notableofcontents()
article(YODL - or, Yet Oneother Document Language)
(Karel Kubat tt(karel@icce.rug.nl) nl()
Frank B. Brokken (frank@icce.rug.nl))
(1997)
quote(This file double-serves as the announcement that goes to
em(comp.os.linux.announce), and as a message to the maintainers of
em(sunsite.unc.edu) and em(tsx-11.mit.edu). So it's a slightly unpersonal
message... sorry 'bout that.
What's more, this message is in the YODL document language. What better
way to demonstrate? If you see a lot of parentheses, just read over them.
This file in `source' format should be readable nevertheless. This same
document is included at the end formatted to plain ASCII. If you want
to see the full documentation, try
http://www.icce.rug.nl/docs/programs/yodl/yodl.html.)
nsect(What's YODL?)
YODL (Yet Oneother Document Language) is a package that consists of
programs, some shell scripts, and auxiliary "lib" files for which hold
macro files. The whole purpose of the package is to provide a
simple-to-use and extensible document language, that can be used to
convert documents in the YODL format to a variety of other formats. In
this purpose, YODL somewhat resembles generic markup languages, e.g. SGML
footnote(Standard Generalized Markup Language) but:
nsect(How easy to use is it?)
YODL is easier to use. Well I find so. Typing parentheses is I think
less work than typing <> or \{}.
nsect(How good is the documentation?)
YODL is very well documented. That my version of SGML isn't is, I guess,
no fault of SGML, but I had a bf(very) hard time getting SGML to do what I
wanted it to do! Well, YODL should be easier to handle. The docs include
various manpages and a full document of approximately 60 DIN A4 pages. (If
you don't like DIN A4, just make your own reference docs! The sources for
the document, of course in YODL format, are included.)
nsect(Does it use tags?)
YODL doesn't insist on weird tags. YODL is not a markup language in that
sense (starting and ending tags), YODL handles all its commands in a
C-style manner; e.g. tt(em(...)) will set the text emphasized. Similarly,
macros can have two arguments or more, also all in a parameter-list
format. This is more of an advantage than you might think at first glance:
e.g., my editor won't match a closing tag in HTML with the opening tag,
but it bf(will) show the open-parenthesis when I type a closing
parenthesis!
nsect(Does it have conditional parsing?)
YODL has support for conditional processing: by testing for some symbol,
or say for the presence of an argument, you can do different things in a
macro. Or you can redefine macros, and the such.
nsect(What can it do?)
Currently the package supports conversions to LaTeX, HTML, to the "man"
format, to the "ms" format, and poor-mans conversions to plain ASCII and
SGML (for compatibility reasons at our site). Other conversions are of
course possible, but these are the formats that I use and hence the
converters that I put some effort into.
nsect(Where to get it?)
If you want to obtain YODL and try it out, ftp to
ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/ and look for a file yodl-X.YY.tar.gz, with
X.YY being a version number (0.00 is of course the first). The YODL
distribution is also on the `standard' Linux sites.
Unpack it in a "sources" directory and type "make htmldoc" or "make
latexdoc" and see for yourself...
nsect(Who should I contact ?)
For the benefit of Yodl-users we maintain a Yodl-mailing list. Subscribe
to the list by sending an email to yodl-request@icce.rug.nl, containing
the lines
verb(
subscribe
end
)
and submit your postings to yodl@icce.rug.nl thereafter.
As of August, 13, 1997 Yodl is maintained by Frank B. Brokken
(frank@icce.rug.nl). Direct all other correspondence about Yodl to him,
and bf(NOT) to Karel.
Return to Yodl's home page.
Please send Yodl questions and comments to
yodl@icce.rug.nl.
Please send comments on these web pages to
(address unknown),
send other FSF & GNU inquiries and questions to
gnu@gnu.org.
Copyright (c) 1998 Karel Kubat and Jan Nieuwenhuizen
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
This page was built from Yodl-1.31.17 by
<(address unknown)>, at Thu May 4 11:38:19 2000 CEST.