Aucbvax.2338
fa.works
utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!works
Sat Jul 18 02:03:51 1981
Scanning structured text
>From HYMAN@DEC-MARLBORO Sat Jul 18 01:56:38 1981
The static structure of text rarely matches its "content",
except for artificial cases like program sources.  Most
of the time, the salient features of a document, which
are the ones I'd like a structured editor to key on, are
dynamically defined by the reader.  Until such a symbiotic
system is available, the artificially imposed structure
of the presentation is likely to impede comprehension,
not expedite it.

The alternative is to agree on a canonic form for a class of
documents, and for authors to  conform their contribution to
the mold.  This solution makes discussion of the canonic form 
difficult, and is probably sufficiently restrictive to repel
prospective contributors on other topics as well.

        Bob 



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