Towards a better BBCode

cairnarvon@feynman:~$ cat hello.txt
Hello {spoiler /prog/}.

What do you think of my {sup new} syntax for {i {sup B}{sub B}code} based on S-expressions? It supports {b.i.u function composition} and {sup*2 iteration {sub*3 (and nesting, obviously)}}. It uses curly braces {m \{\}} rather than the traditional {b (}parentheses{b )} because that will require less escaping.

{aa No more unmatched or misnested tags!}

I've written a {spoiler.i terrible} FIOC {i.m SexpCode-to-BBCode} translator, which you can find here: http://sprunge.us/KPWB?py
cairnarvon@feynman:~$ python sexpcode.py < hello.txt
Hello [spoiler]/prog/[/spoiler].

What do you think of my [sup]new[/sup] syntax for [i][sup]B[/sup][sub]B[/sub]code[/i] based on S-expressions? It supports [b][i][u]function composition[/u][/i][/b] and [sup][sup]iteration [sub][sub][sub](and nesting, obviously)[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sup][/sup]. It uses curly braces [m]{}[/m] rather than the traditional [b]([/b]parentheses[b])[/b] because that will require less escaping.

[aa]No more unmatched or misnested tags![/aa]

I've written a [spoiler][i]terrible[/i][/spoiler] FIOC [i][m]SexpCode-to-BBCode[/m][/i] translator, which you can find here: http://sprunge.us/KPWB?py

Hello /prog/.

What do you think of my ^new syntax for ^B_Bcode based on S-expressions? It supports function composition and ^{iteration _{(and nesting, obviously)}}. It uses curly braces {} rather than the traditional (parentheses) because that will require less escaping.

No more unmatched or misnested tags!

I've written a terrible FIOC SexpCode-to-BBCode translator, which you can find here: http://sprunge.us/KPWB?py

A good parser can stop malformed BBCode from being turned into malformed HTML.
Just as much, a good sanitizer can stop malformed HTML. The key component here isn't the BBCode, it's the "good parser" bit, and pretending BBCode somehow solves the problem of malformed or malicious data is like requesting to be sodomized in a prison shower.

In any case, this conversation is drifting towards the theoretical and ever-farther away from interesting programming talk, so I'm going to step out.