[PATCH 10/17] man/curs_util.3x: Recast discussion of padding.

[G. Branden Robinson]

* Use imperative mood when offering advice.
* Favor active voice over passive (a bit).
* Describe what this implementation (ncurses) does.
* Mention effect of NCURSES_NO_PADDING.
* Replace slovenly term "CPU pause".  This is a horrible way to describe
  a basic function of a multitasking operating system.  For one thing,
  it's not the CPU that gets paused, but the task.  For another, such a
  thing as a "CPU pause" exists; cores on multiprocessor systems can be
  powered down for a variety of reasons.  (Even "primitive" single-core
  systems lacking elaborate power management features often supported an
  instruction to stop the CPU and wait for interrupts, as with the
  PDP-11's "WAIT" and the Motorola 6809's "SYNC".)  We can blame the
  "reverse nroffing" <cough> procedure applied to System V curses man
  pages prior to ncurses 1.8.5 for this dreadful language; it appears in
  Solaris 2.3's curs_util.3x.
---
 man/curs_util.3x | 11 +++++++----
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man/curs_util.3x b/man/curs_util.3x
index bde76e9b..e7b39f6c 100644
--- a/man/curs_util.3x
+++ b/man/curs_util.3x
@@ -259,10 +259,13 @@ .SS putwin/getwin
 .SS delay_output
 The \fBdelay_output\fP routine inserts an \fIms\fP millisecond pause
 in output.
-This routine should not be used extensively because
-padding characters are used rather than a CPU pause.
-If no padding character is specified,
-this uses \fBnapms\fP to perform the delay.
+Employ this function judiciously when terminal output uses padding,
+because \fIncurses\fP transmits null characters
+(consuming CPU and I/O resources)
+instead of sleeping and requesting resumption from the operating system.
+If padding is not in use,
+or is disabled with the environment variable \fB\%NCURSES_NO_PADDING\fP,
+\fIncurses\fP uses \fBnapms\fP to perform the delay.
 If the value of \fIms\fP exceeds 30,000
 (thirty seconds),
 it is capped at that value.
-- 
2.30.2

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature