Re: '=item #' dwimmery

John McNamara wrote:
> 
>  >>"=item 1"  equates to an <ol> list item.
>  >No, it's not, because it requires the POD generator to manually number 
> things.
> 
> In terms of pod generators yes but in terms of pod consumers the numbers 
> don't always have to be in order. For example in Html the <ol> doesn't 
> require the number and in most wiki consumers the actual number isn't 
> used either. Furthermore, Pod::Simple parses the number =items into 
> sequentially numbered items even if the user hasn't. So, if you were 
> using a Pod::Simple based parser you could number all of your items as 1 
> or 999 and it shouldn't matter.

Pod has always kept things simple. If it offered "=item #" as an option, 
it would still need to offer "=item 1" as an option, for lists that 
aren't in strict sequential order, so for simplicity it only offers one 
option for numbered lists. And, yes, most HTML formatters simply render 
"=item 1" as a <ol> anyway, so there's no distinction. If Pod were to 
offer a generic numbered list, "#" might be a bit confusing, since Perl 
parsers treat that as a comment.

> While we are on the topic (and this isn't directed to you Jerrad) I 
> would like to make a general observation that the syntax of =over =back 
> lists is too complicated. Both to write and to parse. Most wiki formats 
> use simple formats that can be just as expressive.

It's simple enough to parse, but agreed that it's a pain to write. There 
have been some discussions on Pod extensions and simplifications in the 
Perl 6 design process. As they settle out, I suspect we may see some of 
it trickle back into Perl 5.10.x or 5.12.x.

Allison