[net.sources.bugs] Roff in C

ron@trsvax.UUCP (01/10/85)

[this line is a figment of your imagination]

First, I'd like to say that I think the Colonel did a great job of translating
this from assembly.  However, there are a couple of things I've noted in it.
	1) The reference of suftab is NEVER used anywhere.  Is this
	   for later use?
	2) Hyphenation has not been implemented.  The variables of
	   o_hc and o_hy are never used, but you can change them.
	3) Often, after a period only one space will be placed in the
	   text.  This should be two, but I've not looked at the source
	   to see why it's not.
	         		            Ron Light
		                    Fort Worth, Texas
   ... {convex!ctvax,microsoft,ihnp4!sys1}!trsvax!ron
	          ... cu-arpa.trsvax!ron@Cornell.ARPA

(we're roff to see the wizard)

colonel@gloria.UUCP (George Sicherman) (01/29/85)

> First, I'd like to say that I think the Colonel did a great job of translating
> this from assembly.  However, there are a couple of things I've noted in it.
> 	1) The reference of suftab is NEVER used anywhere.  Is this
> 	   for later use?
> 	2) Hyphenation has not been implemented.  The variables of
> 	   o_hc and o_hy are never used, but you can change them.
> 	3) Often, after a period only one space will be placed in the
> 	   text.  This should be two, but I've not looked at the source
> 	   to see why it's not.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ron.  The file 'suftab' is used
for hyphenation.  I would not hack through the PDP-11 code to figure
out how the original roff hyphenated, so I left hyphenation out.
Maybe I should have just borrowed nroff's algorithm?

Periods are padded with two spaces only if they stand at the end of
input lines.  This is so you can type

	Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?

without getting

	Have you seen my wife, Mr.  Jones?

If that doesn't cover your observed errors, it's a live bug.  Let me know.
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
...seismo!rochester!rocksanne!rocksvax!sunybcs!gloria!colonel