The MEANING statement

A meaning is optional and is characterized by the reserved word MEANING. It specifies the meaning of a concept, a relation, or a rule in natural language. The meaning is used to generate documentation and is printed in the functional specification. A <meaning> can be any text, starting with {+ and ending with +} e.g.

MEANING
{+ This is an example that is
   spread over multiple lines. 
+}

The optional <language> is specified as

• IN ENGLISH or

• IN DUTCH.

Example :

MEANING IN DUTCH {+ Dit is een voorbeeld in een (1) regel.+}

This is a way to override the default language (which is English).

Sometimes you need formatting in the meaning, such as dotted lists, italics, or mathematical symbols. For this purpose you have a choice in which syntax you specify the meaning. The optional <markup> is one of :

• REST (Restructured text. This is the default)

• HTML

• LATEX

• MARKDOWN

Example :

MEANING LATEX {+This is a {\em mathematical} formula $\frac{3}{x+7}$.+}

Ampersand uses Pandoc to offer a choice for your markup. See pandoc.org for details.