Tildef

Tildef is a notation and processing framework used to define and render text templates. It provides a compact set of features for separating content from presentation and for generating parameterized documents, reports, and messages across multiple languages and communication channels.

Origin and scope: The term Tildef emerged in information design discussions in the 2010s as a lightweight alternative to larger templating systems. It is described as a minimal core that can be implemented in servers, desktop tools, and static-site builders, with emphasis on clarity and portability.

Core concepts: A Tildef template consists of static text interleaved with dynamic elements. Dynamic elements include placeholders, conditional blocks, and simple loops. Placeholders reference values from a data model; conditionals include or exclude blocks based on a boolean or computed condition; loops repeat blocks for elements of a list.

Syntax and rendering: The canonical syntax uses delimiters [[ and ]] for tokens. A template is compiled into an intermediate representation and rendered by a Tildef engine, which can produce plain text, HTML, or other formats. Rendering is designed to be deterministic and environment-agnostic.

Usage and relations: Tildef has been used in content management, localization, and automated report generation. It is related to templating systems such as Mustache, Handlebars, Jinja, and XSLT, but aims for a smaller core and explicit data-model separation.