Question

In theory, would it be possible to represent the syntax of the Java programming language using verbose, “HTML-style” markup, and then translate it to normal Java code? I think a modified syntax of this type might aid code readability, perhaps at the expense of conciseness.

An example program consisting of two classes, using normal Java syntax:

public class HelloWorld{
    public void doStuff(){
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

public class MainClass{
    public static void main(String[] args){
        HelloWorld.doStuff();
    }
}

The same program, with proposed “HTML-style” markup (to be translated into normal Java syntax):

<class = "public class HelloWorld">
    <function = "public void doStuff()">
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    </function>
</class>

<class = "public class MainClass">
    <function = "public static void main(String[] args)">
        HelloWorld.doStuff();
    </function>
</class>

Answer 1

Coldfusion is a language with HTML or XML style syntax, for building web applications.

I think they argued it would be familiar to HTML programmers (in fact, I think some of its tags are HTML tags, but I’m not CF expert).

The little I’ve seen of it, did not overwhelm me with a desire to code that way in the future.