Re: Pod::Elemental, a standards-snubbing pod mungler

Ricardo SIGNES wrote:
> I released Pod::Elemental a few days ago, and just write up a blog post about
> it.  I'd be interested in comments from the list, if anybody cares enough to
> look at it.
> 
>   http://rjbs.manxome.org/rubric/entry/1690

Never let the establishment stand in the way of experimentation. :)

Your pluggable tree-like semantics are the most significant innovation 
here. Depending on how they're implemented, this should make it easier 
to output formats that have real tree structures (XML, HTML, etc).

I'd say you already know where the greatest challenges will lie.

- You're not currently paying any attention to the content of the X<> 
tags. Eventually, someone will want to make a smart formatter for L<> 
link tags for HTML, PDF, XML, etc, and will need more intelligence in 
handling these tags. But, you can punt for a long time just by handing 
the formatter a raw blob of text and letting the formatter parse it. 
(That means a hundred modules reinventing the parsing of links and link 
titles, but eventually a pattern will emerge, and you'll merge it back 
into the core.)

- Sooner or later, people will want to use Pod::Elemental or 
Pod::Eventual as a drop-in replacement for Pod::Parser or Pod::Simple. 
(A headache, but a worthwhile one.) That's when you'll need perlpodspec.


The beauty of Pod is that it's so simple. The pain of Pod is that it's 
so simple.

Allison