Re: [Groff] EQN documentation

[Ted Harding]

On 17-Jan-11 17:11:30, Ralph Corderoy wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Werner wrote:
>> Unfortunately, merging doesn't work due to licensing issues (except
>> there is stuff in the public domain).  You can use the original paper
>> as a starting point, but it must be reformulated.
> 
> Personally, I find Kernighan's writing in particular to generally be
> terse, clear, and complete.  Any "re-write" or reformulating might find
> it hard to keep to his high standard.
> 
> Cheers,
> Ralph.

I heartily agree. The classic troff (and indeed UNIX) documentation
is a model of minimal sufficiency (to abuse a statistical term) along
with clarity (though sometimes requiring the user to solve some logical
puzzles -- but that was all part of the original UNIX experience)!

That being said, I'd like to let it be known that I have been
contemplating for a long time putting together a connected account
(like an extended version of the Kernighan & Cherry "Typesetting
Mathematics -- User's Guide" that Ralph pointed to previously).
This would include not only the entirety of the basics of using
GNU eqn, but also how to tweak the details, and how to extend it
using macros, etc., based on the many "tips & tricks" I have built
up over some 25 years of using UNIX and GNU eqn.

So it's probably time I started! This would be in PS and PDF format,
along with troff source, and would of course be freely available
(and possibly appropriate for bundling with groff).

So stand by.
Ted.

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Date: 17-Jan-11                                       Time: 17:55:39
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