Re: another possible use case for invisible XML

I did get a reply from Lambert Meertens (one of the two editors still available for comment) and he said that the typesetting was done by Barry Mailloux, who probably used an existing system, although it wasn't beyond his capabilities to create a specific format.

Although this version is dated 1976, the original was produced in 1968. An IBM system is very likely.

Steven

On Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:38:54 (+02:00), LdBeth wrote:

> The format used seems be not any of the "popular" markups I could
> find, definitely not GML or RUNOFF. Also not Michael Barnett TYPRINT
> or PAGE-1.  The "$ENDFILE?" convention does indicate the original
> format was on IBM punchcards. The markup appears to be procedure
> oriented instructions to typesetter.
> 
> From the scanned ALGOL68 Revised Report, it appears to be
> phototypetting, there is auto justification but no hyphenation at
> all. The publishing time 1976 can exclude much of other modern
> typesetting systems.
> 
> The best I could guess is some kind of custom made program written
> in FORTRAN or SNOBOL would translate the input to instructions
> to phototypesetter.
> 
> ldb
> 
> >>>>> In <1681755445744.2872857960.3317135686@cwi.nl> 
> >>>>> Steven Pemberton  wrote:
> 
> > I have had a similar task in the past, converting a large (400kb)
> > troff file to xhtml, which I did at the time with a sed script.
> > I can concur with a couple of points you made:
> > * Doing it with a script, which records the transformations, is much
> >   better than doing it in emacs
> > * ixml would have made it easier because it would have allowed me to
> >   more easily transform larger structures than the line-based ones
> >   possible with sed, and would have helped getting the bracketing
> >   structure right (and I wouldn't have had to fight with getting the
> >   right number of backslashes:
> 
> 
> >  s/\\\\o'a\\\\(ga'/\à/
> >  s/\\\\\\\\ /\\/g
> > )
> 
> > Anyway, it sounds like an interesting task, and I'm looking forward to
> > hearing about the progress (I have written to Meertens to ask if he
> > knows details about the typesetting language; while searching for
> > other possible authors/editors, I discovered that Sintzoff has died --
> > Lindsey also died 2 months ago -- and so I added a photo of him to
> > wikipedia).
> 
> > Steven
> 
> > On Sunday 16 April 2023 23:59:27 (+02:00), C. M. Sperberg-McQueen wrote:
> 
> >> Another possible use case for invisible XML has presented itself to me.
> >> I need to provide some background information, and then describe the use
> >> case.  And then I have some questions for the the collective wisdom of
> >> this discussion group.
> 
> 
>

Received on Wednesday, 19 April 2023 17:28:42 UTC