LaTeX would get my vote every time. RST or Markdown are a little too simple
for a complicated document ultimately destined for hard copy publication. I
would definitely stay well clear of `binary coded' formats like Word or
OpenOffice. Although they have versioning features built in, these are not
amenable to distributed collaboration in the way that git repositories
makes possible. I do not know enough about YAML or JSON to comment, never
having used them in documents.
On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 12:28 PM, Chris Barker <chris.barker at noaa.gov>
wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 8:24 AM, Christopher Duncombe Rae - NOAA Affiliate
> <christopher.duncombe.rae at noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>> Another point which you did not stress is that with a revision tracking
>> system like git / github, the evolution of the document can be tracked and
>> if necessary reverting to an earlier version is almost trivial.
>>
>
> Yes -- a great feature.
>
> But it requires that you use a document format that is amenable to
> diff-ing and merging. i.e a simple hard to break text format.
>
> Structured text markup may be the best: ReStructured Text or Markdown
> LaTeX is pretty good.
> A general markup language like YAML or JSON could be good, too, if tehre
> is a tool for making it into nice html/pdf, etc documents.
> XML can be done, but is ugly and painful
>
> MS-Word, OpenOffice, and the like make it pretty much impossible.
>
> Was a format settled on in the last discussion about all this?
>
> -Chris
>
>
> --
>
> Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
> Oceanographer
>
> Emergency Response Division
> NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice
> 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax
> Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception
>
> Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
>
--
--
--
=======================================================================
Dr. Christopher M. Duncombe Rae c <deirdre.byrne at noaa.gov>
hristopher.duncombe.rae at noaa.gov
Oceanographer / Data Scientist
IOOS/NOAA, Suite 1225, 1100 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
Tel: +1-301-427-2450 Fax: +1-301-427-2073
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