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diff --git a/doc/user/bas_conv b/doc/user/bas_conv new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd971b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/user/bas_conv @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ +@Section + @Title { Alternative conventions for white space } + @Tag { white } +@Begin +@PP +As Section {@NumberOf spaces} explains, when two objects are separated +by one or more white space characters (spaces, tabs, and newlines), this +same amount of white space will separate the two objects in the output. +@PP +Two other conventions for interpreting these white spaces have been +used in other document formatting systems. Roughly, they are: +@ID @Tab + @Fmta { @Col A ! @Col B } +{ +@Rowa + A { troff } + B { Like Lout, except that at every point where a sentence ends at +the end of an input line, add one extra space in the output. } +@Rowa + A { @TeX } + B { Replace all sequences of two or more white spaces by one. Then, +at every point where a sentence ends, whether or not it is at the end +of a line, add one extra space in the output. } +} +Lout offers these two alternative conventions by means of the +initialspace. @Index { @Code "@InitialSpace" option } +@Code "@InitialSpace" option. This is similar to the +@Code "@InitialFont" option described at the end of Section +{@NumberOf fonts}, in that you can set it at the beginning of your +document, like this: +@ID @Code { +"@SysInclude { doc }" +"@Document" +" @InitialSpace { lout }" +"//" +"@Text @Begin" +"..." +"@End @Text" +} +or you can set it in the setup file. The above example shows the +default value, {@Code lout}, which produces Lout's usual spacing; +lout.space @Index { @Code lout spacing } +troff.space @Index { @Code troff spacing } +tex.space @Index { @Code tex (@LaTeX) spacing } +the alternative values are @Code "troff" and {@Code "tex"}. +@PP +How to tell whether a sentence has ended is a vexed question. For +the @Code "troff" method, Lout looks for a word at the end of a line +ending in one of `.', `:', `?', or `!' optionally followed by either +a right quote character or a right parenthesis. Actually, this depends +on the current language (Section {@NumberOf languages}); the rule just +given is for English, and other languages may differ. +@PP +The @Code "tex" rule for where a sentence ends is slightly more +complicated. Lout looks for a word, not necessarily at the end +of an input line, which ends as described for @Code "troff" but +in addition has a lower-case letter preceding that. +@PP +In all cases you must use a paragraph symbol, such as @Code "@PP" or +{@Code "@LP"}, to separate your paragraphs. The common convention of +other systems, that a blank line marks a paragraph, is never true of Lout. +@PP +Whatever rule is adopted, there are occasional exceptions where you +will have to indicate explicitly whether you want an ordinary space +or a between-sentences space. For this there are two symbols, +@Code "~" (ordinary space) and {@Code "~~"} (between-sentences +space). For example, +@ID @Code "Dr.~Kingston" +will produce an ordinary space between the two words, even with +@Code "tex" which would otherwise consider that spot to be the end +of a sentence. Spaces adjacent to these two symbols have no effect on +the result. Please note however that @Code "~" produces an +unbreakable space (that is, one that will never be replaced by the end of +a line) in contrast to just leaving a space, which is breakable. +@End @Section |