Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 09:48:19 -0600 From: Mike Meyer <mwm-dated-1017071300.b43eea@mired.org> To: Tom Rhodes <darklogik@pittgoth.com> Cc: swear@blarg.net, freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: docs/36042: [PATCH] There's not a good description of shared builds in the handbook Message-ID: <15512.44867.930654.886921@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <20020320000727.284a00c1.darklogik@pittgoth.com> References: <200203192120.g2JLK3o17280@freefall.freebsd.org> <mfr8mf98vb.8mf@localhost.localdomain> <15512.3992.905972.279159@guru.mired.org> <20020320000727.284a00c1.darklogik@pittgoth.com>
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In <20020320000727.284a00c1.darklogik@pittgoth.com>, Tom Rhodes <darklogik@pittgoth.com> typed: > On Tue, 19 Mar 2002 22:27:04 -0600 > Mike Meyer <mwm-dated-1017030425.b95013@mired.org> wrote: > > > In <mfr8mf98vb.8mf@localhost.localdomain>, Gary W. Swearingen <swear@blarg.net> typed: > > > Mike Meyer <mwm-dated-1017004489.c7e726@mired.org> writes: > > > > In <20020319100000.A57951@sumuk.de>, Martin Heinen <martin@sumuk.de> typed: > > > > > Please put two spaces at the end of sentences. > > You're saying he wants the raw text formatted the way he would like to > > read it. Personally, I disagree with you and prefer one space after a > > period, even in fixed pitch text. That's why I wrote it that way. > To be honest, in high school and college english I have always been > taught to use two spaces at the end of any typed sentance, so I > think its a set standard. I'm open to hearing any educated > arguments on this though, not that it would make my life easier, but > at least i'd have an argument to mr I-know-it-all teacher hehe... Speaking of following standards, rfc 2822 says that lines in email messages "SHOULD" be at most 78 characters long. Yours were ~160. I for one would appreciate that standard being followed. Here's the story as I recall it. I've probably got some of it wrong. In the beginning, all fonts had variable width characters, and typesetters used an n-space after words, and an m-space after sentences. When fonts with fixed-width characters were introduced - via typewriters - *some* of the users decided that the m-space after a sentence deserved two spaces. Others kept right on using a single m-space after sentences, even though they were the same width as the n-spaces after words. As you can see, this distinction only matters if you're setting something in fixed width fonts, and even then there isn't universal agreement about it. Bringhurst, in "The Elements of typographic style", calls the double-space practice an "abomination", or words to that effect. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to typography, that's the bible - which I suppose makes Bringhurst God. Now, if this is something we do to make life easier for programs, that I can understand. In which case, I'd very much like to have -- be turned into m-dashes and - into n-dashes, so we can do away with —. I'm even willing to do the work, if someone can point out what code is interpreting '. ' to mean something different than '. '. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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