Re: mini-languages for MVC view/controller manipulation

[dws]

Which brings me to my point: the use of mini-languages within view templates seems to occupy a very small and recent slice in the history of MVC frameworks, motivated primarily by the need to dynamically generate HTML.

In the pre-web epoch, several "mini languages" for describing views (and how to hook them up to models) came and went. VisualWorks had one, which served as the basis for reusable visual components. If I recall correctly, NeXT had one, too (on the back end of their visual UI design tool).

[steves]

Also don't forget that a lot of people rolled their own. I worked with one or two home grown templating languages in the mid-to-late 90's.

[metaperl]

I should've been clearer: did said mini-languages exist *in* the view... or did they manipulate the view from outside of the view?

[dws]

did said mini-languages exist *in* the view... or did they manipulate the view from outside of the view?

They described the view and participated in the view's construction.