Xref: utzoo comp.graphics:3673 comp.text:2799
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics,comp.text
Subject: Re: Gray-scale antialiasing (yes, it can work)
Keywords: grayscale fonts
Message-ID: <2273@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 19 Nov 88 13:47:09 GMT
References: <74013@sun.uucp> <148@internal.Apple.COM> <4763@mnetor.UUCP> <703@laura.UUCP>
Organization: SCADA
Lines: 41

In article <703@laura.UUCP>, hmm@laura.UUCP (Hans-Martin Mosner) writes:
> In article <2226@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
> >I hope you agree, at least, that a program
> >should definitely be edited in a fixed-pitch font.

> My programs are mostly written in Smalltalk-80, and I don't see why I should
> use a fixed-pitch font.  I want them to be as readable as standard text...
> Is there any reason that a fixed-pitch font is better suited to programs ?

I don't know about Smalltalk... it's a rather odd language to begin with,
isn't it? According to "Bits of History, Words of Advice", it didn't even use
the ASCII character set until something like Smalltalk-76 or later.

In other languages it's often desirable to line up certain lexical units of
the language that have nothing to do with indentation. This becomes extremely
hard with a variable-width font. Tabs can help with indentation, but unless
your source file contains a lot of formatting commands, how would you do this:

char *macbuf[256], ungetbuf[256];         /* Buffers for pushback and macros */
char c_macro=128;                                           /* current macro */
char *macptr = "";                   /* Pointer to currently executing macro */
char *ungetptr = ungetbuf;              /* Pointer to pushed-back characters */

This comment is also interesting:

> I want them to be as readable as standard text...

My biggest beef with variable-width fonts is prople who print programs in
books and don't use a monospaced font. Having them readable as standard text
makes them hard to read as programs.

The worst offender is Loeliger's otherwise well written "Threaded Interpretive
Languages" where he not only uses a variable width font but resorts to an ugly
blocky token to indicate where significant spaces are... a quick check through
my texts found only he and Wirth (of course) had eschewed monospace fonts for
listings. Most switch between something like Times Roman for the text and
Courier for the listings.
-- 
Peter da Silva  `-_-'  Ferranti International Controls Corporation
"Have you hugged  U  your wolf today?"     uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter
Disclaimer: My typos are my own damn business.   peter@ficc.uu.net