Matchertext: Towards Verbatim Interlanguage Embedding

TL;DR

Matchertext introduces a syntactic discipline that allows safe, straightforward embedding of text from one language into another without escaping or obfuscation, simplifying cross-language text embedding tasks.

Contribution

It proposes a novel cross-language embedding method called matchertext that simplifies embedding without escaping, applicable to languages like HTML, URI, and JavaScript.

Findings

Enables safe embedding without escaping or obfuscation

Applied to HTML, URI, JavaScript for practical benefits

Developed MinML as an example language using matchertext

Abstract

Embedding text in one language within text of another is commonplace for numerous purposes, but usually requires tedious and error-prone "escaping" transformations on the embedded string. We propose a simple cross-language syntactic discipline, matchertext, which enables the safe embedding a string in any compliant language into a string in any other language via simple "copy-and-paste" - in particular with no escaping, obfuscation, or expansion of embedded strings. We apply this syntactic discipline to several common and frequently-embedded language syntaxes such as URIs, HTML, and JavaScript, exploring the benefits, costs, and compatibility issues in adopting the proposed matchertext discipline. One early matchertext-based language is MinML, a concise but general alternative syntax for writing HTML or XML.