Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor . John Gruber created Markdown in 2004 as an easy-to-read markup language . Markdown is widely used for blogging and instant messaging , and also used elsewhere in online forums , collaborative software , documentation pages, and readme files .
53-458: The initial description of Markdown contained ambiguities and raised unanswered questions, causing implementations to both intentionally and accidentally diverge from the original version. This was addressed in 2014 when long-standing Markdown contributors released CommonMark , an unambiguous specification and test suite for Markdown. Markdown was inspired by pre-existing conventions for marking up plain text in email and usenet posts, such as
106-450: A serial number . Once assigned a number and published, an RFC is never rescinded or modified; if the document requires amendments, the authors publish a revised document. Therefore, some RFCs supersede others; the superseded RFCs are said to be deprecated , obsolete , or obsoleted by the superseding RFC. Together, the serialized RFCs compose a continuous historical record of the evolution of Internet standards and practices. The RFC process
159-526: A common set of terms such as "MUST" and "NOT RECOMMENDED" (as defined by RFC 2119 and 8174 ), augmented Backus–Naur form (ABNF) ( RFC 5234 ) as a meta-language, and simple text-based formatting, in order to keep the RFCs consistent and easy to understand. The RFC series contains three sub-series for IETF RFCs: BCP, FYI, and STD. Best Current Practice (BCP) is a sub-series of mandatory IETF RFCs not on standards track. For Your Information (FYI)
212-566: A dozen programming languages ; in addition, many applications , platforms and frameworks support Markdown. For example, Markdown plugins exist for every major blogging platform. While Markdown is a minimal markup language and is read and edited with a normal text editor , there are specially designed editors that preview the files with styles, which are available for all major platforms. Many general-purpose text and code editors have syntax highlighting plugins for Markdown built into them or available as optional download. Editors may feature
265-411: A formal specification of its GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) that is based on CommonMark. It is a strict superset of CommonMark, following its specification exactly except for tables, strikethrough , autolinks and task lists, which GFM adds as extensions. Accordingly, GitHub also changed the parser used on their sites, which required that some documents be changed. For instance, GFM now requires that
318-525: A measured property of nature, but originate in a convention, for example an average of many measurements, agreed between the scientists working with these values. A convention is a selection from among two or more alternatives, where the rule or alternative is agreed upon among participants. Often the word refers to unwritten customs shared throughout a community. For instance, it is conventional in many societies that strangers being introduced shake hands. Some conventions are explicitly legislated; for example, it
371-561: A mistake: "Different sites (and people) have different needs. No one syntax would make all happy." Gruber avoided using curly braces in Markdown to unofficially reserve them for implementation-specific extensions. From 2012, a group of people, including Jeff Atwood and John MacFarlane , launched what Atwood characterised as a standardisation effort. A community website now aims to "document various tools and resources available to document authors and developers, as well as implementors of
424-573: A new submission which will receive a new serial number. Standards track documents are further divided into Proposed Standard and Internet Standard documents. Only the IETF, represented by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), can approve standards-track RFCs. If an RFC becomes an Internet Standard (STD), it is assigned an STD number but retains its RFC number. The definitive list of Internet Standards
477-504: A side-by-side preview window or render the code directly in a WYSIWYG fashion. Some apps, services and editors support Markdown as an editing format, including: Convention (norm) A convention influences a set of agreed, stipulated, or generally accepted standards, social norms , or other criteria, often taking the form of a custom. In physical sciences , numerical values (such as constants, quantities, or scales of measurement) are called conventional if they do not represent
530-587: A similar fashion; BCP n refers to a certain RFC or set of RFCs, but which RFC or RFCs may change over time). An informational RFC can be nearly anything from April 1 jokes to widely recognized essential RFCs like Domain Name System Structure and Delegation ( RFC 1591 ). Some informational RFCs formed the FYI sub-series. An experimental RFC can be an IETF document or an individual submission to
583-453: A social rule changes over time within the same society. What was acceptable in the past may no longer be the case. Similarly, rules differ across space: what is acceptable in one society may not be so in another. Social rules reflect what is acceptable or normal behaviour in any situation. Michel Foucault 's concept of discourse is closely related to social rules as it offers a possible explanation how these rules are shaped and change. It
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#1732772729953636-405: A society, but at the same time, are re-produced by the individuals. Sociologists representing symbolic interactionism argue that social rules are created through the interaction between the members of a society. The focus on active interaction highlights the fluid, shifting character of social rules. These are specific to the social context, a context that varies through time and place. That means
689-453: A wise person adopts a Middle Way without holding conventions to be ultimate or ignoring them when they are fruitful. In sociology , a social rule refers to any social convention commonly adhered to in a society . These rules are not written in law or otherwise formalized. In social constructionism , there is a great focus on social rules. It is argued that these rules are socially constructed, that these rules act upon every member of
742-587: Is a Markdown dialect that was designed to create interactive educational content. It is implemented in Elm and TypeScript and adds additional syntax elements to define features like: Paragraphs are separated by a blank line. Two spaces at the end of a line produce a line break. Horizontal rule: [REDACTED] Markdown uses email-style characters for blockquoting. Multiple paragraphs need to be prepended individually. Most inline HTML tags are supported. Implementations of Markdown are available for over
795-591: Is a sub-series of informational RFCs promoted by the IETF as specified in RFC ; 1150 (FYI 1). In 2011, RFC 6360 obsoleted FYI 1 and concluded this sub-series. Standard (STD) used to be the third and highest maturity level of the IETF standards track specified in RFC 2026 (BCP 9). In 2011 RFC 6410 (a new part of BCP 9) reduced the standards track to two maturity levels. There are five streams of RFCs: IETF , IRTF , IAB , independent submission , and Editorial . Only
848-408: Is another of the four first of what were ARPANET nodes and the source of early RFCs. The ARC became the first network information center ( InterNIC ), which was managed by Elizabeth J. Feinler to distribute the RFCs along with other network information. From 1969 until 1998, Jon Postel served as the RFC editor . On his death in 1998, his obituary was published as RFC 2468 . Following
901-835: Is conventional in the United States and in Germany that motorists drive on the right side of the road, whereas in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Nepal, India and the United Kingdom motorists drive on the left. The standardization of time is a human convention based on the solar cycle or calendar. The extent to which justice is conventional (as opposed to natural or objective ) is historically an important debate among philosophers . The nature of conventions has raised long-lasting philosophical discussion. Quine , Davidson , and David Lewis published influential writings on
954-413: Is documented in RFC 2026 ( The Internet Standards Process, Revision 3 ). The RFC production process differs from the standardization process of formal standards organizations such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Internet technology experts may submit an Internet Draft without support from an external institution. Standards-track RFCs are published with approval from
1007-502: Is obsoleted by various newer RFCs, but SMTP itself is still "current technology", so it is not in "Historic" status. However, since BGP version 4 has entirely superseded earlier BGP versions, the RFCs describing those earlier versions, such as RFC 1267 , have been designated historic. Status unknown is used for some very old RFCs, where it is unclear which status the document would get if it were published today. Some of these RFCs would not be published at all today; an early RFC
1060-562: Is submitted as plain ASCII text and is published in that form, but may also be available in other formats . For easy access to the metadata of an RFC, including abstract, keywords, author(s), publication date, errata, status, and especially later updates, the RFC Editor site offers a search form with many features. A redirection sets some efficient parameters, example: rfc:5000. The official International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) of
1113-492: Is the Official Internet Protocol Standards. Previously STD 1 used to maintain a snapshot of the list. When an Internet Standard is updated, its STD number stays the same, now referring to a new RFC or set of RFCs. A given Internet Standard, STD n , may be RFCs x and y at a given time, but later the same standard may be updated to be RFC z instead. For example, in 2007 RFC 3700
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#17327727299531166-543: Is the social rules that tell people what is normal behaviour for any specific category. Thus, social rules tell a woman how to behave in a womanly manner, and a man, how to be manly . Other such rules are as follows: In government , convention is a set of unwritten rules that participants in the government must follow. These rules can be ignored only if justification is clear, or can be provided. Otherwise, consequences follow. Consequences may include ignoring some other convention that has until now been followed. According to
1219-665: The Internet , most prominently the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). An RFC is authored by individuals or groups of engineers and computer scientists in the form of a memorandum describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems. It is submitted either for peer review or to convey new concepts, information, or, occasionally, engineering humor. The IETF adopts some of
1272-692: The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), and an independent stream from other outside sources. A new model was proposed in 2008, refined, and published in August 2009, splitting the task into several roles, including the RFC Series Advisory Group (RSAG). The model was updated in 2012. The streams were also refined in December 2009, with standards defined for their style. In January 2010, the RFC Editor function
1325-472: The hash symbol that creates a heading be separated from the heading text by a space character. Markdown Extra is a lightweight markup language based on Markdown implemented in PHP (originally), Python and Ruby . It adds the following features that are not available with regular Markdown: Markdown Extra is supported in some content management systems such as Drupal , Grav (CMS) and TYPO3 . LiaScript
1378-627: The IETF creates BCPs and RFCs on the standards track. The IAB publishes informational documents relating to policy or architecture. The IRTF publishes the results of research, either as informational documents or as experiments. Independent submissions are published at the discretion of the Independent Submissions Editor. Non-IETF documents are reviewed by the IESG for conflicts with IETF work. IRTF and independent RFCs generally contain relevant information or experiments for
1431-568: The IETF, and are usually produced by experts participating in IETF Working Groups , which first publish an Internet Draft. This approach facilitates initial rounds of peer review before documents mature into RFCs. The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven, after-the-fact standards authorship accomplished by individuals or small working groups can have important advantages over the more formal, committee-driven process typical of ISO and national standards bodies. Most RFCs use
1484-577: The Internet at large not in conflict with IETF work. compare RFC 4846 , 5742 and 5744 . The Editorial Stream is used to effect editorial policy changes across the RFC series (see RFC 9280 ). The official source for RFCs on the World Wide Web is the RFC Datatracker. Almost any published RFC can be retrieved via a URL of the form https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5000, shown for RFC 5000 . Every RFC
1537-436: The RFC Editor. A draft is designated experimental if it is unclear the proposal will work as intended or unclear if the proposal will be widely adopted. An experimental RFC may be promoted to standards track if it becomes popular and works well. The Best Current Practice subseries collects administrative documents and other texts which are considered as official rules and not only informational , but which do not affect over
1590-826: The RFC Series Approval Board (RSAB). It also established a new Editorial Stream for the RFC Series and concluded the RSOC. The role of the RSE was changed to the RFC Series Consulting Editor (RSCE). In September 2022, Alexis Rossi was appointed to that position. Requests for Comments were originally produced in non- reflowable text format. In August 2019, the format was changed so that new documents can be viewed optimally in devices with varying display sizes. The RFC Editor assigns each RFC
1643-451: The RFC series is 2070-1721. Not all RFCs are standards. Each RFC is assigned a designation with regard to status within the Internet standardization process. This status is one of the following: Informational , Experimental , Best Current Practice , Standards Track , or Historic . Once submitted, accepted, and published, an RFC cannot be changed. Errata may be submitted, which are published separately. More significant changes require
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1696-652: The RFC series to the Network Working Group. Rather than being a formal committee, it was a loose association of researchers interested in the ARPANET project. In effect, it included anyone who wanted to join the meetings and discussions about the project. Many of the subsequent RFCs of the 1970s also came from UCLA, because UCLA is one of the first of what were Interface Message Processors (IMPs) on ARPANET. The Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at Stanford Research Institute , directed by Douglas Engelbart ,
1749-530: The documents "shape the Internet's inner workings and have played a significant role in its success," but are not widely known outside the community. Outside of the Internet community, other documents also called requests for comments have been published, as in U.S. Federal government work, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration . The inception of the RFC format occurred in 1969 as part of
1802-492: The earlier markup languages setext ( c. 1992 ), Textile (c. 2002), and reStructuredText (c. 2002). In 2002 Aaron Swartz created atx and referred to it as "the true structured text format". Gruber created the Markdown language in 2004 with Swartz as his "sounding board." The goal of language was to enable people "to write using an easy-to-read and easy-to-write plain text format, optionally convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML )." Its key design goal
1855-706: The expiration of the original ARPANET contract with the U.S. federal government, the Internet Society, acting on behalf of the IETF, contracted with the Networking Division of the University of Southern California (USC) Information Sciences Institute (ISI) to assume the editorship and publishing responsibilities under the direction of the IAB. Sandy Ginoza joined USC/ISI in 1999 to work on RFC editing, and Alice Hagens in 2005. Bob Braden took over
1908-890: The following websites and projects have adopted CommonMark: Discourse , GitHub , GitLab , Reddit , Qt , Stack Exchange ( Stack Overflow ), and Swift . In March 2016, two relevant informational Internet RFCs were published: Websites like Bitbucket , Diaspora , GitHub , OpenStreetMap , Reddit , SourceForge and Stack Exchange use variants of Markdown to make discussions between users easier. Depending on implementation, basic inline HTML tags may be supported. Italic text may be implemented by _underscores_ or *single-asterisks* . GitHub had been using its own variant of Markdown since as early as 2009, which added support for additional formatting such as tables and nesting block content inside list elements, as well as GitHub-specific features such as auto-linking references to commits, issues, usernames, etc. In 2017, GitHub released
1961-416: The modern RFCs, many of the early RFCs were actual Requests for Comments and were titled as such to avoid sounding too declarative and to encourage discussion. The RFC leaves questions open and is written in a less formal style. This less formal style is now typical of Internet Draft documents, the precursor step before being approved as an RFC. In December 1969, researchers began distributing new RFCs via
2014-426: The newly operational ARPANET. RFC 1 , titled "Host Software", was written by Steve Crocker of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and published on April 7, 1969. Although written by Steve Crocker, the RFC had emerged from an early working group discussion between Steve Crocker, Steve Carr, and Jeff Rulifson . In RFC 3 , which first defined the RFC series, Crocker started attributing
2067-689: The program were included the RFC Editor Model (Version 3) as defined in RFC 9280 , published in June 2022. Generally, the new model is intended to clarify responsibilities and processes for defining and implementing policies related to the RFC series and the RFC Editor function. Changes in the new model included establishing the position of the RFC Consulting Editor, the RFC Series Working Group (RSWG), and
2120-410: The proposals published as RFCs as Internet Standards . However, many RFCs are informational or experimental in nature and are not standards. The RFC system was invented by Steve Crocker in 1969 to help record unofficial notes on the development of ARPANET . RFCs have since become official documents of Internet specifications , communications protocols , procedures, and events. According to Crocker,
2173-427: The recommendation to use source filtering to make DoS attacks more difficult ( RFC 2827 : " Network Ingress Filtering: Defeating Denial of Service Attacks which employ IP Source Address Spoofing ") is BCP 38 . A historic RFC is one that the technology defined by the RFC is no longer recommended for use, which differs from "Obsoletes" header in a replacement RFC. For example, RFC 821 ( SMTP ) itself
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2226-429: The role of RFC project lead, while Joyce K. Reynolds continued to be part of the team until October 13, 2006. In July 2007, streams of RFCs were defined, so that the editing duties could be divided. IETF documents came from IETF working groups or submissions sponsored by an IETF area director from the Internet Engineering Steering Group . The IAB can publish its own documents. A research stream of documents comes from
2279-414: The role of a standalone script, a plugin for Blosxom or a Movable Type , or of a text filter for BBEdit . As Markdown's popularity grew rapidly, many Markdown implementations appeared, driven mostly by the need for additional features such as tables , footnotes , definition lists, and Markdown inside HTML blocks. The behavior of some of these diverged from the reference implementation, as Markdown
2332-539: The seminal ARPANET project. Today, it is the official publication channel for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), and – to some extent – the global community of computer network researchers in general. The authors of the first RFCs typewrote their work and circulated hard copies among the ARPA researchers. Unlike
2385-819: The subject. Lewis's account of convention received an extended critique in Margaret Gilbert 's On Social Facts (1989), where an alternative account is offered. Another view of convention comes from Ruth Millikan 's Language: A Biological Model (2005), once more against Lewis. According to David Kalupahana, The Buddha described conventions—whether linguistic, social, political, moral, ethical, or even religious—as arising dependent on specific conditions. According to his paradigm, when conventions are considered absolute realities, they contribute to dogmatism, which in turn leads to conflict. This does not mean that conventions should be absolutely ignored as unreal and therefore useless. Instead, according to Buddhist thought,
2438-476: The traditional doctrine (Dicey) , conventions cannot be enforced in courts, because they are non-legal sets of rules. Convention is particularly important in the Westminster System of government, where many of the rules are unwritten. Request for Comments A Request for Comments ( RFC ) is a publication in a series from the principal technical development and standards-setting bodies for
2491-431: The various Markdown implementations". In September 2014, Gruber objected to the usage of "Markdown" in the name of this effort and it was rebranded as CommonMark. CommonMark.org published several versions of a specification, reference implementation, test suite, and "[plans] to announce a finalized 1.0 spec and test suite in 2019." No 1.0 spec has since been released as major issues still remain unsolved. Nonetheless,
2544-572: The wire data . The border between standards track and BCP is often unclear. If a document only affects the Internet Standards Process, like BCP 9, or IETF administration, it is clearly a BCP. If it only defines rules and regulations for Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) registries it is less clear; most of these documents are BCPs, but some are on the standards track. The BCP series also covers technical recommendations for how to practice Internet standards; for instance,
2597-650: Was readability , that the language be readable as-is, without looking like it has been marked up with tags or formatting instructions, unlike text formatted with 'heavier' markup languages , such as Rich Text Format (RTF), HTML, or even wikitext (each of which have obvious in-line tags and formatting instructions which can make the text more difficult for humans to read). Gruber wrote a Perl script, Markdown.pl , which converts marked-up text input to valid, well-formed XHTML or HTML and replaces angle brackets ( < , > ) and ampersands ( & ) with their corresponding character entity references . It can take
2650-449: Was an Internet Standard—STD 1—and in May 2008 it was replaced with RFC 5000 , so RFC 3700 changed to Historic , RFC 5000 became an Internet Standard, and as of May 2008 STD 1 is RFC 5000 . as of December 2013 RFC 5000 is replaced by RFC 7100 , updating RFC 2026 to no longer use STD 1. (Best Current Practices work in
2703-493: Was moved to a contractor, Association Management Solutions, with Glenn Kowack serving as interim series editor. In late 2011, Heather Flanagan was hired as the permanent RFC Series Editor (RSE). Also at that time, an RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) was created. In 2020, the IAB convened the RFC Editor Future Development program to discuss potential changes to the RFC Editor model. The results of
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#17327727299532756-458: Was often just that: a simple Request for Comments, not intended to specify a protocol, administrative procedure, or anything else for which the RFC series is used today. The general rule is that original authors (or their employers, if their employment conditions so stipulate) retain copyright unless they make an explicit transfer of their rights. An independent body, the IETF Trust, holds
2809-458: Was only characterised by an informal specification and a Perl implementation for conversion to HTML. At the same time, a number of ambiguities in the informal specification had attracted attention. These issues spurred the creation of tools such as Babelmark to compare the output of various implementations, and an effort by some developers of Markdown parsers for standardisation. However, Gruber has argued that complete standardization would be
#952047