Re: [Groff] tables side-by-side

[Werner LEMBERG]

>> DD isn't mentioned afaik in groff_ms or in usd-17.  That leads me
>> with two questions:
>
> Agreed! It should be.

`DD' *is* mentioned:

  Other settings

    Reg.               Definition              Effective    Default
    ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    DD      Display, table, eqn, pic spacing   next para.   0.5v
    MINGW   Minimum width between columns      next page    2n
    ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

A search for `DD' in the man page should quickly reveal its
existence :-)

> Yes, I do! In fact, the text of the ms macro file "s.tmac" contains
> a lot of (admittedly terse) explanation of what is going on.

The `terseness' is historically caused by the fact that macros were
always interpreted and never interned, and with a slow processor there
was a noticeable difference 30 years ago.

Compare this to the mdoc macros, which I've completely modernized some
years ago (together with Ruslan) to use long macro and variable names:
The macro file `doc.tmac' in the source code bundle has a size of more
than 150kByte; during installation, about 80kByte of comments and code
gets stripped off.

I've never found time to do something similar with with `s.tmac',
unfortunately.


    Werner