An Audacious Plan for the Future of Document Processing
This is kind of an answer to @hoffmann on lets find something better then latex.
LaTeX was revolutionary, for its time. It empowered generations to create beautifully typeset documents. But the '90s are over, and so is the era of paper and tools that slow you down. It’s time for a 21st century document processing system that keeps the best of LaTeX and ditches the rest. Here’s how to build something better:
1. Stand on the Shoulders of Giants
We're leveraging the proven power of Pandoc, SQLite, and GNU AutoGen. Together, they form a solid foundation that handles all the heavy lifting involved in parsing, semantic analysis, and synthesis. These are all performant, robust, widely used tools with some of finest pedigree on open-source. It is not about reinventing the wheel, we are just about to break it.
2. A Compiler for Documents
LaTeX showed the world that compiling isn't just for code but for documents too. We're definitely keeping that. Think of DocLiteGen as a compiler:
Parsing: Pandoc parses your Markdown (or any format) into an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), giving your textual elements and floating objects structure, organized into nodes that can be easily and meaningfully traversed.
Semantic Analysis: SQLite handles the semantic analysis, just like an attribute grammar, controlling how each node interacts to inherit and synthesize attributes across the AST.
Synthesis: AutoGen gracefully inserts generated content, like dynamic numbering, tables of contents, or entire sections back into the AST before Pandoc takes over again to produce the target format.
3. Hybrid Publishing
In today's world, the web is the default. Your documents need to be easily accessible in a browser, richly linked, and beautifully rendered as static sites with intuitive and predictable URLs. But sometimes, you still need to print, and when that happens, it has to be pixel-perfect.
Web and Print Harmony: We keep the very best of LaTeX, mostly TeX, so you can still enjoy paper print outputs that uses your favorite classes.
Multiple Formats, No Compromises: Need to collaborate with the office crowd or create e-reader-friendly documents? DocLiteGen handles it all from a single source.
4. Built for LSP Integration
This is document authoring at it's finest. Forget the days of cryptic errors and waiting ages for LaTeX to compile just to find out a reference was wrong. With DocLiteGen, you get:
Real-Time Feedback: Autocomplete your intentions, lint your style, jump to references, and get diagnostics flagged as you write.
Modern Editing Experience: You're not just writing; you’re programming your document with the support of an assistant that provides semantically meaningful, context-aware help.
5. Extensibility is Key
Much like LaTeX's core distribution—a basic collection of packages and macros extended by millions to meet all kinds of document needs—DocLiteGen operates on the same philosophy of extensibility.
DocLiteGen comes with the basic compiler infrastructure that puts everything together, along with a collection of Lua filters, SQL queries, and templates that cover most of what the core LaTeX offers, updated for the modern age. You shall extend it to cover any need:
Need a new syntax or to change how an element is parsed? Write a Lua filter.
Want to give it semantic meaning and interact with the rest of the document? Write an SQL query.
Need to control how it looks? Write a template.
Want editor integration? Some JavaScript wizardry will do.
That's it. Extend the system to do anything you imagine, while keeping things maintainable and collaborating with the community.
6. Database Publishing
The power of DocLiteGen lies in its ability to manage document elements at a granular level with associated relations and metadata. This allows:
Custom Views: Create versions of your document without certain sections, or filter content created after a specific date or by a specific author. SQL lets you query your document's structure and content in ways LaTeX could never dream of.
Work like a CMS Systems: Enjoy the flexibility of database-driven publishing, complex reporting and advanced search, including full-text, making documents come alive easily, all from flat text files.
7. DevOps for Docs
It's the automation century:
Cloud Native: Ship your documents straight to and from the cloud. Build them into your CI/CD pipeline. After you push a change to the repository, you can trigger actions to publish to the web, send it straight to the office printer or email the docx to your dinosaurs colegues.
Docs-as-Code: Version control, collaboration, deployment, all the DevOps goodness applies. Generate, test, and deploy your documents just like you would with software code.
8. Build It, Profit, Change the World
This is the blueprint for the future of electronic publishing. Go build it, make a SaaS and profit - or release it into the wild, open-source, and watch it change the world one document at a time. The choice is yours.
Are you ready to start this revolution? Because if this doesn't kill LaTeX, nothing will.
Top comments (0)