From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ingo Lohmar Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Spaces after periods (was: Documenting NEWS features for 25.1) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:58:21 +0100 Message-ID: <87h9j1p26a.fsf@acer.localhost.com> References: <20151212115202.16784.72345@vcs.savannah.gnu.org> <83poy82xe0.fsf@gnu.org> <834mfj36ij.fsf@gnu.org> <83vb7y1yqg.fsf@gnu.org> <83oadq1wdq.fsf@gnu.org> <8360zrsoct.fsf@gnu.org> <83poxuli6m.fsf@gnu.org> <83h9j1dwcu.fsf@gnu.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1451411920 8820 80.91.229.3 (29 Dec 2015 17:58:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 17:58:40 +0000 (UTC) To: Nikolai Weibull , Eli Zaretskii , Shakthi Kannan , Emacs Developers Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Dec 29 18:58:35 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1aDyXa-00052A-O0 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:58:34 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49590 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDyXa-0001ZD-21 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 12:58:34 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:58509) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDyXW-0001Yz-6W for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 12:58:31 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDyXV-0000cX-2R for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 12:58:30 -0500 Original-Received: from mail-wm0-x234.google.com ([2a00:1450:400c:c09::234]:36254) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDyXQ-0000bL-Vy; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 12:58:25 -0500 Original-Received: by mail-wm0-x234.google.com with SMTP id l65so39343265wmf.1; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 09:58:24 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=from:to:subject:in-reply-to:references:user-agent:date:message-id :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=8mJTdc92j9EC9d1585ik/IRvvWJTUsREOweRnhCf5Z8=; b=XQDN8h84a0pap0B8XXyJ2LvVuIwTkHHRTXxoF5KTqrbTJYHHRHU6DAH6gD/rYN/vPK huaEpG+4tHKzaFfTdUNpkDR7xonPFtHgMm0GDkCDtaHJ9zj0H7QTGVwEyYFh1X5ormdw HtPgA1SzR7ZiF0FTLfsCX5a8UCCN21KC27AGtJj9eFme1rW535312Gum+rqvdQ25K2TF XyI3xPbjlIaUSupR6VLzDCfvC5GbYv7zFSM+ZWVAXkvC/5hJ51P4od81Oh7tW89P9ncc xRPS3QS0jfVd0s3iBDco1B35fFmeqypfipXyFErEnYH9YMZLF0jPPipFR1ZButzpVd+W iaTQ== X-Received: by 10.194.9.42 with SMTP id w10mr27409361wja.159.1451411903903; Tue, 29 Dec 2015 09:58:23 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: from localhost (xdsl-87-78-54-97.netcologne.de. [87.78.54.97]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id l7sm62134536wjx.14.2015.12.29.09.58.22 (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Tue, 29 Dec 2015 09:58:22 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Notmuch/0.20.2+113~g6332e6e (http://notmuchmail.org) Emacs/25.1.50.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 2a00:1450:400c:c09::234 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:197118 Archived-At: On Tue, Dec 29 2015 18:32 (+0100), Nikolai Weibull wrote: > On Tue, Dec 29, 2015 at 6:05 PM, John Wiegley wrote: >>>>>>> Eli Zaretskii writes: >> >>>> +with the Greek lambda character @samp{=CE=BB}. In a TeX buffer, it wi= ll >>> ^^ ^^^ >>> Two spaces between sentences, please (we use the US English >>> conventions). >> >> I almost hate to say this, but I'm not sure this is the English conventi= on >> anymore. A quick Google shows many, many sites that indicate that the mo= dern >> convention is now one space, and none that recommend two spaces. I've ev= en >> changed to one space in my e-mails, even, after being a long holdout for= the >> two space rule. > > I haven=E2=80=99t seen a style guide that says anything other than that o= ne > space is preferred. However, I thought the general rule was to use > two spaces to make it easy for software (oh, the continued irony of it > all) to distinguish sentence-ending periods from other periods. > > Also, any typesetting software that doesn=E2=80=99t fold multiple spaces = into > one isn=E2=80=99t a typesetting software. Microsoft Word isn=E2=80=99t a= typesetting > software. TeX is a typesetting software, so using multiple spaces > shouldn=E2=80=99t affect the output at all. (Perhaps Texinfo is differen= t?) > Though, TeX, as far as I recall, favors adding space after a period > when justifying a paragraph. The "modern" rule of using a single space applies to systems that distinguish sentence-end punctuation in a different way. And any book typesetter worth his salt will make sure, one way or another, that the visual space between sentences is larger than between words (in the same line). The two-space rule (as mentioned above) originates in typewriter use, where the writer is reponsible for the visual appearance as well. The relevant point is that on such devices there is no distinction between how to write the text and how it displays. In software, the analogue is (to my knowledge) a word processor like MS Word (WYSIWYG), while TeX (as a typesetting software) *does* make a strong distinction. In my opinion, plain-text formats in general (assuming that they are written for the most part as one displayed char per one typed key) fit into the former category, that's why the two-space convention is very sensible. There is no a priori reason why the visual distinction could not be applied by a (TeX-like) processing step, in Info manuals or elsewhere. But without such a mechanism in place, I hope Emacs sticks to the two-space rule.