Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.c > #7433

Re: Typography of programs

From Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: Typography of programs
Date 2011-07-02 10:22 +0100
Message-ID <871uy9rq91.fsf@temporary-address.org.uk> (permalink)
References <iugem2$np3$1@speranza.aioe.org> <3JWdnRyR0PU4BpPTnZ2dnUVZ_h-dnZ2d@posted.internetamerica> <iummqt$ets$1@speranza.aioe.org>

Show all headers | View raw

jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> writes:

> Le 02/07/11 06:16, Gordon Burditt a écrit :
>>> Unicode now offers all possible signs for displaying in our programs,
>>
>> How many people can visually distinguish those possible signs from
>> each other?
>>
>>> and it would be a progress if C would standardize some codes to be
>>> used isnstead of the usual != and&&, etc.
>>
>> Why?  What problem are you attempting to solve?
>
> At the start of the discussion, I was trying to get a modern
> and aesthetically pleasing typography for programs. Why write
> != instead of the inequality sign from mathematics? There is
> no reason.
>
> But during the discussion, I have learned a bit, and now the
> proposal should be extended:
>
> o We should be able to format commentary text as in a simple
>   text editor (rtf) that would allow us to write diagrams that
>   explain the code instead of ridiculous Ascii drawings that
>   are extremely difficult to draw and do not pass through
>   reformatters

That sounds almost orthogonal to language specification.  This is going
to break every existing toolset, so unless you want to create the whole
editing environment from the ground up and require people to use it,
it's not going to work.

> o We should end the digraphs of C and use the inequality sign
>   (in output) instead of !=, the assignment arrow instead of =,
>   the boolen \/ and /\ for OR and AND instead of || and &&,
>   etc.
>
> The problem with documentation now, is that it must be written
> outside the program, using a text editor that is in general
> different from the programmer's editor. Obviously, as Ben said, I
> could do thsi in wedit and be done with it, but actually that would be
> a wrong solution since any user of this feature would be tied
> to a single editor: impossible to use another since there
> would be no standard way of editing programs.

But how on earth am I, editing your C in Emacs on my Linux box going to
see the same diagrams that you, editing your C in whatever on your Mac,
have created?

[big snip]

> BSD is not very advanced in graphics and Unicode support maybe...
> Get a Mac or a PC and use your favorite editor there, using BSD only
> to run your code.

My favourite editor is Emacs!  And unlike the Windows (presumably by PC
you mean "Windows machine" (PC meant personal computer many years before
Windows appeared) users I have no difficulty writing ≥ and its friends
when I need to.

Your proposals to use better symbols in your programming language are
perfectly good. But C is the wrong language for it.  Like it or not, C
has to be in many respects "lowest common denominator" language just
because of its history.

Now Java is something that could easily have adopted these symbols.  I
wonder why it didn't - finding out might help think about whether C
should.
-- 
Online waterways route planner            | http://canalplan.eu
Plan trips, see photos, check facilities  | http://canalplan.org.uk

Back to comp.lang.c | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 02:06 +0200
  Re: Typography of programs Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-29 19:57 -0500
    Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 07:19 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 01:08 -0500
        Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 08:16 +0200
          Re: Typography of programs Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 01:56 -0500
            Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 09:06 +0200
              Re: Typography of programs Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 02:25 -0500
                Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 10:21 +0200
  Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-29 21:43 -0700
    Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 07:21 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-29 22:49 -0700
  Re: Typography of programs Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-30 16:59 +1200
    Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 07:23 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-30 17:25 +1200
        Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-29 22:52 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-30 17:53 +1200
            Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-29 22:58 -0700
              Re: Typography of programs Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-30 21:11 +1200
                Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 11:17 +0200
                Re: Typography of programs Angel <angel+news@spamcop.net> - 2011-06-30 12:19 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 17:30 +0200
                Re: Typography of programs Angel <angel+news@spamcop.net> - 2011-06-30 15:40 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 12:02 -0700
                Re: Typography of programs Ralf Damaschke <rwspam@gmx.de> - 2011-06-30 20:13 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs "Herbert Rosenau" <os2guy@pc-rosenau.de> - 2011-07-02 22:21 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-03 01:22 +0200
                Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 11:43 -0700
      Re: Typography of programs Angel <angel+news@spamcop.net> - 2011-06-30 08:20 +0000
      Re: Typography of programs Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2011-06-30 17:13 +0100
      Re: Typography of programs "Herbert Rosenau" <os2guy@pc-rosenau.de> - 2011-07-01 08:52 +0000
        Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-01 10:58 +0200
          Re: Typography of programs Angel <angel+news@spamcop.net> - 2011-07-01 09:27 +0000
            Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-01 12:04 +0200
              Re: Typography of programs Angel <angel+news@spamcop.net> - 2011-07-01 12:42 +0000
        Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-01 02:05 -0700
    Re: Typography of programs "Wolfgang.Draxinger" <Wolfgang.Draxinger@physik.uni-muenchen.de> - 2011-07-01 18:10 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu> - 2011-07-01 09:21 -0700
        Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-01 14:36 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Joe Wright <joewwright@comcast.net> - 2011-07-01 19:29 -0400
            Re: Typography of programs Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2011-07-02 11:22 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs cri@tiac.net (Richard Harter) - 2011-07-01 23:59 +0000
  Re: Typography of programs Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2011-06-30 07:48 +0000
    Re: Typography of programs "Joachim Schmitz" <nospam.jojo@schmitz-digital.de> - 2011-06-30 10:03 +0200
    Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 10:32 +0200
    Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 01:34 -0700
      Re: Typography of programs Chris H <chris@phaedsys.org> - 2011-06-30 11:06 +0100
        Re: Typography of programs Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2011-06-30 16:05 -0700
      Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-06-30 14:52 +0000
        Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-30 11:39 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-06-30 20:55 +0000
            Re: Typography of programs "Herbert Rosenau" <os2guy@pc-rosenau.de> - 2011-07-02 22:21 +0000
  Re: Typography of programs Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu> - 2011-06-30 09:11 -0700
    Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-06-30 21:50 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-07-01 08:26 +1200
        Re: Typography of programs "Herbert Rosenau" <os2guy@pc-rosenau.de> - 2011-07-02 22:21 +0000
      Re: Typography of programs Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu> - 2011-06-30 13:38 -0700
  Re: Typography of programs gordonb.9z4n8@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) - 2011-07-01 23:16 -0500
    Re: Typography of programs Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu> - 2011-07-01 21:46 -0700
    Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-01 21:52 -0700
      Re: Typography of programs gordonb.e78ud@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) - 2011-07-02 02:14 -0500
        Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-02 00:38 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-07-02 15:00 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-07-04 00:20 +0000
            Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-03 18:28 -0700
              Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-07-04 04:42 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-04 01:01 -0500
                Re: Typography of programs Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2011-07-04 08:15 +0100
                Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-04 00:40 -0700
                Re: Typography of programs gordonb.3nbmk@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) - 2011-07-04 07:42 -0500
                Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-04 07:15 -0700
                Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-07-05 20:21 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-04 09:56 -0500
                Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-07-05 20:21 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs Angel <angel+news@spamcop.net> - 2011-07-04 08:04 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-04 09:22 -0500
                Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-07-05 20:21 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-05 22:45 +0200
                Re: Typography of programs Willem <willem@turtle.stack.nl> - 2011-07-05 21:52 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs Squeamizh <squeamz@hotmail.com> - 2011-07-05 20:03 -0700
                Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-06 08:46 +0200
                Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-06 00:08 -0700
                Re: Typography of programs Willem <willem@turtle.stack.nl> - 2011-07-06 12:12 +0000
                Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-06 11:10 -0500
                Re: Typography of programs Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2011-07-06 07:42 +0100
    Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-02 11:02 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2011-07-02 10:22 +0100
        Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-02 13:51 +0200
          Re: Typography of programs Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2011-07-02 15:45 +0100
      Re: Typography of programs gordonb.piror@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) - 2011-07-02 07:31 -0500
        Re: Typography of programs Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2011-07-03 01:47 -0700
      Re: Typography of programs Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-07-03 03:10 -0700
        Re: Typography of programs superpollo <superpollo@tznvy.pbz> - 2011-07-04 15:19 +0200
      Re: Typography of programs "Herbert Rosenau" <os2guy@pc-rosenau.de> - 2011-07-03 19:39 +0000
        Re: Typography of programs "Kleuskes & Moos" <kleuske@xs4all.nl> - 2011-07-03 14:01 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-07-03 14:26 -0700
            Re: Typography of programs "Kleuskes & Moos" <kleuske@xs4all.nl> - 2011-07-04 01:19 -0700
              Re: Typography of programs Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-07-04 14:19 -0700
        Re: Typography of programs Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2011-07-03 20:46 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-07-04 04:42 +0000
          Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-04 00:43 -0500
            Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-03 23:03 -0700
              Re: Typography of programs James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2011-07-04 06:32 -0400
              Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-04 09:08 -0500
          Re: Typography of programs Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-07-07 18:01 +0300
  Re: Typography of programs Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2011-07-02 16:28 +0100
  Re: Typography of programs pacman@kosh.dhis.org (Alan Curry) - 2011-07-02 20:52 +0000
    Re: Typography of programs Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-07-04 00:50 -0500
  Re: Typography of programs "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2011-07-03 10:04 +0200
    Re: Typography of programs "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2011-07-03 10:27 +0200
  Re: Typography of programs Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-07-03 03:19 -0700
  Re: Typography of programs "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-07-06 10:14 +0100
    Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-06 02:48 -0700
      Re: Typography of programs "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-07-06 11:47 +0100
        Re: Typography of programs jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2011-07-06 14:46 +0200
          Re: Typography of programs China Blue Dolls <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-07-06 07:44 -0700
          Re: Typography of programs Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-07-07 07:50 +1200

csiph-web