RE: [Groff] Fw: problem with pic

[Y T]

I suppose it is going to boil down to a matter of "taste".
Old AT&T pic treated
     line from 1,1 then up 1
exactly the same as
     line from  1,1 up 1
Groff pic 1.19.3 treats them differently.
I think the AT&T pic behavior is more natural/intuitive but
others may prefer the new groff pic behavior.
Maintaining compatibility with the old AT&T pic is another argument
for restoring the old behavior.

> From: address@hidden
> To: address@hidden
> Subject: Re: [Groff] Fw: problem with pic
> Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:15:11 +0000
> CC: address@hidden; address@hidden; address@hidden
>
> On Thursday 20 March 2008 18:31, Y T wrote:
>> To me it is perfectly natural that
>>        line from 1,1 then up 1
>> is different from
>>        line then up 1
>
> Well yes, they are different in the sense that the former explicitly
> moves to point (1,1), while the latter simply starts plotting from the
> current position, wherever that may be. Other than that, they are the
> same: draw a line segment of implicit length in the current direction;
> follow that with a second line segment, of explicit length 1 unit, in
> the upward direction.
>
>> In the first case, there is a very clear intuitive specification of a
>> path that starts at 1,1 and then goes up 1 -- it is not ambiguous.
>
> No, it isn't ambiguous. However, you make the assumption that the
> implicit length of a line segment is zero units; in pic, this isn't so.
> What would you expect this minimal example to produce?
>
> .PS
> line
> .PE
>
> Regards,
> Keith.

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