Checksum: 43648
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Path: utzoo!sq!ian
From: ian@sq.uucp (Ian F. Darwin)
Date: Tue, 20-Dec-88 11:25:56 EST
Message-ID: <1988Dec20.112556.3575@sq.uucp>
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Macro Hacking (was: troff request trivia questions?)
Summary: a better way to hack troff macro packages
References: <dfW1389Mru1010J0gfc@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Reply-To: ian@sq.com (Ian F. Darwin)
Distribution: na
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto
Keywords: sqtroff tracing long-name syntax
X-Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto
X-UUCP: ..!{utzoo}!sq!ian    Internet: ian@sq.com
X-Snail: 720 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Canada M5S 2T9
----
>This is not a quiz -- answers to these questions make you feel
>better about mucking with mm source.

If you (or anyone else) are serious about modifying mm (or any other troff
macro package) I would recommend that you purchase our ruggedized version of
troff. The following features alone will probably make it worth your while:

- we have added syntax checking to troff (optional, of
  course) and have fixed numerous SYNTAX ERRORS in
  the original -mm; you get our fixed version;
- we have macro call tracing, so you can see what nested
  macros each macro really calls;
- we have added long name facilities for registers, macros
  and other named objects, so that you can use meaningful
  names in any macros that you write or modify, instead of
  the original two-character names like "}I" or "]Z".
- Substantial documentation, much of it written from the
  ground up rather than just reprinting the original AT&T 
  documents.

Lots of other features, too. It runs on UNIX (Suns, Amdahls, and most other
modern UNIX boxes) and on MS-DOS. Please contact us for marketing
information, at "mail@sq.com" or {utai|utzoo}!sq!mail. Or call 416-963-8337.
U.S.A. customers can call us on our AT&T Co-Marketing number, 800-387-2777.

Hope this information is helpful.

Ian Darwin
Director, R&D,
SoftQuad Inc.
ian@sq.com

