Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!mcvax!guido From: guido@mcvax.uucp (Guido van Rossum) Newsgroups: net.text,net.cog-eng Subject: Re: Y positive up or down? Message-ID: <7133@boring.mcvax.UUCP> Date: Sat, 8-Nov-86 08:10:56 EST Article-I.D.: boring.7133 Posted: Sat Nov 8 08:10:56 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 9-Nov-86 04:15:11 EST References: <479@vaxb.calgary.UUCP> <1903@adobe.UUCP> Reply-To: guido@boring.uucp (Guido van Rossum) Organization: "Stamp Out BASIC" Committee, CWI, Amsterdam Lines: 20 Xref: mnetor net.text:1148 net.cog-eng:344 Apparently-To: rnews@mcvax In article <1903@adobe.UUCP> greid@adobe.UUCP (Glenn Reid) writes: >It seems feasible to make this configurable--that is, have >the coordinate system default one way, but make it possible to change it. >The only problem I can see with this is in transferring documents. It would >probably be best to always save documents in one form, and allow on-the-fly >inversion as they are being edited, rather than storing them both ways. This is easily remedied by putting the coordinate system used somewhere in the document, maybe in a descriptive header or something, just like a Unix plot(1,3,5) file has to start with a "space" command if it wants to be device-independent. Actually, if you let the user choose a coordinate system, the whole question almost becomes a non-issue, or at least many of the arguments in favour of either choice lose their importance. Surely I want to be able to use coordinates in centimeters, not pixels; so why not let me decide where to put the origin? (As for me, I would put the origin in the center of the screen.) Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam