[boost] Re: Reference documentation: one approach

From: David B. Held (dheld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-11-01 17:55:56

Jeff Garland wrote:

> [Doug wrote]:
> >FWIW, the LaTeX prototype would have to be pretty amazing to get my 
> >vote.
>
> I agree.  I think it is difficult for LaTeX to compete here on the 
> following grounds:
> 1) XML is less of a learning curve for those already using HTML

I second that.  I feel I could learn an XML format more easily than 
LaTeX.  My one foray into LaTeX gave me the impression that it was very 
powerful and very scary.  A little like awk/sed.

> 2) Web browsers are building (or have) direct support for XML and XSL 
> which eliminates the browsing tool issue.

Which is nice, because even though I downloaded and installed MiKTek, it 
seemed like a lot of work to get things done.  I didn't try very hard, 
but it's certainly more work than firing up a text editor and browser 
(which I presume almost everyone has).

> 3) Lots of projects are using XML so programmers are more likely to 
> know about it and the tools

Right.  The people I know personally who advocate *TeX seem to be 
academics rather than programmers.

> [...]

Dave