From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 6926 invoked from network); 12 Jan 2022 17:53:55 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 12 Jan 2022 17:53:55 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id E17649CFD1; Thu, 13 Jan 2022 03:53:52 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8A35A9CFCA; Thu, 13 Jan 2022 03:53:33 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 98DAF9CFCA; Thu, 13 Jan 2022 03:53:30 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (fourwinds.com [63.64.179.162]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8E5E09C78F for ; Thu, 13 Jan 2022 03:53:29 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.16.1/8.15.2) with ESMTP id 20CHrS2Y2410768 for ; Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:53:28 -0800 Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (jon@localhost) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.16.1/8.15.2/Submit) with ESMTP id 20CHrSDp2410765 for ; Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:53:28 -0800 Message-Id: <202201121753.20CHrSDp2410765@darkstar.fourwinds.com> From: Jon Steinhart To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org In-reply-to: <20220112103823.A4DCB1F939@orac.inputplus.co.uk> References: <202201120249.20C2nfst2370834@darkstar.fourwinds.com> <20220112103823.A4DCB1F939@orac.inputplus.co.uk> Comments: In-reply-to Ralph Corderoy message dated "Wed, 12 Jan 2022 10:38:23 +0000." MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-ID: <2410763.1642010008.1@darkstar.fourwinds.com> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:53:28 -0800 X-JON-SPAM: local delivery Subject: Re: [TUHS] TeX and groff (was: roff(7)) X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Ralph Corderoy writes: > Hi Jon, > > > I never understood "interpolating a register" to have any relation to > > the definition of interpolate that I learned in math. > > The first definition makes sense of it: > > 1. (transitive, intransitive) To introduce (something) between other > things; especially to insert (possibly spurious) words into a text. > > in verse 74, the second line is clearly interpolated > > 2. (mathematics) To estimate the value of a function between two > tabulated points. > > 3. (computing) During the course of processing some data, and in > response to a directive in that data, to fetch data from a different > source and process it in-line along with the original data. > > ― https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interpolate > > -- > Cheers, Ralph. Yeah, I looked it up too. Yes, the argument can be made that one of the definitions can be forced to sort of fit; I'm guessing that #3 didn't exist when troff was written. So I'm gonna stick to my point that using that word is awkward and makes the document a bit harder to understand. Especially in the context of programming languages, of which troff is one. To the best of my knowledge, nobody talks about "a = b;" as interpolating b.