Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!mimsy!mojo!disney!josip From: josip@ra.src.umd.edu (Josip Loncaric) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Bizarre problem with a large math font Keywords: font, large characters Message-ID: <1990Jul31.155240.11591@ra.src.umd.edu> Date: 31 Jul 90 15:52:40 GMT References: <1990Jul24.035846.18950@Neon.Stanford.EDU> <1990Jul26.050218.22469@ra.src.umd.edu> <1990Jul26.071001.12724@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Sender: news@ra.src.umd.edu (The News System) Distribution: na Organization: Systems Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park Lines: 47 In article <1990Jul26.071001.12724@Neon.Stanford.EDU> kaufman@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) writes: >In article <1990Jul26.050218.22469@ra.src.umd.edu> josip@ra.src.umd.edu (Josip Loncaric) writes: > >>... finally, if >>Mac is designed to give users flexibility of using all kinds of fonts, >>hardcoding 0x20 into the operating system as "space" does not seem very >>smart to me... > ( explanation of why text editors need space characters deleted ) > >Summary: attempting to use 0x20 as anything OTHER than a "space" does not seem >very smart to me... > >Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu) I apologize for offending your sensibilities... but we are talking about two different things. I can see why a text editor may need to know about space characters, and your point is well taken, but there is no reason why QuickDraw ought to know about them. QuickDraw should just do what it is told to do. Any intelligence about space characters should be contained in the application which cares about them, because another application need not give a damn. Anyway, you are also right in pointing out that character codes over 0x80 are available for defining special characters. Yes, it causes some pain to shuffle standard TeX character codes for about 23Mb of fonts, but it could be done. However, as I pointed out earlier, this is NOT the problem I've experienced. In fact, I believe Textures performs a similar procedure, and most character codes 0x20 ARE displayed properly (although QuickDraw probably cannot be given credit for that). My problem, as a note from Barry Smith of Blue Sky Research explained, is that QuickDraw has known bugs, which Apple has done nothing about over the past three years. And finally, I am NOT a PC user. I've used and liked the Mac since it was introduced. It is precisely the graphical orientation which makes Macs so great to work with. However, character images (what gets shown) and what they mean (e.g., word separation) are two completely different concepts. Yes, an application which wants to use character code 0x20 as something other than space can override QuickDraw, but it should not have to. Just my opinion, but many other people would agree, I think. Enough said. Josip Loncaric -- Josip Loncaric / SRC / U. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20745