SD - Document Translation

Translation Problem

• n sources to n-1 targets
  • Direct: n * (n-1)
  • Intermediate: 2n
• Characteristics of intermediate
  • Allows representation of all information content of the source
  • Separates content/structure and layout so content/structure can be rendered in multiple ways from the intermediate, as desired
• Difficulty of up, down translation --- Many to one, one to many, m:n
• Sources of inconsistency
  • markup selection, ordering
  • ambiguity, overloading of symbols
  • semantic vs. syntactic orientation
• Examples of difficult translations
  • math: fonts, sizes, spacing, meaning of adjacency (long string, product)
  • tables: multiline fields
• Types of translation fidelity
  • Hardcopy: looks the same when printed: PostScript, PDF
  • Screen: appears roughly the same on screen, using various editors: lines rewrap as window size changes, paragraphs break appropriately
  • Editing: screen fidelity + document editable as on original system

ICA Approach

• ICA Approach
  • Formal model, with braced languages
  • Translation (down) and inverse translation (up)
  • Developers to specify grammars, translations
  • Users to apply translators, resolve ambiguities
• SGML intermediate
• Develop DTD
• Identify mappings
  • Replacement
  • Context, history dependent
  • Ambiguous, so need human help

ICA Tools

• Develop Grammar
  • BNF, SGML DTD, ICA spec, Yacc
• Replace Tags
• Insert Tags
• Map Specific to General
• Map General to Specific

So, translation problems are difficult, but the ICA-style approach of translating up to SGML and then down to the target, is one important approach.