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Aucbvax.2338 fa.works utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!works Sat Jul 18 02:03:51 1981 Scanning structured text >From HYMAN@DEC-MARLBORO Sat Jul 18 01:56:38 1981 The static structure of text rarely matches its "content", except for artificial cases like program sources. Most of the time, the salient features of a document, which are the ones I'd like a structured editor to key on, are dynamically defined by the reader. Until such a symbiotic system is available, the artificially imposed structure of the presentation is likely to impede comprehension, not expedite it.

The alternative is to agree on a canonic form for a class of documents, and for authors to conform their contribution to the mold. This solution makes discussion of the canonic form difficult, and is probably sufficiently restrictive to repel prospective contributors on other topics as well.

Bob

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