Re: Emacs as word processor

[John Yates]

On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 4:38 PM, Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> wrote:

I see no reason for these features to be connected to a style.  They
can easily be separate; keeping them separate will make it easier for
users to specify arbitrary combinations of them.

Is that really the goal?

When I started programming 45 years ago I wrote in the only language available for system programming: assembler.  I hand laid out every looping construct.  I hand allocated every register.  I was entirely on my own to identify and enforce all necessary conventions.  Using a high level language deprives me of some of the fine control I once had.  In exchange though I can contemplate and even complete radically larger designs.  I am extremely grateful for a limited vocabulary of loops, for entirely automatic register allocation and for languages that enforce strong typing.

I am unmoved by the prospect of being able to specify entirely arbitrary combinations of all formatting elements at any and every point in my documents.

/john