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From: mikeb@inset.UUCP (Mike Banahan)
Newsgroups: net.internat
Subject: Re: :-)
Message-ID: <832@inset.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Feb-86 04:56:10 EST
Article-I.D.: inset.832
Posted: Mon Feb  3 04:56:10 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Feb-86 08:30:26 EST
References: <343@ur-tut.UUCP>
Reply-To: mikeb@inset.UUCP (Mike Banahan)
Distribution: net
Organization: The Instruction Set Ltd., London, UK.
Lines: 32

In article <343@ur-tut.UUCP> tuba@ur-tut.UUCP writes:
>What's all this business about linkers that only support monofont
>symbols?  When I name a variable "counter" in 10 point Helvetica,
>the last thing I mean is "counter" in 14 point Courier.  Linkers
>that fold fonts into a single stripped typewriter-like system
>font should be abolished!  That's like not having font sensitivity
>in the first place.  If this is what our programming environments
>are going to be like, we might as well all go back to 8-bit ASCII!

But are you *WRONG* if you think that is a joke. Tuba is RIGHT
RIGHT RIGHT, except for missing out the other essential attributes that we
will need if we are going to get an environment fit for the 1960's, let
alone the late 70's or even 80's. What about colour? I want to be able to grep
for all the 10 point helvetica non-alphabetic strings in red, because that
is the way that my application displays error messages.

I'm concerned about orientation too - but the reasons for that are secret.

Is ``italicness' an attribute or a separate font?

What if I have a private set of attributes that I want characters to have
that don't fit into the codeset currently in use? What is happening about
a design of a regular way of redefining a ``character'' that allows
me simply to change the definition of what a character is, at the head
of my program, that will still allow all the other stuff (ctype, strcmp)
etc. to work, yet allow me to diddle with attributes as I see fit? Get
your thinking caps on, Netland, and see if you can come up with something.
If you don't think that this is important, go read net.dead-sea-scrolls
or something.
-- 
Mike Banahan, Technical Director, The Instruction Set Ltd.
mcvax!ukc!inset!mikeb