[flexagoon]

Feels like a weird hill to die on. I don't think I've had a single issue with single dollar signs being math block boundaries. It's also weird to say that Github is the one who invented this or that it was a malicious choice, when it's clearly MathJax, which is far from being "antiquated ugly crapware". It is still used by Wikipedia, most scientific websites, etc. Yes, KaTeX may have advantages, but MathJax is very much alive.

There is a myriad of different software which uses different math delimeters. Some markdown flavors for example use \(\), which is probably the worst of them to use. Is that also malicious?

A much better rant about math syntax in Markdown would be that all flavours still use the LaTeX syntax instead of the very obviously superior Typst one. If you think not embracing Katex instead of Mathjax early enough is a malicious choice, then is this one malicious as well?

[professoretc]

> Some markdown flavors for example use \(\), which is probably the worst of them to use.

Some markdown flavors say they use `\(\)` but they also use `\` as the escape character, so in practice you have to use `\\(\\)` which is definitely the worst.

[joesuf4]

Just use double-dollar for everything as the Editor.md developers originally introduced in 2015. Simple, painless, and intelligent.

Using a single-dollar is asinine.

[joesuf4]

Wrong. As the article states, MathJax has nothing to do with Markdown. Never did. For that matter, neither did KaTeX. It just inteprets text some grammar parser delivers to it and delivers MathML.

The embrace and extend problem appears when you incorporate LaTeX’s grammar into Markdown.

[joesuf4]

Perhaps I should say syntax, but really how are you supposed to know what is meant when someone writes $1.50, $2.00 or $\text{more}$.

[joesuf4]

Besides, nobody gives a crap about Wikipedia file formats. They are not specs that others may implement independently.

GFM is a spec, not a vendor format.

[applicative]

original gruber-swartz markdown has no spec, just perl program with many comical corner cases.

[joesuf4]

The spec is linked to in the article. Do you know how to click on a link, or do you use Braille?

[flexagoon]

That is an overview of the syntax the program supports. It's not even remotely a formal specification.

[applicative]

there is absolutely no specification. one who thinks there is has no idea what such words actually mean. thousands have burned their brains on this question