[rhn_mk1]

Markdown is a dead end, and that's why I'm using it. There's only so much syntax you can put into plain text and remain readable more or less as text, as opposed to code.

I, too, would prefer some other language for complex expressions, although that's to keep Markdown simple rather than to obtain power.

I never want to decypher latex in READMEs I read, unless it's a readme for a latex library.

[chrismorgan]

I’ve seen all kinds of awful README.md files because people are trying to shoehorn stuff into Markdown that doesn’t fit.

The problem with Markdown is that it isn’t simple; rather, it’s simplistic, and quite a few things that should be simple instead require terrible hacks to work around Markdown and use HTML.

reStructuredText is generally quite a bit better in this regard because it focuses on expressing semantics.