 1 msg

[Nir Soffer]

IMHO one of the weakest points in MoinMoin is how wiki.py parses the
input. Using regular expressions simply doesn't work properly for
nested balanced expressions, and we have already far too many
exceptions which nested expressions work, and which not.

Many exceptions?

What do you think of using a completely different paradigm, namely to
do bison-like parsing of the input data to get the appropriate tokens?

May be interesting, the current parser is a big mess, the current
parser state is "fix here, break there".

BTW, is any other part of MoinMoin dependent on wiki.py? I mean, can
I simply replace the HTML generating engine with a different one,
similar to the `colorizing' parsers for other languages like C or C++?
Where can I find the documentation of the affected interface?

wiki.py is a plugin - you can replace it with your parser.

Note that many people want to change the wiki syntax, specially the
linking syntax. Maybe it better work first the syntax, and only then
check what it the best way to parse it.

There is already a discussion on new parsers in the wiki, try to search
for it.


Best Regards,

Nir Soffer



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[Werner LEMBERG]

Post by Nir Soffer

IMHO one of the weakest points in MoinMoin is how wiki.py parses
the input. Using regular expressions simply doesn't work properly
for nested balanced expressions, and we have already far too many
exceptions which nested expressions work, and which not.

Many exceptions?

Well, for me the rule is that you can nest expressions. Everything
else is an exception :-)

Post by Nir Soffer
wiki.py is a plugin - you can replace it with your parser.

This is very good news.

Post by Nir Soffer
Note that many people want to change the wiki syntax, specially the
linking syntax.

Basically, I'm not interested in changing the syntax as long it is
consistent. IMHO many requests for extending and/or modifying the
syntax are caused by lacking nesting possibilities.

Post by Nir Soffer
Maybe it better work first the syntax, and only then check what it
the best way to parse it.

I hope to have some time to write a grammar.

Post by Nir Soffer
There is already a discussion on new parsers in the wiki, try to
search for it.

Will do, thanks.


Werner


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