Brion and Trevor just wrote up design documents you want to see:
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Visual_editor/software_design "This
document specifies the information models and technologies required to
interact with Wikitext visually.... [t]his project, like this document,
is in a research and design phase." Covers:
* Project status
* Objectives
* Constraints
* Normalization
* Document model
** Elements
** Blocks
** Content
* Transactions
** Block transactions
** Document transactions
** Wiki transactions
* Wikitext Representations
* Linear Addressability
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikitext_parser/Stage_1:_Formal_grammar
discussing low-level tokens and structures:
* Tightly-bound tags
* Brace structures
* Loose structures
* Line type tokens
* Free/magic markup
* Character references
* Raw characters
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikitext_parser/Stage_2:_Informal_grammar
discussing loose structure assembly and separate nesting levels
Thanks, guys!
--
Sumana Harihareswara
Volunteer Development Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation