Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 (MC830713); site mcvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!mcvax!jaap From: jaap@mcvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: Broff and a proposed net project Message-ID: <5276@mcvax.UUCP> Date: Tue, 19-Jul-83 01:12:50 EDT Article-I.D.: mcvax.5276 Posted: Tue Jul 19 01:12:50 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 19-Jul-83 10:41:52 EDT References: <3123@arizona.UUCP> Organization: Math.Centre, Amsterdam Lines: 27 Of course it is nice to do a project and communicating about it on the net. It is one of the reason why the unix network exist. I don't consider a rewrite of *roff to be a serious project. (BROFF: a Burlesque Rewrite Off a Famous Formatter?). First, my boss doesn't pay me do have hobbies like this. Second, it is a bad idea to make a look alike with more or less the same input requirements. (By the way, it will take a 2 seconds edit job to change to change \n in \# and a little sed script for tbl, eqn, ideal and pic to let them know about it.) What is really needed is a new approach with new concepts for text processing. I don't think that a text processing in a programming language flavour is a solution. This will be just a tool made by programmers for programmers. It would certainly not help our typist pool. To have things done more interactively would be a better idea. By the way, if you are continueing this project, keep the hyphenation algorithm as clean as it is now. It's now trivial to put a different algorithm in, f.i. for Dutch. Final remark: \*(OQ doen't address the character OQ but a by .ds OQ defined macro. Jaap "Not wanting to recode years 60's software in the 80's" Akkerhuis. {philabs,mcvax}!jaap.