Re: [netmod] artwork folding: dual support modes?

[Martin Bjorklund <[e-mail]>]

"Rob Wilton (rwilton)" <[e-mail]> wrote:
> But this behaviour is still different from the frequently used meaning
> of ‘\’ today in programming languages, which as I know it just splits
> lines and preserves whitespace.

Right, but we're not doing a programming language, we try to fit long
lines in examples into the format required by RFCs, including
indentation.  For example, suppose you have:

  Here's an example:

  foo bar baz \
  buzz

Unfolded, do you think this is:

  foo bar baz buzz

or

  foo bar baz    buzz


> YANG requires a separator character between a keyword and its
> argument.  What happens if the tool happens to split the line between
> the two of them.
> 
> 
> 
> E.g
> 
>                        container\
> 
>   test
> 
> 
> 
> After the artwork folding, this would become
> 
>                        containertest
> 
> 
> 
> This could be mitigated by a smarter folding tool (e.g. split before
> the ‘r’ or after the first space).


1.  Don't use a tool to add line breaks - remember the goal was to
    have a readable example.

2.  Don't use this alg. for YANG modules, since YANG has builtin /
    native support for splitting long lines.


> Or, what if the tool was being used to fold a table that was using
> whitespace to align the columns.  This could easily break if
> whitespace is stripped.

Don't use this alg for tables (or ascii art in general) -- it won't
help readers.


/martin





> 
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Rob
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Martin Bjorklund <[e-mail]>
> Sent: 04 March 2019 08:40
> To: Rob Wilton (rwilton) <[e-mail]>
> Cc: [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: [netmod] artwork folding: dual support modes?
> 
> 
> 
> "Rob Wilton (rwilton)" <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
> wrote:
> 
> > Hi Adrian,
> 
> >
> 
> > I mostly agree with your last sentence.
> 
> >
> 
> > I think that if you always preserve whitespace then a single slash is
> 
> > fine.  I.e. the single slash just breaks the line, and I think that
> 
> > this matches how editors, programming languages, etc normally behave.
> 
> >
> 
> > What I’m not keen on is using a single slash, and then automatically
> 
> > stripping leading whitespace on the line following a slash.
> 
> 
> 
> And this is the solution that I prefer.  The reason for this is that I
> view examples as something that is there to illustrate some point to
> the reader, and I think that a prettier formatted example with less
> noise helps the reader.  I also think that is most cases, this works
> well; i.e., most cases are _not_ on the form:
> 
> 
> 
>    12345      78990
> 
>           ^-------------- I need a line break here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For this problem, I prefer a solution that is intuitive and has less
> noise and works for 90% of the cases, than a less intuitive solution
> with more noise that works for 100% of the cases.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> /martin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >
> 
> > If we want to have control of layout and be able to strip extra
> 
> > whitespace then my argument is that it is better to be explicit, and
> 
> > using two slashes is one way of achieving this.
> 
> >
> 
> > Thanks,
> 
> > Rob
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > From: netmod <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
> > On Behalf Of Adrian Farrel
> 
> > Sent: 27 February 2019 09:41
> 
> > To: 'Joel Jaeggli' <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
> 
> > Cc: [e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>
> 
> > Subject: Re: [netmod] artwork folding: dual support modes?
> 
> >
> 
> > Complete agreement, Joel.
> 
> >
> 
> > What follows may look better in proportional fonts.
> 
> >
> 
> > With a single slash we can wrap as follows
> 
> >
> 
> > 1234567        9012345
> 
> >
> 
> > Goes to…
> 
> >
> 
> > 1234567    \
> 
> >     9012345
> 
> >
> 
> > …and unwrapping is easy.
> 
> >
> 
> > However, if I want to manually wrap the line with indentation
> 
> >
> 
> > The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
> 
> >
> 
> > ..going to…
> 
> >
> 
> > The quick brown fox\
> 
> >       jumps over the lazy dog
> 
> >
> 
> > …I am going to unfold as…
> 
> >
> 
> > The quick brown fox      jumps over the lazy dog
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > Conversely, if I resolve this second case by stripping leading spaces
> 
> > I get…
> 
> >
> 
> > The quick brown foxjumps over the lazy dog
> 
> >
> 
> > So I have to fold as…
> 
> >
> 
> > The quick brown fox \
> 
> >       jumps over the lazy dog
> 
> >
> 
> > But this causes the first case to unfold as
> 
> >
> 
> > 1234567    9012345
> 
> >
> 
> > …i.e., with missing spaces.
> 
> >
> 
> > This is what caused the use of the second slash so…
> 
> >
> 
> > 1234567    \
> 
> > \    9012345
> 
> >
> 
> > …and…
> 
> >
> 
> > The quick brown fox\
> 
> >      \ jumps over the lazy dog
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > So, my point is, if and only if we do not care about these “spaces on
> 
> > the fold” cases, we can operate with a single slash.
> 
> >
> 
> > Cheers,
> 
> > Adrian
> 
> >
> 
> > From: Joel Jaeggli
> > <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>>
> 
> > Sent: 27 February 2019 06:31
> 
> > To: Adrian Farrel
> > <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>>
> 
> > Cc: Kent Watsen
> > <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>>;
> 
> > [e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>
> 
> > Subject: Re: [netmod] artwork folding: dual support modes?
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > On Feb 26, 2019, at 14:26, Adrian Farrel
> 
> > <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>>
> > wrote:
> 
> >
> 
> > Hey.
> 
> >
> 
> > I’ve been having this discussion with Kent off-line, but thought it
> 
> > should come to the list.
> 
> >
> 
> > I don’t think it is a good idea to have two approaches. While it would
> 
> > be relatively easy to code for both approaches, it seems to add a
> 
> > degree of confusion if both have to be handled by the same code
> 
> > (consider deciding whether leading space characters are to be retained
> 
> > or not, something that can only be decided when the first non-space
> 
> > character is found), or by having different code for the two different
> 
> > cases.
> 
> >
> 
> > It doesn’t seem to me that both cases are needed. We can pick one or
> 
> > the other.
> 
> >
> 
> > A single slash has been used to wrap long lines in editors and shells
> 
> > for decades at this point.
> 
> >
> 
> > and yeah whatever it is one method seems better than two.
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > And *if* we want to allow manual folding so that indents can be made
> 
> > to make the document more human-readable then we have to use a leading
> 
> > ‘\’ on continuation lines to show which spaces should be stripped and
> 
> > which retained.
> 
> >
> 
> > Cheers,
> 
> > Adrian
> 
> >
> 
> > From: netmod
> > <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>>
> 
> > On Behalf Of Kent Watsen
> 
> > Sent: 25 February 2019 22:22
> 
> > To:
> > [e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]%3cmailto:[e-mail]>>
> 
> > Subject: [netmod] artwork folding: dual support modes?
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > I had a chat with the tools team recently and, in the course of
> 
> > things, it was implied that the double backslash approach we have now
> 
> > was both surprising and non-intuitive.
> 
> >
> 
> > This got me thinking that we may have thrown the proverbial baby out
> 
> > with the bathwater.
> 
> > That is, currently we have a header that reads:
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >   NOTE: '\\' line wrapping per BCP XX (RFC XXXX)
> 
> >
> 
> > So why not *also* support a header that reads (note the singe slash):
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >   NOTE: '\' line wrapping per BCP XX (RFC XXXX)
> 
> >
> 
> > Whereby this second form only supports the folded line continuing on
> 
> > column 1 (no indents).
> 
> >
> 
> > Thoughts?
> 
> >
> 
> > Kent // contributor
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
> >