Comments on: Diffing HTML http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/13/diffing-html/ Living in a state of accord. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:21:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/13/diffing-html/comment-page-1/#comment-20430 Adrian Sutton Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:21:05 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/13/diffing-html/#comment-20430 If you wish to concentrate on a purely theoretical computer science problem, then by all means let the strict definition of diffing get in your way to finding a good solution. Personally, I prefer to analyze use cases and determine the solution that best matches. In the case I've been discussing, the whims of human comprehension is exactly what we're dealing with and mathematics is merely an implementation detail. This is not a case where we are particularly disagreeing, as I noted above. We clearly approach these issues from different points of views and with different goals in mind which is why we come to different conclusions and identify different solutions. It has certainly been interesting to consider these areas, even if they are not the same areas and issues you originally intended to discuss. In short, thank you for your comments, they've prompted me to identify a number of assumptions and influences that make up my viewpoint and consider in more detail a number of issues that I work with every day. If you wish to concentrate on a purely theoretical computer science problem, then by all means let the strict definition of diffing get in your way to finding a good solution. Personally, I prefer to analyze use cases and determine the solution that best matches. In the case I’ve been discussing, the whims of human comprehension is exactly what we’re dealing with and mathematics is merely an implementation detail.

This is not a case where we are particularly disagreeing, as I noted above. We clearly approach these issues from different points of views and with different goals in mind which is why we come to different conclusions and identify different solutions. It has certainly been interesting to consider these areas, even if they are not the same areas and issues you originally intended to discuss. In short, thank you for your comments, they’ve prompted me to identify a number of assumptions and influences that make up my viewpoint and consider in more detail a number of issues that I work with every day.

]]> By: Alastair http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/13/diffing-html/comment-page-1/#comment-20410 Alastair Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:59:58 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/13/diffing-html/#comment-20410 I agree there are many possible use cases for diffing, but there should be no disagreement about diffing *is*. The basic definition of diffing comes down to determining the minimum edit distance for a given set of possible operations. And at this abstract level anyway there is no difference between diffing HTML, XML, text or even images. You seem to be arguing that the most human-comprehensible output may not necessarily be the absolute minimum edit distance between two documents, and that a non-optimal set of edit operations may more accurately reflect the underlying intent of the changes made. I see that this is a worthwhile problem but it is not diffing, as it is subject to the whims of human comprehension and not just mathematics. I agree there are many possible use cases for diffing, but there should be no disagreement about diffing *is*. The basic definition of diffing comes down to determining the minimum edit distance for a given set of possible operations. And at this abstract level anyway there is no difference between diffing HTML, XML, text or even images.

You seem to be arguing that the most human-comprehensible output may not necessarily be the absolute minimum edit distance between two documents, and that a non-optimal set of edit operations may more accurately reflect the underlying intent of the changes made. I see that this is a worthwhile problem but it is not diffing, as it is subject to the whims of human comprehension and not just mathematics.

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