Re: [9fans] Links for Plan 9

[John Stalker <stalker@Math.Princeton.EDU>]

sic scripsit Russ Cox die XIV Decembris anni MMIII:

> I do think that Links is a demonstration that we could manage
> to get a small web browser up and running without too much
> code.  I'm not too optimistic though, since I fear style sheets
> and the like will soon obsolete any such attempt just like tables
> obsoleted mothra.

The first statement is true, but misses an important point.  The
people who could write that small web browser won't.  For a job
like that you need someone with good aesthetic sense, spartan
coding style, and a strong sense of order.  But the browser has
to render the vast majority of real pages correctly--that is, as
the author intended and not as the (ugly and everchanging) standards
specify.  The problem with HTML in particular is that any idiot can
write it, and most of them do.  If you are in the habit of clicking
"view page source" to see why pages render oddly then you know what
I mean.  If you want a working web browser you have to look at a
vast amount of bad code and try to figure out what the author's intent
was.  If you want to fix links then that code is mostly C code.  If
you want to write your own then the bad code is mostly HTML and
javascript.  I am far too lazy to do either, but I think Andrey
has probably chosen the less painful path.

The second statement is also true, and is one of many reasons why
we are not likely to see the browser equivalent of sam or acme any
time soon.  Who wants to write an elegant solution to a problem which
changes every time a new edition of Internet Explorer appears?
--
John Stalker
Department of Mathematics
Princeton University
(609)258-6469