Tuesday, May 02, 2000, 2:25:04 PM, Alexander wrote:
> Allie, no personal offence, please! I didn't mean to insult you, just wanted
> to stress the idea that if we stay on the grounds of _plain_text_ medium, we
> need to take into account that there is _no_ paragraph concept applicable to
> this medium. The document consists of _lines_, not paragraphs.
Mistake #1. You're thinking that there are only lines. I see only data
which can be represented any number of ways. Let's just say that just because
the limitation exists when transmitting means that the limitation exists when
creating. If that were the case, we would not have free caret mode since
until I moved my cursor down and typed
this word the spaces preceding this
didn't exist. Therefore it is clear that TB! is able to represent the data in
a manner, internally, which does defy the limitations of the transmit medium
and, upon sending, can translate down to that medium.
In short, there is not a Mmmmkaying thing stopping TB from having soft and
hard breaks when editing which is the /only/ time our formatting comes into
play.
> I basically do not understand the common gripes about the autowrap vs.
> autoformat issues which from time to time get posted to this list.
Aside from the fact that it is extremely basic, crude, ill thought out and
done better in abundance in editors freely available to all? sure, nothing at
all.
> I don't think it's too hard to hit Alt-J or whatever from time to time.
Except that it removes the ". " construct as well as the paragraph
indention which some people, don't know who, use and have used since before
TB! was even a inch on the programmer's brain. Trust me, Delphi didn't even
exist and these conventions were in use. Other editors are able to work with
them.
> But _if_ we consider the autoformat feature, we immediately need to
> consider, how exactly should TB's editor decide, which block of text _is_ a
> paragraph and which isn't.
Simple. The block which is a paragraph is the one defined with a hard CR
and the one that is not is defined with a soft CR. How TB! defines those is
up to the internal logic which is, as I demonstrated, not limited to the logic
of the transmit medium.
> Now look further. _If_ I now place my cursor this way:
Too bad that the internal logic of TB! does not conform to that.
<ALT-L>
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text some text some text some text some text some text some text some text
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text
<ALT-R>
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text some text some text some text some text some text some text some text
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text
<ALT-J>
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text some text some text some text some text some text some text some text
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text
Indention is ignored in all cases. Furthermore the auto-justify algorithm
sucks rocks. I saw better in VDE, a dos editor that I used, oh.... 12-13
years ago?
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text some text some text some text some text some text some text some text
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text
That is how VDE would do it which is much better than plopping all of the
spaces near the front of the lines. An even better one would create spaces
equidistant throughout the paragraph.
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text some text some text some text some text some text some text some text
some text some text some text some text some text some text some text some
text
I, however, digress.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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