TexelTree – A data model for word processors

https://codeberg.org/chrisecker/texeltree/src/branch/main/doc/essay.md

by chrisecker • 4 months ago

3 2 4 months ago

chrisecker• 4 months ago

Finding a good data structure for a word processor is a difficult problem. My notebook diaries on the problem go back to 2001 when I was frustrated with using Word, which was at that time slow and unstable.

While ropes and piece tables are standard data structures, I found that an immutable n-ary tree of 'Texels' (B-Tree) works surprisingly well even in high-level languages like Python.

I’m currently taking a professional career break and decided to finally use this time to push my research further, document the results, and build MiniWord—a WYSIWYG word processor in Python.

I'd love to get your thoughts on the TexelTree. Repo/Essay: https://codeberg.org/chrisecker/texeltree

mike-the-mikado• 4 months ago

I can't make an intelligent contribution, but I found it an interesting read, and thank you for posting it.

TexelTree – A data model for word processors

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