Re: [TUHS] GNUism in groff tests, was: pic anomalies

Re: [TUHS] GNUism in groff tests, was: pic anomalies

[Doug McIlroy]

I have always marveled at folks who can maintain multiple
versions of software, but Larry's dispatch from the
trenches reveals hurdles I hadn't imagined. Kudos for
keeping groff alive. 

Speaking of which, many thanks to all who pitched in
on the %% nit that I reported. The instant response
compares rather favorably to an open case I've been
following in gcc, which was originally filed in 2002.

Doug

Re: [TUHS] GNUism in groff tests, was: pic anomalies

[Steffen Nurpmeso]

Doug McIlroy wrote in <202001022138.002Lc0Up132858@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU>:
 |I have always marveled at folks who can maintain multiple
 |versions of software, but Larry's dispatch from the
 |trenches reveals hurdles I hadn't imagined. Kudos for
 |keeping groff alive. 

I concur.  And as everything in life is a wave, it all comes back
as times go by.  Some even agree to die younger than nature allows
humans ("Er [Der Mensch] lebt wenn's hochkommt Hundert Jahr" [1]),
because they have seen it all in the past, and are getting all too
bored!

  [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ayethw-ouQ

 |Speaking of which, many thanks to all who pitched in
 |on the %% nit that I reported. The instant response
 |compares rather favorably to an open case I've been
 |following in gcc, which was originally filed in 2002.
 |
 |Doug
 --End of <202001022138.002Lc0Up132858@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU>

--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer,                The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter           he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter  wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)

Re: [TUHS] GNUism in groff tests, was: pic anomalies

[Doug McIlroy]

> I was always sad that the development of C that became Alef never got off
> the ground.

It eventuated in Go, which is definitely aloft, and responds
to Mike Bianchi's specific desires. Go also has a library
ecosystem, which C does not.

With its clean parallelism, Go may be suitable for handling
the complexity of whole-paragraph typsetting in the face
of unexpected traps, line-length changes, etc.

Doug