[Groff] Re: groff as a library? /* OT */

[Michail Vidiassov]

Dear Ralph,

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009, Ralph Corderoy wrote:
> > > `groff -Z' produces that, doesn't it?
> > Yes, but the question was about groff-like _library_.
> Oh, sorry, I come from an OS where programs do one thing and do it well
> and get plumbed together.  Can you not call out of your language to get
> groff to do the work as a separate process and then read its results?

While you have a point that in UNIX piping information around is 
traditional and fits well into overall system design, it is not the 
universally best way. Having to serialise-unserialise the data, handling error 
messages and aborted processing, creating/deleteing internal-use files 
with configuration information for programs you call, increased system 
load (when it matters) - just the first drawbacks that come to mind.

          Sincerely, Michail