title-case function

title-case function

[Paul W. Rankin]

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

I couldn't find a title-case function I considered good enough, so I 
wrote the one below. Please take a look and let me know if there are any 
edge cases I've missed or improvements you might have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(defcustom title-case-minor-words
  '("the ""a" "an" "and" "but" "for" "of" "or" "nor" "is" "as" "in" "to" 
  "into"
    "v" "vs" "de")
  "List of minor word strings that should be downcased in titles.
These words should be less than four characters."
  :type '(repeat string)
  :group 'editing-basics)

(defun title-case-region (beg end)
  "Convert region from BEG to END to Title Case.
First and last words are capitalized unconditionally, as are
words following colons and dashes. Words in list
`title-case-minor-words' are downcased."
  (interactive "r")
  (save-excursion
    (let (last-word)
      (goto-char end)
      (forward-word -1)
      (setq last-word (point))
      (capitalize-word 1)
      (goto-char beg)
      (unless (looking-at "\\b")
        (forward-word -1))
      (capitalize-word 1)
      (while (< (point) last-word (point-max))
        (if (looking-at "[:\x2013\x2014]")
            (capitalize-word 1)
          (skip-syntax-forward "-." last-word)
          (if (looking-at (concat "\\b" (regexp-opt 
          title-case-minor-words)
                                  "\\b"))
              (downcase-word 1)
            (capitalize-word 1)))))))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- 
https://www.paulwrankin.com

Re: title-case function

[Emanuel Berg]

Paul W. Rankin wrote:

> Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

The same to you :)
Here is some 2h 34m 56s of Easter trance [1] :)

> I couldn't find a title-case function

Did you look into this [2] ?
    
BTW make a search for "Emanuel Berg" :)

> [...] so I wrote the one below. Please take
> a look and let me know if there are any edge
> cases I've missed or improvements you
> might have.

       (if (looking-at "[:\x2013\x2014]")
           (capitalize-word 1)
         (skip-syntax-forward "-." last-word)
         (if (looking-at (concat "\\b" (regexp-opt title-case-minor-words)
                                 "\\b") )
             (downcase-word 1)
           (capitalize-word 1)))

It seems to work alright, but I don't
understand it? You don't need `progn' anymore?

(if nil
    0
  (message "been here")
  1) ; 1 and got message

??


[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gp51lt9kdA

[2] https://karl-voit.at/2015/05/25/elisp-title-capitalization/source.org.txt

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: title-case function

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Paul W. Rankin" <hello@paulwrankin.com>
> Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2019 13:56:26 +1000
> 
> I couldn't find a title-case function I considered good enough, so I 
> wrote the one below. Please take a look and let me know if there are any 
> edge cases I've missed or improvements you might have.

Doesn't upcase-initials do that already?

Re: title-case function

[Jean-Christophe Helary]

> On Apr 21, 2019, at 12:56, Paul W. Rankin <hello@paulwrankin.com> wrote:
> 
> Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!
> 
> I couldn't find a title-case function I considered good enough, so I wrote the one below. Please take a look and let me know if there are any edge cases I've missed or improvements you might have.

I'm not aware that we have title-case needs in French, or in any other language I know, but just as a precaution I renamed "title-case-minor-words" to "title-case-minor-english-words".

The day we have proper localization in Emacs we'll probably have a use for that :)

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(defcustom title-case-minor-english-words
'("the ""a" "an" "and" "but" "for" "of" "or" "nor" "is" "as" "in" "to"  "into"
  "v" "vs" "de")
"List of minor English word strings that should be downcased in titles.
These words should be less than four characters."
:type '(repeat string)
:group 'editing-basics)

(defun title-case-region (beg end)
"Convert region from BEG to END to Title Case.
First and last words are capitalized unconditionally, as are
words following colons and dashes. Words in list
`title-case-minor-english-words' are downcased."
(interactive "r")
(save-excursion
  (let (last-word)
    (goto-char end)
    (forward-word -1)
    (setq last-word (point))
    (capitalize-word 1)
    (goto-char beg)
    (unless (looking-at "\\b")
      (forward-word -1))
    (capitalize-word 1)
    (while (< (point) last-word (point-max))
      (if (looking-at "[:\x2013\x2014]")
          (capitalize-word 1)
        (skip-syntax-forward "-." last-word)
        (if (looking-at (concat "\\b" (regexp-opt          title-case-minor-english-words)
                                "\\b"))
            (downcase-word 1)
          (capitalize-word 1)))))))


Jean-Christophe Helary
-----------------------------------------------
http://mac4translators.blogspot.com @brandelune

Re: title-case function

[Emanuel Berg]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

>> I couldn't find a title-case function
>> I considered good enough, so I wrote the one
>> below. Please take a look and let me know if
>> there are any edge cases I've missed or
>> improvements you might have.
>
> Doesn't upcase-initials do that already?

No.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: title-case function

[Paul W. Rankin]

On Sun, Apr 21 2019, Emanuel Berg wrote:
> Did you look into this [2] ?
>     
> BTW make a search for "Emanuel Berg" :)

Ah right, no I didn't find that one. Nice.

Given that there are no definitive rules regarding title case minor 
words, I think I prefer using a defcustom for these (i.e. I wouldn't 
consider "over" or "past" as a minor words because they're four 
letters).

I've found thing-at-point to be quite resource hungry so I try to avoid 
using it unless absolutely necessary.

I am curious about the comparative performance of using (member WORDS) 
vs (looking-at (regexp-opt WORDS)).

>        (if (looking-at "[:\x2013\x2014]")
>            (capitalize-word 1)
>          (skip-syntax-forward "-." last-word)
>          (if (looking-at (concat "\\b" (regexp-opt 
>          title-case-minor-words)
>                                  "\\b") )
>              (downcase-word 1)
>            (capitalize-word 1)))
>
> It seems to work alright, but I don't
> understand it? You don't need `progn' anymore?

The regexp "[:\x2013\x2014]" just looks for a colon, an en dash or an em 
dash and makes sure to capitalize a word following one of those. I used 
the character codes for the dashes because otherwise they're difficult 
to discern from hyphens in monospace.

Do you mean using progn for the ELSE in the if expression? From the 
documentation on `if':

> (if COND THEN ELSE...)
>
> THEN must be one expression, but ELSE... can be zero or more 
> expressions.

So yeah, progn is unnecessary.

Thanks for the trance, but I'm already spending my rainy Easter day 
listening to this: 
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Dark-Was-The-Night/release/1655481

-- 
https://www.paulwrankin.com

Re: title-case function

[Paul W. Rankin]

On Sun, Apr 21 2019, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> Doesn't upcase-initials do that already?

English has conventions for keeping "minor words" in titles as lowercase 
(which I understand is different to European language).

(upcase-initials "an introduction to programming in emacs lisp")
=> "An Introduction To Programming In Emacs Lisp"

"an introduction to programming in emacs lisp"
(title-case-region)
=> "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp"

-- 
https://www.paulwrankin.com

Re: title-case function

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Paul W. Rankin" <hello@paulwrankin.com>
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2019 16:45:16 +1000
> 
> On Sun, Apr 21 2019, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Doesn't upcase-initials do that already?
> 
> English has conventions for keeping "minor words" in titles as lowercase 
> (which I understand is different to European language).

Sorry, I didn't understand that those minor words were the main point
of your function.

`if' in Elisp (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

Paul W. Rankin wrote:

>>> It seems to work alright, but I don't
>>> understand it? You don't need
>>> `progn' anymore?
>>> 
>>> (if nil
>>>    0
>>>  (message "been here")
>>>  1) ; 1 and got message
>>> 
>>> ??
>>
>> Do you mean using progn for the ELSE in the
>> if expression? From the documentation on
>> `if':
>>
>> (if COND THEN ELSE...)
>>
>> THEN must be one expression, but ELSE... can
>> be zero or more expressions.
>
> So yeah, progn is unnecessary.

Unbelievable, when/how did this happen?!

>> Did you look into this [2] ?
>>     BTW make a search for "Emanuel Berg" :)
>
> Ah right, no I didn't find that one. Nice.
>
> Given that there are no definitive rules
> regarding title case minor words, I think
> I prefer using a defcustom for these (i.e.
> I wouldn't consider "over" or "past" as
> a minor words because they're four letters).

I didn't have anything to do with the rules
when Mr. Voit wrote that, but I think I agree
with you, so I CC this to him so he can do what
he pleases with it.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

RE: `if' in Elisp (was: Re: title-case function)

[Drew Adams]

> >> Do you mean using progn for the ELSE in the
> >> if expression? From the documentation on
> >> `if':
> >> (if COND THEN ELSE...)
> >> THEN must be one expression, but ELSE... can
> >> be zero or more expressions.
> > So yeah, progn is unnecessary.
> 
> Unbelievable, when/how did this happen?!

After Lisp 1.5 and before Common Lisp v1 - 1970s probably.
For Emacs Lisp, it's been the case since Day One, I believe.

http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%201.5%20Programmers%20Manual.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp_the_Language

http://www.math.utah.edu/docs/info/elisp_10.html#SEC110

Re: title-case function

[Paul W. Rankin]

On Sun, Apr 21 2019, Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:
> I'm not aware that we have title-case needs in French, or in any other 
> language I know, but just as a precaution I renamed 
> "title-case-minor-words" to "title-case-minor-english-words".

This seems a little redundant to me if title case is an English-only 
thing. But also it's a defcustom, so the user is free to make the words 
any other language (which would then make the name quite silly).

That said, anyone pasting this into their init file is more than welcome 
to rename the option whatever they like!

A slight improvement below. Function title-case works on a string 
object, title-case-region works on the region. Using a temp buffer is a 
bit annoying though...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(defcustom title-case-minor-words
  '("the ""a" "an" "and" "but" "for" "of" "or" "nor" "is" "as" "at" "in" 
  "to"
    "v" "vs" "de")
  "List of minor word strings that should be downcased in titles.
These words should be less than four characters."
  :type '(repeat string)
  :group 'editing-basics)

(defun title-case (string)
  "Convert STRING to Title Case.
First and last words are capitalized unconditionally, as are
words following colons, en dashes and em dashes. Words in list
`title-case-minor-words' are downcased."
  (with-temp-buffer
    (insert string)
    (let (last-word)
      (goto-char (point-max))
      (forward-word -1)
      (setq last-word (point))
      (capitalize-word 1)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (capitalize-word 1)
      (while (< (point) last-word (point-max))
        (if (looking-at "[:\x2013\x2014]")
            (capitalize-word 1)
          (skip-syntax-forward "-." last-word)
          (if (looking-at (concat "\\b" (regexp-opt 
          title-case-minor-words)
                                  "\\b"))
              (downcase-word 1)
            (capitalize-word 1)))))
    (buffer-string)))

(defun title-case-region (beg end)
  "Convert region from BEG to END to Title Case."
  (interactive "r")
  (save-excursion
    (goto-char end)
    (unless (looking-at "\\b")
      (forward-word 1)
      (setq end (point)))
    (goto-char beg)
    (unless (looking-at "\\b")
      (forward-word -1))
    (title-case (buffer-substring (point) end))))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-- 
https://www.paulwrankin.com

Re: title-case function

[Jean-Christophe Helary]

> On Apr 21, 2019, at 21:45, Paul W. Rankin <hello@paulwrankin.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Sun, Apr 21 2019, Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:
>> I'm not aware that we have title-case needs in French, or in any other language I know, but just as a precaution I renamed "title-case-minor-words" to "title-case-minor-english-words".
> 
> This seems a little redundant to me if title case is an English-only thing.

*That*, we don't know. And even if it's an English only thing, it's better to identify the thing the strings have in common. They are not just arbitrary short strings.

> But also it's a defcustom, so the user is free to make the words any other language (which would then make the name quite silly).

No, if would make the user conscious that the list is for English and instead of just adding a string to the list, she would create a defcustom for her language and modify the rest of the code, thus introducing her to simple elisp code modifications.

And the next step could be for her to imagine a way to identify the contents of a given string to know which defcustom she should use, etc.

> That said, anyone pasting this into their init file is more than welcome to rename the option whatever they like!

Definitely, but you asked for suggestions...

And honestly, the fact that developers generally don't consider english strings as exceptions in the world of symbolic expressions is the main reason why emacs's internationalization lags so far behind other projects. So why not start where it is easy to start ?

Jean-Christophe Helary
-----------------------------------------------
http://mac4translators.blogspot.com @brandelune

Re: title-case function

[Paul W. Rankin]

On Sun, Apr 21 2019, Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:
>> This seems a little redundant to me if title case is an English-only 
>> thing.
>
> *That*, we don't know.

I'm pretty sure title case is an English-only thing. I did some cursory 
digging and found this on the holy Wikipedia:
> In other languages, such as the Romance languages, only the first word 
> and proper names are capitalized.[1]

Seems like title case comes in two flavours: English and other.

> And even if it's an English only thing, it's better to identify the 
> thing the strings have in common. They are not just arbitrary short 
> strings.

Within this scope, they're just all minor words. Apart from that, I'd 
say they are just arbitrary strings... Emacs doesn't care what language 
strings it's upcasing or downcasing.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization#Titles

-- 
https://www.paulwrankin.com

the English language, again (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:

> I'm not aware that we have title-case needs
> in French, or in any other language I know,
> but just as a precaution I renamed
> "title-case-minor-words" to
> "title-case-minor-english-words".

That's right! Just because every
expansionist/colonialist/imperialist power
wasn't as successful as the old
Anglo-Americans, that doesn't mean one can
neglect them's languages without blinking!

But guess what: there is a new superpower in
town. It doesn't have a name but it is run by
the techno-techno oligarchy, with the sole
purpose of imposing supreme techno-techno
totalitarianism everywhere.

The oligarchy's internal representation is all
binary, but us minion techno-technos are still
allowed to use our native languages for
socializing, and in speech (when-/wherever that
is still possible for practical reasons).

As for code tho, and all tech discussion in
writing, it's all Anglo-American since long.

Deal with it.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

the English language, again (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:

> I'm not aware that we have title-case needs
> in French, or in any other language I know,
> but just as a precaution I renamed
> "title-case-minor-words" to
> "title-case-minor-english-words".

That's right! Just because every
expansionist/colonialist/imperialist
power wasn't as successful as the old
Anglo-Americans, that doesn't mean one can
neglect them's languages without blinking!

But guess what: there is a new superpower in
town. It doesn't have a name but it is run by
the techno-techno oligarchy, with the sole
purpose of imposing supreme techno-techno
totalitarianism everywhere.

The oligarchy's internal representation is all
binary, but us minion techno-technos are still
allowed to use our native languages for
socializing, and in speech (when-/wherever that
is still possible for practical reasons).

As for code tho, and all tech discussion in
writing, it's all Anglo-American since long.

Deal with it.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: title-case function

[Emanuel Berg]

Paul W. Rankin wrote:

> A slight improvement below.
> Function title-case works on a string object,
> title-case-region works on the region.
> Using a temp buffer is a bit annoying
> though...

Hint: Make it a DWIM interface!

E.g.,

(defun count-chars (&optional start end)
  (interactive
   (if (use-region-p)
       (list (region-beginning) (region-end))
     (list (point-min) (point-max)) ))
  (message "%d" (- end start)) )

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

the English language part 2 (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:

> And honestly, the fact that developers
> generally don't consider english strings as
> exceptions in the world of symbolic
> expressions is the main reason why emacs's
> internationalization lags so far behind other
> projects. So why not start where it is easy
> to start ?

Eh - "Emacs's Internationalization"?

Even the French Situationists realized the
futility of poster/slogan politics and
discontinued their international in 1972. [1]

It _is_ Anglo-American! The Germans and French
already do it, and the Russians are coming
strong, as are many, many others!

The only ones that are a bit behind are the
Spanish-speaking world - which is a bit
surprising, as every third or so of their words
are all but identical to the English equivalent
- or put it the other way around, if you wish -
_anyhow they will come as well_, it is
inevitable and _it's all good_.

Stop being in denial!


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situationist_International

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: `if' in Elisp (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

Drew Adams wrote:

>> Unbelievable, when/how did this happen?!
>
> After Lisp 1.5 and before Common Lisp v1 -
> 1970s probably. For Emacs Lisp, it's been the
> case since Day One, I believe.

?!?

I almost did no CL at all. Well, good thing
I like doing things as now I have many `progn'
to remove.

Another good thing I learned about `when' and
`unless' otherwise the progn would have been
even more numerous.

> http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%201.5%20Programmers%20Manual.pdf
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp_the_Language
>
> http://www.math.utah.edu/docs/info/elisp_10.html#SEC110

Interesting, thank you!

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language part 2

[Ralph Seichter]

* Emanuel Berg:

> Stop being in denial!

English (not American, mind you) is convenient right now, because it is
pretty simple, easy to handle in aging software, and works as a lingua
franca of the IT/software community for the time being. We might see
that shift to Mandarin, one of the languages I unfortunately do not yet
speak, but who knows.

So please calm down. The world is a big place, and America is neither
its navel nor did it invent the English language. ;-)

-Ralph

Re: the English language part 2

[Emanuel Berg]

Ralph Seichter wrote:

> English [...] is convenient right now,
> because it is pretty simple, easy to handle
> in aging software, and works as a lingua
> franca of the IT/software community for the
> time being. We might see that shift to
> Mandarin, one of the languages
> I unfortunately do not yet speak, but
> who knows.

Answer: I

I can tell you with ~99.9% certainty that
Mandarin will _never_ be the "lingua franca of
the IT/software community"!

>> Stop being in denial!
>
> English (not American, mind you)

Did I say "American"? :O I don't think so, but
if I did, you're right, of course.

I like to jokingly call it "Anglo-American"
because of 1) the US contribution to IT
technology since at least the 50s (involving
not only Americans, mind you :)), and 2) we
tend to use American English rather than
English English, e.g. here is how it looks in
my ~/.Xresources

    !! colors (bl re gr ye bl ma cy wh)
    ! normal
    xterm*color0:  #000000
    xterm*color1:  #FF3232
    [...]

The textbook term would be "English" or
"American English", of course.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language part 2

[Ralph Seichter]

* Emanuel Berg:

> I can tell you with ~99.9% certainty that Mandarin will _never_ be the
> "lingua franca of the IT/software community"!

And how do you know that, O Oracle? :-) Never is a long time. Not so
long ago, French was the Diplomat's language of choice.

Given the sheer number of native Mandarin speakers and China's efforts
in computer science (just consider their supercomputing centres), I
consider it arrogant to use whe word "never" in your prediction.

-Ralph

Re: the English language part 2

[Emanuel Berg]

Ralph Seichter wrote:

> Given the sheer number of native Mandarin
> speakers and China's efforts in computer
> science (just consider their supercomputing
> centres), I consider it arrogant to use whe
> word "never" in your prediction.

The only way that is a possibility is if NATO
and Russia nuke each other clean of the Earth.

Sheer numbers and state efforts can perhaps
produce a bunch of supercomputing centers, but
not the rate and quality of innovation that was
first the industrial revolution, then a lot of
other things, and since at least the 50s the
IT industry which to a great extent is
unthinkable without the US.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language part 2

[Ralph Seichter]

* Emanuel Berg:

> The only way that is a possibility is if NATO and Russia nuke each
> other clean of the Earth.

What nonsense.

In any case, I don't know how you so often to manage to drag people into
off-topic discussions on this list, but I decided that I am not playing
anymore. ;-)

-Ralph

RE: the English language part 2

[Drew Adams]

> I can tell you with ~99.9% certainty that
> Mandarin will _never_ be the "lingua franca of
> the IT/software community"!

Could you please write that in Mandarin?

> Stop being in denial!

And that too in Mandarin, please.

Re: the English language part 2

[Jean-Christophe Helary]

>> Stop being in denial!
> 
> And that too in Mandarin, please.

我是你爹


Jean-Christophe Helary
-----------------------------------------------
http://mac4translators.blogspot.com @brandelune

Re: the English language part 2

[Emanuel Berg]

Drew Adams wrote:

>> I can tell you with ~99.9% certainty that
>> Mandarin will _never_ be the "lingua franca
>> of the IT/software community"!
>
> Could you please write that in Mandarin?

Could you, or anyone else, the Chinese
included, program Unix and Emacs in Mandarin?
If so, can you yank a sample of your/their
source, from the Mandarin-Unix and
Mandarin-Emacs you are using, as we speak?

Listen, it isn't about what is right or wrong,
it is about what _is_ and what _isn't_!

You guys can all, for nationalistic, political,
and even "not being arrogant" reasons, say
whatever you want about what will possibly
happen in the future. Because fine, I don't
know the future either!

But I know _the present_ and it sure as hell
ain't pointing towards Mandarin replacing
English as the language of computing! (The
Chinese supercomputers mentioned earlier, how
much of their software is written in Mandarin?
If it isn't 0%, that'd be news to me, so
do tell.)

On the contrary, the present points towards the
Hispanic world learning English before we know
it, and that'll be the end of it!

So let's stick to the present and use English,
OK? Oh, wait - we all already do! OMG, how
horrible! How did that happen?!? Why don't we
speak French instead? Just because France is
expansionist/colonialist/imperialist nation
number 2 or 3 or whatever, and not number 1?
Isn't that completely frustrating and unfair?

Merde!

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language part 2

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2019-04-21, at 17:08, Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> wrote:

> Ralph Seichter wrote:
>
>> Given the sheer number of native Mandarin
>> speakers and China's efforts in computer
>> science (just consider their supercomputing
>> centres), I consider it arrogant to use whe
>> word "never" in your prediction.
>
> The only way that is a possibility is if NATO
> and Russia nuke each other clean of the Earth.

JFF, let me mention that

Arabic
Latin
French

were at some point the lingua francas of the science world (and I could
miss something as well), and none of their respective countries were
nuked.

(And Poland used to be one of the two main powers in Europe one day,
btw., though we used Latin as the language of the elites back then.
Good for all that poor souls speaking Germanic languages - Polish (as
almost any other Slavic language) is basically one huge tongue-twister
for you. :-) )

The US has been in the state of moral and economic decline for a few
decades now.  (I cannot say which is more morally decadent now, the US
or China - apparently China is a terrible authoritarian state, and the
US is quite close, at least since Obama presidency, but probably since
much earlier.)  Economically China might as well win within the next 10
or 20 years.  Such processes are slow, but have very significant
momentum.  So NATO does not have to nuke the US out, the US is currently
doing it to itself (although in a slower and less spectacular way).

Happy Easter anyway,

--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl

Re: the English language part 2

[Paul W. Rankin]

Admittedly it was foolish of me to assume that writing an Emacs title case function would not descend into an argument about world superpowers.

-- 
https://www.paulwrankin.com

Re: the English language, again (was: Re: title-case function)

[Robert Thorpe]

People are talking about the use of English in the IT industry.  This is
beside the point.

Let's assume that Emmanuel is right and the English continues to be the
dominant language of software engineering, computer science and so on.

That has very little to do with this title-case function discussed here.
After all, you hardly ever write a title when you're coding.  Titles are
for normal documents.  In the vast majority of cases, normal documents
are written in the native language of the country you're in.

Something that people should remember here is that lots of Emacs users
aren't professional software engineers.  I'm not and I have hardly
written any code in Emacs in the last year.  I've written a lot of other
stuff though.

BR,
Robert Thorpe

Re: the English language part 2

[Emanuel Berg]

Paul W. Rankin wrote:

> Admittedly it was foolish of me to assume
> that writing an Emacs title case function
> would not descend into an argument about
> world superpowers.

Ha ha :D

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language part 2

[Emanuel Berg]

Marcin Borkowski wrote:

> The US has been in the state of moral and
> economic decline for a few decades now. (I
> cannot say which is more morally decadent
> now, the US or China [...]

I don't know if one nation is really more or
less morally decadent than any other, or how
one would go about quantifying that for that
matter ...

American English is simply the language of the
computer world.

Even tho American English is used in the US -
to those of you who didn't know that :) - that
doesn't mean the computer world is American,
just because we use it there/here as well.

On the contrary, the computer world is
international, and to have everyone speak their
native languages again - if indeed that was
ever the case - would be a step _from_ the
international _to_ the national, not the other
way around!

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language, again (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

Robert Thorpe wrote:

> That has very little to do with this
> title-case function discussed here.
> After all, you hardly ever write a title when
> you're coding. Titles are for normal
> documents. In the vast majority of cases,
> normal documents are written in the native
> language of the country you're in.

"Normal documents" at the universities are
written in English to a large extent, a trend
that will probably grow to include more
academic disciplines, and also more countries.

Biblatex is one computer system that certainly
involves titles. Here is one good example for
the OP to try his function on:

@book{star-wars-kotor-2,
  author     = {John Jackson Miller and Dustin Weaver},
  ISBN       = {1-59307-761-0},
  publisher  = {DC},
  title      = {Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2},
  year       = 2007
}

> Something that people should remember here is
> that lots of Emacs users aren't professional
> software engineers. I'm not and I have hardly
> written any code in Emacs in the last year.
> I've written a lot of other stuff though.

But you are not saying only "professional"
people should write their titles correctly?

Besides there are many professional people who
stink at what they do, and OTOH many people who
aren't professional who are even worse ;)

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language, again (was: Re: title-case function)

[Emanuel Berg]

> Biblatex is one computer system that
> certainly involves titles. Here is one good
> example for the OP to try his function on:
>
> @book{star-wars-kotor-2,
>   author     = {John Jackson Miller and Dustin Weaver},
>   ISBN       = {1-59307-761-0},
>   publisher  = {DC},
>   title      = {Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2},
>   year       = 2007
> }

Darn! I knew there were something wrong with
this entry! SW comics are not published by DC
but by Dark Horse!

The correct entry should be:

@book{star-wars-kotor-2,
  author     = {John Jackson Miller and Dustin Weaver},
  ISBN       = {1-59307-761-0},
  publisher  = {Dark Horse},
  title      = {Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2},
  year       = 2007
}

Sorry for the noise!

I suppose we don't have an Emacs function to
deal with such errors, as well? :)

Maybe in the future, each book will have a
QR code that will immediate translate into
a Biblatex entry with no need for even typing.
That will be less fun, but also less
error-prone, no doubt...

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: the English language, again

[Van L]

Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> writes:

>>   title      = {Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2},
>
>8-- [snip] >8--
>
> Sorry for the noise!
>
>8-- [snip] >8--
>
> Maybe in the future, each book will have a

There's an even chance (50/50)
Information Professionals
store titles in all lower or
UPPERCASE at the source of
truth.

What you see is prettyprinting

-- 
© 2019 Van L
gpg using EEF2 37E9 3840 0D5D 9183  251E 9830 384E 9683 B835
				"The quotes are in the book." - Robert Caro

Europe in 1648 (was: Re: the English language part 2)

[Emanuel Berg]

Marcin Borkowski wrote:

> And Poland used to be one of the two main
> powers in Europe one day, btw [...]

I checked my historical atlas [1], and it seems
that Poland was at its biggest around the
Peace of Westphalia, in 1648.

Granted, Poland was _huge_ then, but "one of the
two main powers"?

To the East, Russia, always notoriously
difficult to deal with no matter what.

To the Southeast, the Ottoman Empire (Turks and
subjugated people), also huge.

To the South, no worries, still no embryotic
modern-day Italy, instead a Papal State and
otherwise a large degree of fragmentation.

To the Southwest, Spain, in their
"Siglo de Oro" [2], the 16-17th century, when
they controlled large parts of the world,
notably South America. However much of that
gold got robbed by French buccaneers or ended
up in Dutch and English banks. People even made
light of the Spaniard's proud but outdated
ships, which were called "bathtubs". On dry
land tho, another matter altogether - a force
of titanic might, at times
virtually unbeatable.

To the West, France, by that time unified by
a wide margin, marching the fields and sailing
the seas. Like everyone else, France was
exhausted by The Thirty Years' War, which
France was ill prepared for. Still a power of
significance thruout the century and onwards.

To the Northwest, the Netherlands. As always,
brilliant in craft, seamanship, and commerce.
The unpredictable Joker of the European deck,
but vulnerable to land attacks from the much
larger countries.

Outside of continental Europe, England,
unified, if that is the right word, with
Ireland and Scotland. Naval supremacy and ever
the intelligence powerhouse of military,
political, and financial intrigue. Innovative,
on the threshold of the industrial revolution,
which ultimately would conquer the globe.

To the North, Sweden. A poor country like many
others, but disciplined, efficient, and
militaristic to the teeth. Held territories in
the Baltic region and caused unproportional
bloodshed thruout Europe. For example,
King Karl X Gustav took his armies into Poland,
and not exactly along a straight line!

And last but not least, at the very heart of
continental Europe, The Holy Roman Empire,
consisting of fragmented, still enough united
Germans (and other peoples) to give every
opponent a tough enough deal.

So at least for 1648, there seems to be several
very strong contenders, not excluding Poland,
of course :)


[1] @book{atlas-till-historien,
      author     = {Generalstabens litografiska anstalt},
      ISBN       = {91-21-13074-4},
      publisher  = {Almqvist \& Wiksell},
      title      = {Atlas till historien},
      year       = 1993
    }

[2] Literally "Century of Gold" or perhaps
    "Golden Century" (?), but in English it is
    called "The Spanish Golden Age"
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Golden_Age>

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: Europe in 1648 (was: Re: the English language part 2)

[Ralph Seichter]

* Emanuel Berg:

> [Utterly off-topic once again]

Straw, camel, back. Welcome to my mail killfile.

Re: Europe in 1648 (was: Re: the English language part 2)

[Emanuel Berg]

Ralph Seichter wrote:

>> [Utterly off-topic once again]
>
> Straw, camel, back. Welcome to my
> mail killfile.

Would you mind sharing it? If you get there by
doing what I do, it would sure be interesting
to get in touch with them guys!

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: Europe in 1648

[Van L]

Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> writes:

> Would you mind sharing it? If you get there by
> doing what I do, it would sure be interesting
> to get in touch with them guys!

Hello,

Is anyone on github able to let (1) or (2) know the contrast between
fore/background is too difficult? for the following

  - doom-themes 20190424.518 doom-nord
  - Hi Yellow face : Background #ECCC87

(1) https://github.com/hlissner/emacs-doom-themes
(2) https://github.com/fuxialexander

-- 
© 2019 Van L
gpg using EEF2 37E9 3840 0D5D 9183  251E 9830 384E 9683 B835
"There are 3 ways to learn: by reflection, which is noblest; by imitation, which is easiest; and by experience, which is the bitterest." - Confucius