[pmwiki-users] Re: New feature proposal - need help with markup selection

[Patrick R. Michaud]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Joachim Durchholz wrote:
> I propose two extensions with a very useful synergy: substitutions, and 
> repeat groups.
> [...long description...]

This all looks like one form or another of macro capability; i.e., giving
authors the ability to define macros.  It's been discussed in the past,
and I've generally decided against it (for the core) as being a little
too far outside the PmWikiPhilosophy and in conflict with the needs
of new authors (described in PmWiki.Audiences).  Also, I think that
site-specific custom markups are a superior solution for this problem, 
but that's just me, and macros can certainly be done as a recipe.

That said, I think it's probably a mistake to use & to denote "variables" --
the poor little ampersand has too many meanings already.  It's already used
for character entitites (ç) and the separator for query string
parameters in urls, as well as its standard "and" meaning.  I'd hate to
be in the case of trying to distinguish "&ccedil" from "ç".

I'd suggest continuing the tradition of using a leading dollar sign to
denote variables.  Yes, it will invite some confusion between PmWiki
pseudo-variables versus PHP variables versus markups for variables,
but at least we know it's a variable and there's some hope of unifying
things in the future.

Just my $0.02.

Pm