/usr/share/doc/sp/ideas.htm

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<TITLE>Ideas for improving SP</TITLE>
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<H1>Ideas for improving SP</H1>
<H2>
Parser
</H2>
<P>
When !internalCharsetIsDocCharset, need to check that every
significant character is an SGML character.
<P>
Treat "ISO Registration Number NNN//" public ids specially.  Warn if
they use designating sequence inconsistently.
<P>
Pass non-declared attributes through to application.
<P>
Avoid expensive overflow test in stringToNumber when length of number
is less then something guaranteed not to overflow.
<P>
Allow external character set to be complete character set description.
<P>
Maybe distinguish non-SGML characters as separate event even when
internalCharsetIsDocCharset.
<P>
Supporting caching across multiple runs of parser in single
process.
<P>
Make Dtd copiable.
<P>
?Subdoc parser needs character set for system id (should be system
character set).
<P>
Recover better from non-existent documents or subdocuments.
<P>
Think about entity declarations/references in inactive LPDs.
<P>
Don't allow name groups in parameter entity references in document
type specifications in start-/end-tags.
<P>
With link, don't do a pass 2 unless we replace a referenced entity
(what about default entity?).
<P>
Options to warn about things that HTML disallows: marked sections in
instance, explicit subsets.
<P>
Option to warn about MDCs in comments in comment declarations.
<P>
Option to warn about omitted REFC.
<P>
Check that names of added functions are valid names in concrete syntax
(both characters and lengths).  Also need to do upper-case
substitution on them?
<P>
Recover from nested doctype declaration intelligently.
<P>
Recover from missing doctype declaration intelligently. 
<P>
Could optimize parsing of attribute literals using technique similar
to extendData().
<P>
attributeValueLength error should give actual length of value.
<P>
Recover better from entity reference with name group in literal.
<P>
At start of pass 2 clear everything in pass1LPDs except entity sets.
<P>
Give an error if EXPLICIT > 1 and LPDs don't chain as required by
436:5-7 and 436:18-20.
<P>
Handle quantity errors by reporting at the end of the prolog and the
end of the instance any quantities that need to be increased.
<P>
Make noSuchReservedName error more helpful.
<P>
Function characters should perform their function even when markup
recognition is suppressed. (I think I've handled this.)
<P>
Give a warning for notation attribute that is #CONREF.
<P>
Try to separate out Parser::compileModes().
<P>
In CompiledModelGroup have vector that gives an index for each element type
that occurs in the model group.  Then in each leaf content token have a
vector that maps this index to a LeafContentToken *, if there
is a simple transition (no and groups involved) to that element type.
<P>
MatchState::minAndDepth and MatchState::AndInfo should be separated
off info object pointed to from MatchState; pointer would be null for
elements with no AND groups.
<P>
What to do if we encounter USELINK or USEMAP declaration after DTD in
prolog?  Should stop prolog and start DTD.  If we have SCOPE INSTANCE
then if we get an unknown declaration type in prolog, don't give
error, but unget token and start instance.
<P>
?Have separate version of reportNonSgml() for case where datachar is allowed.
<P>
Implement CONCUR.
<P>
AttributeDefinition constructors should have Owner&lt;DeclaredValue> &,
arguments to avoid storage leaks when exceptions are thrown.
<P>
Create a list like IList but which keeps track of length.  Then
combine tagLevel into openElement stack, and inputLevel into
inputStack.
<P>
AttributeDefinition::makeValue should return
ConstResourcePointer&lt;AttributeValue>.
<P>
Syntax member functions should use reference for result.
<P>
Have a LocationKey data structure that can be used to determine the
relative order of locations in possibly different concurrent
instances.  Contains: offset in document instance; is it a replacement
of named character reference; for each entity and numeric character
reference: location in entity and index of dtd in which instance is
declared.
<P>
On systems with fixed stacks, avoid unlimited stack growth: hard
limits on number of SUBDOCS and GRPLVL.
<P>
With extendData and extendS don't extend more than some fixed amount
(eg 1024), otherwise could overrun InputSource buffer on 16-bit
system.
<P>
Have a location in ElementType saying where the first mention of the
element name was.  Useful for giving warnings about undefined
elements.
<P>
How to detect 310:8-10?
<P>
AttributeSemantics should return const pointers rather than ResourcePointer's
<P>
Rename Parser -> ParserImpl SgmlParser -> Parser
Syntax::isB -> Syntax::isBlank
<P>
What mode should be used for parsing other prolog after document element?
<P>
Flag out of context data.
<P>
Provide mechanism to allow character names to be mapped onto universal
character numbers.
<P>
Provide mechanism to allow specification of wbat characters are
control characters (for the purposes of SHUNCHAR controls).
<P>
With SCOPE INSTANCE, which syntax should be used for delimiters in
bracketed text entities?
<P>
Better error messages for ambiguous delimiters.
<P>
Do we need both EndLpd and ComplexLink/SimpleLink events?
<P>
What to do about 457:19-21?
<P>
Rename lpd_ to activeLpd_; allLpd_ to lpd_.
<P>
Test for validity of character numbers in syn ref charset (perhaps
unnecessary, because bad numbers won't be translateable into doc
charset).
<P>
Option to read bootstrap character set from entity.
<P>
In AttributeDefinitionList have a flag that is true if any checking of
unspecified values in attribute list is needed (ie CURRENT, REQUIRED,
non-implied ENTITY, non-implied NOTATION).  In this case can avoid
running over attributes in AttributeList::finish, by computing value
only when user calls Attribute::value().
<P>
Construct link attributes from definition if no applicable link rule.
(RAST maybe doesn't want this.  Make it a separate method in LinkProcess and
use in SgmlsEventHandler. Very useful with ArcEngine.)
<P>
Shouldn't have OpenElementInfo in Message.  Instead use RTTI.
<P>
noSuchAttribute: include gi in message; if element is undefined, don't
give error at all
<P>
noSuchAttributeToken: say what element or entity
<P>
nonExistentEntityRef should say document/link type
<P>
Distinguish errors that are totally recoverable.
<P>
Find better way to unpack entity information in entity attribute.

<H2>
Entity Manager
</H2>
<P>
Build document<->internal translation tables once per document not
once per entity.
<P>
Avoid document<->internal translations when one is the subset of the other
(or something like that).
<P>
In cases where it won't cause problems, don't translate
non-SGML/unrepresentable characters when doing document<->internal
translations, so that user gets better error message.
<P>
Recover better from unknown document character sets (shouldn't report
them as non-SGML characters).
<P>
Maybe need to keep track of set of SGML characters as numbers in document
character set.
<P>
Optimize TranslateDecoder where underlying codingSystem is identity by
using simple lookup table.
<P>
Make use of charset parameter in MIME header for HTTP.  Also generate
AcceptCharsets line in request.
<P>
Implement .mim files (if extension of file is same as environment variable
SP_MIME_EXT assume it has a MIME header).
<P>
Avoid using TranslateCodingSystem when translation is a no-op.
<P>
Make SP_CONVERT when !SP_MULTI_BYTE.
<P>
Avoid requiring that BASE sysid exist.
<P>
When FSI has only a single storage manager and that is a literal,
return an InternalInputSource.
<P>
Allow user of InputSource to specify what bit combinations they
want to see for RS and RE.
<P>
Have environment variable SP_INPUT_BCTF that overrides SP_BCTF for
input.
<P>
Avoid using numeric character references for all characters in storage
object identifier of literal storage manager in effective system
identifier.
<P>
Instead of registering coding system pass CodingSystemKit that can create
that can create coding systems.
<P>
Need BCTF entry in catalog that specifies default BCTF.
<P>
Allow encodings to be externally specified (eg in a catalog) as a
combination of a BCTF and a character set.
<P>
An SOEntityCatalog should consist of a Vector&lt;ConstPtr&lt;EntityCatalog>
> which can be shared between several catalogs.  This would facilitate
> caching.
<P>
Maybe need to be able to specify two types of catalog entry file: one
used for all documents; one used for this document alone.
<P>
Allow end-tags in FSIs.  Support alternative SOSs.
<P>
Character sets in the catalog need rethinking.  Also character set of
ParsedSystemId::Map::publicId.
<P>
Allow for HTTP proxy.
<P>
Cache catalogs.
<P>
Use Microsoft ActiveX (formerly Sweeper) DLL on Win95 or NT.
<P>
Implement DTDDECL catalog entry.
<P>
Support FILE URLs.
<P>
Perhaps don't want to do searching for catalog files (and perhaps
command line files).
<P>
Provide mechanism for specifying when (if at all) base dir is searched
relative to other dirs.
<P>
Provide extension to catalog format to distinguish entities declared
in non-base DTDs. Perhaps precede entity name by document type name
surrounded by GRPO/GRPC delimiters.
<P>
URLStorageManager should use a DescriptorManager shared with
PosixStorageManager.
<P>
URLStorageManager::resolveRelative should delete "xxx/../" and "./"
components.  Might also be a good idea to resolve host names.
<P>
Implement JIS encoding system (what should be done with half-width yen
and overbar in JIS-Roman? translate to Unicode).
<P>
ExternalInfoImpl::convertOffset: when the position is the character
past the last character and the last character was a newline, line
number should be number of lines + 1.
<P>
Try harder to rewind in StdioStorageObject.

<H2>
Generic
</H2>
<P>
Provide mechanism to access data entities using generated system id.
<P>
Support IMPLICIT/SIMPLE LINK.
<P>
Character set information.
<P>
Need to know space character that separates token.  Alternatively
provide broken down view of tokens.
<P>
Need to know IDREF (and other declared values)?

<H2>
nsgmls
</H2>
<P>
Problem with "\#n;" escape sequence is that it might get used other
than in data.  Probably should get rid of this feature, and give
a warning when there's an unencodable character.

<H2>
Internal
</H2>
<P>
Make sure all files use #pragma i/i.
<P>
Get rid of assumption that Vector&lt;T>::size_type, String&lt;T>::size_type
is size_t.
<P>
Maybe align Owner with auto_ptr.
<P>
Get rid of uses of string as identifier.
<P>
?Maybe support non-const copy constructors for NCVector/Owner.
<P>
Get rid of asEntityOrigin (as far as possible).  Make
InputSourceOrigin::defLocation virtual on origin.  Avoid excessive use
of asInputSourceOrigin.
<P>
Hash should define Hash(String&lt;unsigned char>),
Hash(String&lt;unsigned short>) etc.
<P>
Invert sense of SP_HAVE_BOOL define.
<P>
Get rid of OutputCharStream::open.  Instead have
OutputCharStream::setEncoding.  (Perhaps make a friend so we can use
ostream if we're not interested in encodings.)  Allow use of ostream
instead of OutputCharStream.  Change ParserToolkit::errorStream_'s coding
system when we change the coding system.
<P>
Support 32-bit Char. Need to fix XcharMap and SubstTable.
Detemplatize SubstTable.  Then support UTF-16.
<P>
Have a common version of Ptr for things that have a virtual
destructor.
<P>
Have a common version of Owner for all things that have a virtual
destructor.
<P>
Inheritance in AttributeSemantics unnecesary.
<P>
Rename ISet -> RangeSet.
<P>
ISet and RangeMap should use binary search.
<P>
Better hash function for wide characters.
<P>
OutputCharStream should canonically use RS/RE and translate to system
newline char with raw option that prevents this.
<P>
Avoid having Entity.h depend on ParserState, perhaps by double
dispatching.
<P>
Add uses of explicit keyword.
<P>
When generating message.h file; if we don't have .cxx file and
namespaces are supported, use anonymous namespace.

<H2>
Application framework
</H2>
<P>
Only use static programName for outOfMemory message.
<P>
Need to use AppChar *const * not AppChar ** in CmdLineApp.
<P>
When reporting message with MessageEventHandler need to be able to
update error count.
<P>
Option argument names need to be internationalized.
<P>
Support response files for DOS.
<P>
Sort options in usage message.
<P>
StringMessageArg should be associated with a character set (in
particular, need to distinguish parser character sets from
StorageManager character sets).
<P>
Should translate StringMessageArg from document character set to
system character set.  Have MessageReporter::setDocumentCharacter
function.
<P>
In MessageReporter, maybe distinguish messages coming from the parser.
<P>
Don't ever give a non-existent file as a location in a error message.
<P>
Text of messages should be able to specify that an open quote or close
quote should be inserted at a particular point.
<P>
When outputting a StringMessageArg translate \r to \n.
<P>
Make sure wild cards work in VC++ and MS-DOS.

<H2>
Win32
</H2>
<P>
Remove path and extension from program name in error messages.
<P>
Compilers can typically eliminate unused templates.  Reengineer Vector
to reduce code size with such compilers.
<P>
Store messages in resources; requires numeric tags for messages.
<P>
Should automatically register all available code pages.
<P>
Make use of IsTextUnicode() API.
<P>
Have StorageManager that uses Win32 API directly.  Would avoid limits
on number of open files. Also use flag that says file is being
accessed sequentially.
<P>
Allow DTDs to be compiled into binary by having storage manager that
uses resource ids.

<H2>
Architecture engine
</H2>
<P>
Should give an error with -A if the specified arch does not exist.
<P>
Interpret APPINFO parameter, and automatically enable architectural
processing based on this.
<P>
Handle derived architecture support attributes.
<P>
When doing architectural processing in link type, not possible to have
notation declaration, so need some other way to specify public
identifier for architecture.
<P>
Allow DOCTYPE to be declared inline (as with CONCUR or EXPLICIT LINK).
<P>
Grok conventional comments.
<P>
Make work automatically with EventHandlers that process subdoc.  Make
references to subdocs architectural.
<P>
Support different SGML declaration for meta-DTD.
<P>
Maybe should map internal sdata/cdata entities to copies in meta-DTD.
<P>
Perhaps when getting open element info should indicate that gis are
architectural.
<P>
Think about references to SDATA entities in default values in meta-DTD.
<P>
Add default entity from real DTD to meta-DTD.
<P>
Tokenize ArcForm attribute appropriately.
<P>
Make special case for parsing DTD when entity can't be accessed.
<P>
Try to provide extension that would allow architecture elements be
asynchronous with actual elements?  This would provide CONCUR
functionality.

<H2>
sgmlnorm
</H2>
<P>
Avoid bogus newline from invalid empty document.
<P>
Avoid always escaping >.
<P>
Option to say whether to use character references for 8-bit characters.
<P>
Option to output implied attributes.
<P>
Option to output all non-implied attributes.
<P>
Option to omit attribute name with name tokens.
<P>
Protect against recognition of short references.
<P>
Option to preserve CDATA entity references.
<P>
Option to output general entity declarations in DTD subset
(but what about data attributes)?

<H2>
spam
</H2>
<P>
Option to normalize names.
<P>
Add comments round expanded entities to prevent false delimiter
recognition.
<P>
Add newline at the end if last thing was omitted tag.
<P>
Option to warn about changes in internal entities when not expanding.

<H2>
Documentation
</H2>
<P>
Error message format.
<P>
&lt;catalog&gt; FSI tag.
<P>
<ADDRESS>
James Clark<BR>
jjc@jclark.com
</ADDRESS>
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