Two-way converters: 1 or 2 questions?

Question

I need to convert tables from MediaWiki to LaTeX, and conversely. Shall I ask one or two questions?

Answer 1

This sounds like one question, but I haven't seen the specifics of what you intend to ask. I'd say just make it one question and folks will comment if they feel otherwise.

Answer 2

I would ask two questions.

While it sounds similar, the underlying algorithm is probably very different. Compare for ODT<->PDF:

• Way 1: Read from ODT (1), write to PDF (2).
• Way 2: Read from PDF (3), write to ODT (4).

There are specialized libraries for each of this tasks. They often don't overlap.

I wrote an XSL script to write to ODT (zipped XML), it is very easy, especially since you won't even need to deal with styles/macros/advanced ODT features from a PDF.
On the contary, reading from ODT to produce a PDF will require you to implement nearly all of the ODT specification.

So even among 10 two-way tools, some will be better at way 1, and some better at way 2.

Conclusion: Asking two questions will lead to a more relevant ranking.

Answer 3

It depends. Do you need the same program to do it both ways or are you looking for two separate programs?

If both options are fine, I'd ask about a program to convert one-way first and list the other way as a "nice to have" feature and see what kind of answers I get. If needed, ask for a program to convert the other way.

If you're looking for a program that handles both, ask one question.

If you're looking for two programs, one handles the conversion to one way and the second the other way, ask two questions.