docs: Use Markdown for README and move to README.md

Makefile.am

@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ CLEANFILES = \
 EXTRA_DIST = \
 	ChangeLog.pre-0-4 \
 	ChangeLog.pre-0-5-7 \
+	README.md \
 	libvala.pc.in \
 	vala.m4 \
 	.version \

README

@@ -1,42 +1 @@
-Vala is a programming language that aims to bring modern programming
-language features to GNOME developers without imposing any additional
-runtime requirements and without using a different ABI compared to
-applications and libraries written in C.
-
-valac, the Vala compiler, is a self-hosting compiler that translates
-Vala source code into C source and header files. It uses the GObject
-type system to create classes and interfaces declared in the Vala source
-code.
-
-The syntax of Vala is similar to C#, modified to better fit the GObject
-type system. Vala supports modern language features as the following:
-
-	* Interfaces
-	* Properties
-	* Signals
-	* Foreach
-	* Lambda expressions
-	* Type inference for local variables
-	* Generics
-	* Non-null types
-	* Assisted memory management
-	* Exception handling
-
-Vala is designed to allow access to existing C libraries, especially
-GObject-based libraries, without the need for runtime bindings. All that
-is needed to use a library with Vala is an API file, containing the class
-and method declarations in Vala syntax. Vala currently comes with
-bindings for GLib and GTK+. It's planned to provide generated bindings for
-the full GNOME Platform at a later stage.
-
-Using classes and methods written in Vala from an application written in
-C is not difficult. The Vala library only has to install the generated
-header files and C applications may then access the GObject-based API of
-the Vala library as usual. It should also be easily possible to write a
-bindings generator for access to Vala libraries from applications
-written in e.g. C# as the Vala parser is written as a library, so that
-all compile-time information is available when generating a binding.
-
-More information about Vala is available at
-
-	https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Vala/
+See README.md

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+## What is Vala?
+Vala is a programming language that aims to bring modern programming
+language features to GNOME developers without imposing any additional
+runtime requirements and without using a different ABI compared to
+applications and libraries written in C.
+
+`valac`, the Vala compiler, is a self-hosting compiler that translates
+Vala source code into C source and header files. It uses the GObject
+type system to create classes and interfaces declared in the Vala source
+code.
+
+The syntax of Vala is similar to C#, modified to better fit the GObject
+type system. Vala supports modern language features as the following:
+
+ * Interfaces
+ * Properties
+ * Signals
+ * Foreach
+ * Lambda expressions
+ * Type inference for local variables
+ * Generics
+ * Non-null types
+ * Assisted memory management
+ * Exception handling
+
+Vala is designed to allow access to existing C libraries, especially
+GObject-based libraries, without the need for runtime bindings. All that
+is needed to use a library with Vala is an API file, containing the class
+and method declarations in Vala syntax. Vala currently comes with
+bindings for GLib and GTK+.
+
+Using classes and methods written in Vala from an application written in
+C is not difficult. The Vala library only has to install the generated
+header files and C applications may then access the GObject-based API of
+the Vala library as usual. It should also be easily possible to write a
+bindings generator for access to Vala libraries from applications
+written in e.g. C# as the Vala parser is written as a library, so that
+all compile-time information is available when generating a binding.
+
+More information about Vala is available at [https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Vala/](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Vala/)