Full text of YASC (n/troff stuff)

[Doug Gwyn <gwyn>]

> I think the real mistake lies in the attempt to specify line length
> in INCHES (You ethnocentrist Americans :-)), rather than, the most 
> reasonable CHARACTERS. I have been using Honeywell's "runoff" text   
> processing system on a 68/80 Multics for a long time and all arguments
> are in number of characters or line. Same thing on the WORDIX word processing
> system on the IBM PC/XT. The documentation IS cryptic, and 
> No one says that you have to use the little "i". I got it all OK 
> now, but I guess I'm going to implement macros for Multics runoff.
> It's a pity, n/troff has such a potential but screwy docs....

Uh-huh.  How big IS a "character", anyway?  My printer and typesetters
have several character widths, even at the same point size.  I bet those
Brand-X word processors you like so much would have fun with these devices.