Re: hinting in True Type fonts

[Just van Rossum]

At 8:55 AM -0500 13-02-2000, Tom Kacvinsky wrote:
>Working on getting Python installed right now...  By the way, when is
>the next update for the stand alone Macintosh version of TTX due?  I
>noticed some Macintosh specific stuff in the the above tarball; I
>assume it is for running FontTools with Mac Python?

Yes. Somehow the command line tools are now more advanced than the
standalone Mac version (more options available), so I'll have to work on
that. On what platform are you installing it now? (If you need more help,
maybe we should take this off-line.)

[ ... ]
>Yeah, I see what you mean.  Too bad TT hints aren't as nice as T1 hints.
>Oh well, there are other trade offs...

Well, you can't really compare them. TT "hints" aren't hints, but
instructions: they're actual programs that *do* stuff to outlines. You can
do much more with these instructions than you can ever do with T1/T2.
Still, I like the "simplicity" of T1 also.

The difference between TT and T1 is probably best described like this:
- A TT rasterizer is relatively dumb (about outlines), most smartness is
supposed to be in the font.
- A T1 rasterizer should be very smart, as the fonts are relatively dumb.

A direct result of this is that it is easier to make good (tools for) T1
fonts than it is to make good (tools for) TT fonts...

Just