Skribilo: The Document Programming Framework

I really like scheme. Strongly in favour of prefix notation. Still cannot imagine having the patience to write significant amounts of prose in this layout when commonmark -> s-expressions or XML or HTML is readily available.

(item [Packages are available to produce: ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident "slides" :text [slides]) (overhead transparencies), ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident "pie-charts" :text [pie charts]), ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident "equations" :text [equation formatting]), ,(ref :skribe %user-sui :ident "programs" :text [syntax highlighting of computer programs]), and others.])

The signal to noise there is not good enough to compete. There's way too much repetition of annotation words.

The links to markup language and the simpler syntax were expected to tell me what the syntax is, not what a markup language is. Maybe the simpler syntax is more workable - the page doesn't show what that looks like.

edit found it in the docs, looks a lot more like markdown. https://www.nongnu.org/skribilo/doc/user-3.html#skribe-synta..., can't seem to link to the subheading.

So maybe this is a good thing with a landing page that drives newcomers away? Quite on brand for scheme if so.

I'm sorry but this looks terrible.

This is an example on the main page:

  (p [Skribilo is a ,(freedom [free]) document production tool that
  takes a structured document representation as its input and renders that
  document in a variety of output formats: HTML and ,(info [Info]) for
  on-line browsing, and ,(lout [Lout]) and ,(latex [LaTeX]) for
  high-quality hard copies.])

...imagine trying to write like this. It's essentially the opposite of what Markdown accomplished, which was taking a bunch of human conventions which were developed mostly out of ease of use (table formatting being the one which doesn't work well IMO) and adapting them so they can be parsed into nice text.

Whereas this takes the most awkward possible syntax and completely ruins what you're looking at.

I'm teaching a friend to code. We're not starting with a lisp, but I wanted him to understand why the idea of dispensing with bespoke syntax in favor of s-expressions is not crazy. That is, why the "soul" of a language is not its syntax.

He knows HTML already. Many do, we were raised by Myspace after all. So, this page turned out to be a great example of some nontrivial lisp to look at together. I also love how the code for the page is in the page, so you don't have to look elsewhere to see what it's trying to render.

I may or may not use the tool, but I'm quite happy it exists. Thanks!

I have decided that "this is the year I learn Scheme" so this is very interesting, though it does look a bit intimidating; perhaps there is a "Skribilo-mode" in Emacs that makes it easier, though?

Unless we have linters support for various IDEs and tools, it gets extremely annoying to keep adding tabs/spaces wherever required. Markdown shines in this aspect as I can take a basic vi and create a document that gets formatted to acceptable levels.

Not to be confused with the online Pictionary clone Skribblio https://skribbl.io/

i have to admit this looks neat:

(mark "self")