Metaproperties of wiki-formatting and Web-engines
M. Yu. Kolodin St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of RAS
Abstract:
Not only “big” data and knowledge representation formats are now used in the Internet, but the «small» ones as well. They are characterized by significant simplicity of syntax and semantics, that allows to simplify and speed up their creation and processing both by human and computer. Despite their relatively simple form they not only preserve but even enhance metafacilities of the “big” formats.
First of all these are “light” versions of XML format, especially formats (languages) YAML and JSON. Each of them in their own ways allow to store the same information as multiword and relatively heavy XML, to say nothing of SGML. They may be also easily be built in programming languages like Javascript.
Wiki markup was initially created as simplified web pages formatting language, where one can express majority of principal features of hypertext markup without complicated HTML coding. But in fact its possibilities are much wider, if they are used together with “smart” web engine (like MediaWiki), that allows to form not only font decorations on-the-fly, but complex hyperlinks as well, to control development of huge web sites; web robots are often used on the server side for complex data processing.
Significant new possibilities appear here for development of these systems, because the apparatus for macroprocessing and hyperlinks formation may be enhanced and used to obtain new objects basing on the existing objects using information about contexts, parameterization etc. Noting that Web engine in these cases performs metaprocessing of the data, better useful effect is achieved when the developer explicitly initially provides it with the corresponding generalizing features.
Generalizations may include selection of data request language, patterns language, DBMS selection, defining (cascade or another) and forming of the output document style, selection of the way of solving of the objects included in the response, forming and solving of hyperlinks, possibly requiring multiple applying to the network in order to receive complete response.
Generally it is supposed to be optimal to use simplified XML formats for hyperstructured and flow data representation, and wiki markup for Web pages formatting, both in traditional manual mode and automatically, for subsequent processing at the moment of pages' output.
Keywords:
formats, wiki, Web engines, data representations and transformations.
UDC:
006.72
Received: 14.12.2009