Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/How-to-Study-with-a-Markup-Language

Markup

Tools Comparison

As we navigate through the often winding path of education and personal study, we quickly realize the importance of efficiency—doing less, yet achieving more. This concept underpins our approach to learning, and one aspect that it significantly impacts is note-taking. In this article, we delve into an innovative approach to enhance your note-taking efficiency by using a markup language.

In progress

What is a markup language?

Essentially, it is a system that uses specific characters or combinations of characters, which, when read by a word processor or similar tool, are displayed in a particular visual format. If you've ever right-clicked on a webpage and selected "View Page Source", you've seen HTML—a markup language—in action. This language, along with others, powers the display of content on websites. Similarly, MediaWiki, a software written in PHP, uses its proprietary markup syntax to shape the presentation of information.

Here is a list of some open-format markup languages:

field	language
2D graphics	Excalidraw based on JSON Scalable Vector Graphics based on XML
documents	AsciiDoc Markdown reStructuredText based on StructuredText
mathematical expressions	AsciiMath LaTeX based on TeX MathML based on XML
music engraving	Lilypond MusiXTeX based on TeX MusicXML based on XML
to-do-list	Todo.txt

There can be multiple available processors for a language. Different processors are used differently.

Which one is the best for language learning?

Leveraging markup languages to facilitate language learning can be a game-changer.

How? It starts with the simplicity and the structured formatting that markup languages provide.

For example, you can use these tools to format vocabulary lists, conjugation tables, grammar rules, and practice exercises in an intuitive and organized manner. Moreover, creating flashcards and other learning aids can be achieved seamlessly with markup languages, facilitating interactive learning.

As for the best one for language learning, it depends on your specific needs and preferences. If you value simplicity and directness, Markdown might be your choice. If, however, you require more advanced features, AsciiDoc could be the one for you, despite its lesser popularity.

It's important to remember that wiki languages (like the wiki code used on this page), which are more powerful and feature-rich, also demand more set-up effort, such as configuring a server and client for content access, as they were primarily designed for web use.

The "best" markup language for language learning will ultimately depend on your individual needs, technical comfort level, and the extent of features you want from the language.

Among lightweight markup languages, Markdown was created early and has several dialects:

format	link
CommonMark	https://commonmark.org/
Conway-Markdown	https://conway-markdown.github.io/
GitHub Flavored Markdown	https://github.github.com/gfm/
LiaScript	https://github.com/liaScript/docs
Markdeep	https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/
Markdown Extra	https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/
MultiMarkdown	https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/
Pandoc Markdown	https://garrettgman.github.io/rmarkdown/authoring_pandoc_markdown.html
R Markdown	https://rmarkdown.rstudio.com/
ScholarlyMarkdown	http://scholarlymarkdown.com/
Stack Overflow Markdown	https://stackoverflow.com/editing-help

AsciiDoc has more features with less popularity. Those wiki languages are more powerful and require more efforts like setting up a server and then open a client to access the content, as those languages were created for web use.

Other markup languages include Textile, reStructuredText, Setext.

In the ideal case, you can customise all the syntax in a program.

How to make use of Markdown or AsciiDoc?

There is a redpen for proofreading.

To convert to and from other formats, there is a pytablewriter to use.

Markdown

Some open-source programs for learning are

program	link	feature
Foam	https://foambubble.github.io/	graph
Flashdown	https://github.com/SteveRidout/flashdown	flashcard
Flutter Markdown Editor	https://github.com/adityar224/FlutterMarkdownEditor	editor
glow	https://github.com/charmbracelet/glow	renderer in command line
hascard	https://github.com/Yvee1/hascard	flashcard
Joplin	https://joplinapp.org/	notebook
Lazycard	https://github.com/hikikones/Lazycard	flashcard
markdown-anki-decks	https://github.com/lukesmurray/markdown-anki-decks	exporter to Anki
markmap	https://markmap.js.org/	mind map
Markor	https://github.com/gsantner/markor	text editor
MDAnki	https://github.com/ashlinchak/mdanki	exporter to Anki
mdSilo	https://mdsilo.com/	notebook
Mindolph	https://github.com/mindolph/Mindolph	knowledge manager
nb	https://github.com/xwmx/nb	notebooks
NoteKit	https://github.com/blackhole89/notekit	notebook
Recall	https://github.com/frenya/vscode-recall	flashcard
StudyMD	https://github.com/jotron/StudyMD	flashcard
Slides	https://github.com/maaslalani/slides	presentation

Some of are VSCodium / VS Code extensions. You will need to install VSCodium to make use of it.

You can write down your text like this

# inflection

## conjugation

1. third person singular
   1. -s
   2. -es
   3. -'s
2. past
   1. -ed / -d
   2. irregular
3. past particle
   1. -en / -n
   2. irregular

## declension

1. plural
   1. -s
   2. -es
   3. -i

markmap will treat it as a mind map, hascard will treat it as a flashcard.

markmap can detect the tab key and double spaces as well. To use other symbols than “#” to construct the hierarchy, you may use “<TAB> *”, “<TAB><TAB> *”, and so on.

AsciiDoc

There is one open-source program to do the work: Asciidoctor. It supports Ruby, Java and JavaScript, extensions are available. Others are

program	link	feature
HonKit	https://github.com/honkit/honkit	building books
AsciidocFX	https://github.com/asciidocfx/AsciidocFX	building books
nb	https://github.com/xwmx/nb	notebooks

Mermaid

Mermaid is a JavaScript library to generate charts from its own markup language.

Kroki! supports Mermaid together with many other formats.

Comparison of Markup Syntax

symbol	usage	languages
# text	heading	Markdown
= text	heading	AsciiDoc
text ===	heading	Markdown
## text	sub-heading	Markdown
== text	sub-heading	AsciiDoc
text ---	sub-heading	Markdown
_text_	italic	AsciiDoc, Markdown
**text**	bold	Markdown
*text*	bold	AsciiDoc
`text`	monospace	AsciiDoc, Markdown
> text	blockquote	Markdown
____ text ____	blockquote	AsciiDoc
␣␣␣␣text	literal block	Markdown
text	literal block	AsciiDoc
.... text ....	literal block	AsciiDoc
```language_name text ```	code block	Markdown
[source,language_name] ---- text ----	code block	AsciiDoc
---	horizontal rule	Markdown
'''	horizontal rule	AsciiDoc
* text	unordered list	AsciiDoc, Markdown
- text	unordered list	Markdown
+ text	unordered list	Markdown
* text ** text	nested unordered list	AsciiDoc
* text ␣␣* text	nested unordered list	Markdown
. text . text	ordered list	AsciiDoc
1. text 2. text	ordered list	Markdown
1. text 1. text	ordered list	Markdown
3. text 1. text	ordered list	Markdown
[text](URL)	link with label	Markdown
	inline image	Markdown
	inline image with title	Markdown
image:text.webp[text]	inline image with title	AsciiDoc
image::text.webp[text]	block image with title	AsciiDoc
[#text] == text	anchor	AsciiDoc
[text](#_text)	reference	Markdown
<<_text>>	reference	AsciiDoc

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