On 27 October 1999 at 18:50, [EMAIL PROTECTED] told the list:
OS>>> IMHO, the a-f function is just that, a function for display time
OS>>> wrapping of continuous strings.
MDP>> I think not. IMHO It is a function to move the location of the CR/LF
MDP>> pair within the paragraph of message text in memory so that when lines
MDP>> are shown on-screen and (more importantly) *when sent* at the position
MDP>> you see. The display function doesn't wrap - it shows the already
MDP>> wrapped text.
OS> I don't care at all, really. Even if I repeat myself: I want a
OS> function to auto-format the text I type.
I was only saying that that is not what is *there*. Accepted it is
what you are suggesting.
OS> Without doing anything harmful to the text I didn't write (like in
OS> quotations) or the text in any other paragraphs apart from the one
OS> I'm typing right now. How the programmer does that... I couldn't
OS> care less. But, being a programmer myself, I can tell it's way
OS> from difficult.
>From scratch - sure. When entrenched with a lot of other facilities
and functionality - maybe, maybe not.
OS>>> Anyway, this discussion arose when someone said he's not happy
OS>>> with the way the function works.
MDP>> It arose when I saw a clear definition of a specific fault
MDP>> within a-f (as opposed to a "not happy" feeling) which I
MDP>> reported as a bug. I also provided a suggested fix from a
MDP>> software engineering perspective. I copied the bug report to
MDP>> this list for discussion and this is the discussion that has
MDP>> arisen.
OS> I posted a bug report about that myself, also copied to the list.
OS> To me, the bug is simply that the text in my message, be it quoted
OS> or not, has it's format destroyed more often than not. The a-f
OS> function also works in places it has no business doing so, like
OS> when I paste text. Sure, I can temporarily switch it off when
OS> typing some text that should not get formatted, but a single
OS> correction in an otherwise left-bound paragraph will give me a lot
OS> of work to do. I can use undo, but that's no pleasure, either,
OS> because the different steps the editor takes to format the text
OS> are undone separately. There's no way, as you can see in the
OS> current paragraph, to start a new line. If I was the programmer,
OS> I'd have to deal with people saying "nice feature, but very badly
OS> thought out".
OS>>> Well, as someone also pointed out, it's a first try at a new
OS>>> function. Maybe it will become better.
MDP>> ... but not without reports of specific faults.
OS> Well, what else can I do?
Be specific. "Badly thought out" is not. If you're a programmer then
you, too, should be able to define a bug clearly.
OS> Making a function work in the way it should have from the start
OS> has nothing to do with enhancing anything. A bug is not only a
OS> single point you can lay your hand on and say "this is what has to
OS> be done to fix it", but it's also failure in concept or
OS> implementation. IMO, that's exactly the point about a-f.
I disagree. "Making a function work better" comes more under the
"suggestions for improvement" banner. By definition a "bug" is a logic
error which has a defined method for reproducing it and a quantifiable
effect on what happens.
OS> Anyway, about reporting bugs... I have done so several times with The
OS> Bat!, but I'm not too happy with the reaction.
OS> 1) There has never been any answer from anyone who would have been
OS> recognizable as a developer. There's no public list of known bugs.
OS> I have no way at all to know if my bug report reached anyone at
OS> all.
The guys at RIT have a policy of only acknowledging the first report
on a specific bug and only notifying that single person of its' cure.
It is my belief that they do read them all.
OS> 2) Many bugs I reported have never been fixed by now, AFAIK. I've not
OS> been on this list for years, but it's half a year since I reported
OS> some things that are still not fixed, although they are not _that_
OS> hard:
OS> - Ctrl-Backspace still doesn't work across newlines.
OS> - Ctrl-A to select all doesn't work when viewing threads. It only
OS> selects the thread top nodes, not _all_. Maybe someone will tell
OS> me it's a feature, but I still have no idea what to use that for.
OS> - Viewing threads is still not good. I've never before used a
OS> mailer that had four different methods to create threads, but
OS> I've used several that combined those methods to provide
OS> consistent threads.
.. in due course?
OS> Pardon me for ranting.
Pardoned. It's been an interesting debate. :-)
Cheers,
Marck
--
Marck D. Pearlstone, Consultant Software Engineer
Co-moderator TBUDL / TBBETA discussion lists
www: http://www.silverstones.com
PGP key: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=GET%20MARCKKEY>
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