Re: Is Chris Hills a troll?

In article <fng58d$2bh$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Richard <rgrdev@xxxxxxxxx> writes
Keith Thompson <kst-u@xxxxxxx> writes:

CBFalconer <cbfalconer@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
lawrence.jones@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

... snip ...

[1] All plain-text versions of the standard are defective, which
is why I stopped producing them.

Yet those 'defects' are relatively minor, and there are great
advantages to having a text version. I suggest it would be
advantageous to continue the production, but maybe add an
introductory line explaining the defects.

For myself, I see no great advantage in having a text version. I
usually use n1256 for reference, or the C99 or C90 standard if needed,
all in PDF format. Since the tools I use do a perfectly adequate job
on PDF files (displaying, searching, etc), I probably wouldn't use a
plain-text version even if I had it. (I don't think I can do regexp
searches, but I've never felt the need to do so.)

If you lack the hardware resources to run a decent PDF viewer, I'm not
unsympathetic to your situation, but the fact is that PDFs work at
least as well as plain text for most people.

How ridiculous. Many of us program in non gui system or in emacs (as you
do I think). A text version is mandatory for most programmers so they
can use the same editor at context to view the necessary information.

I think that is incorrect. Many do program in emacs, Vi and other non IDE systems but that does not mean that they don't have a PDF viewer on the computer as well. (Even my phone has a PDF viewer (not that I have used it in anger)

Also the VERY IMPORTANT point of PDF is that it is not something you can causally edit by accident. If I was given a text copy of a standard I have no way of knowing if it is accurate. It might have been when downloaded but it may not be now.

I think the majority will find the PDF quite acceptable. (I like my hard copies but then I'm old fashioned)


--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
/\/\/ chris@xxxxxxxxxxxx www.phaedsys.org \/\/\
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is Chris Hills a troll?
    ... which is why I stopped producing them. ... Yet those 'defects' are relatively minor, ... I usually use n1256 for reference, or the C99 or C90 standard ... if needed, all in PDF format. ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: Is Chris Hills a troll?
    ... is why I stopped producing them. ... Yet those 'defects' are relatively minor, ... usually use n1256 for reference, or the C99 or C90 standard if needed, ... all in PDF format. ...
    (comp.lang.c)
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