Re: Novel use of .char

[Peter Schaffter]

On Tue, Dec 17, 2024, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> I'm glad Peter raised; now that commit has to fold.  :)

I almost feel guilty for opening this can of worms. :) I was looking
for an explanation for the behaviour, which I assumed was "correct",
my (somewhat) novel mapping of image-to-glyph with .char being being
to "blame."  Otherwise, I'd have posted a bug report.

> As the author of an output driver, and the only one for groff who
> still participates in our mailing list discussions, your insight
> into these matters is much deeper than almost any user's.

I am very much of the same opinion.  To my mind, gropdf is the jewel
in groff's crown and its author a treasure.
 
> Furthermore I think we must develop our terminological lexicon to
> support intelligible discussion of these matters.  I find your
> distinction between something that happens "chronologically" versus
> something that happens "as soon as it is actioned" to be pretty slippery
> to get a hold of in the mind.  Both imply temporal sequencing to me.
> 
> Maybe it's just _my_ mind that struggles...

Interesting.  I, too, think chronologically about output.  This hit
home when Branden said of .wh a while ago that the mnemonic was for
"where" whereas I always think of it as "when."

-- 
Peter Schaffter
https://www.schaffter.ca