Hi,
Having followed the thread on Babel and properties after the removal
of the #+BABEL headers, I understand the motivation for introducing this.
But I share Nicolas' feelings that a property block doesn't rhyme with
existing usage of blocks and properties.
There were many other ideas that came up:
1. PROPERTY+ lines (as discussed in Eric's message above).
2. A similar approach to the table formula editor (C-c ') for properties.
3. Allowing some properties to accumulate values, in particular making
the :var: property for Babel blocks cumulative (slightly different
versions suggested by Eric and Darlan; either would require some
changes to Org's property handling), and
4. My own idea of allowing any defined property to be passed as an
argument to src blocks (which would require some changes to how Babel
reads its :var header args).
Solutions 1-2 would solve the long lines problem. Solutions 2-4 would
avoid introducing new syntax (#+BEGIN_PROPERTY or #+PROPERTY+) largely
to make up for having removed old syntax (#+BABEL). Solutions 3-4
would have wide-ranging effects and would need some careful study, but
I think the advantages might outweigh the risks.
Yours,
Christian
