Re: weird \s

[Bjarni Ingi Gislason]

On Mon, Apr 06, 2020 at 06:17:12PM +1000, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> It is done.
> 
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff-commit/2020-04/msg00003.html
> 
> Regards,
> Branden

  These changes may, must, shall, should be undone.

They

a) cause a regression

b) misuse the compatibility mode

c) are an identity theft

d) are not objectively (really) needed.

  Or: who needs these changes?  And for what use?

  Who asked for changes and how?

e) the issue is not a programming one but an educational one

###

a) Obvious, including man-pages.

b) Used to switch between personalities (functionality) (Dr. Jerkyll and
Mister Hide), which is not that, it is designed to do.
Groff uses this mode to interpret names as the short version.  Why is
'\sij' the short version of '\sN'? 0<= N <10, ij= 4 to 39.

c) Same name used for different functions.

d) Changed (new) functionality is already provided by other functions.


  People have already provided feedback to these changes,
both in short and long writing.

  The provided arguments for the changes are constructed ones,
or to use a common word nowadays, fake ones.

  There is no evidence provided for the statements.  So no scientific
result and not reproducible.

  There is no assessment of possible consequences of the changes. [1]

  There is one piece of an "argument" which sticks out,
so it is even cited in the info file and a manual:

"and more recently, McIlroy referred to it as a ``living fossil''."

(meant is the '\s' point-size setting function).

["Resync documentation of \sNN compatbility change" in web page
git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git from 16th April 2020]

  "A living fossil" is a sign of a successful species (function).

  And now this species shall be "castrated" on the altar of an ideology,
"all shall be the same (similar)".

Meaning, the escape functions that take a one-character argument "must"
rule the "form" of the '\s' point-size setting function,
although their argument is a name, except the \$N and \fN,
which only needed (and thus defined for) an one-digit argument at the
time they were created.

Summary:  This case shows how easy it is to influence, manipulate,
deceive, fool, spellbind, and brain-wash people, who have already been
brain-washed, under a spell, fooled, deceived or manipulated.

-----

[1]

        It is necessary to consider all consequences of
        the proposed action in all states of nature.

There are lots of consequences of any given action.  Many of the
problems of society today are at least partly due to the failure
to realize that the "obvious" action taken had so many bad side
effects.

Herman Rubin in the Usenet forum "misc.education.science".

###

"You must unlearn what you have learned".  Yoda in "Star Wars.  The
Empire Strikes back".

#

The only known cure for ignorance is education

E. C. McKenzie "14,000 Quips & Quotes for Writers & Speakers".
Greenwich House, New York.  1984.

#

At the rate we're going, the day may come when everybody has a college
degree and nobody has an education.

E. C. McKenzie "14,000 Quips & Quotes for Writers & Speakers".
Greenwich House, New York.  1984.

#

Education means developing the mind, not stuffing the memory.

E. C. McKenzie "14,000 Quips & Quotes for Writers & Speakers".
Greenwich House, New York.  1984.

#

The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.

Ben Hutchings, for example in the Usenet forum
"linux.debian.devel.release", Saturday, 9th November 2019

#

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and
making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually
die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Max Planck, "A Scientific Autobiography", 1949.

###

"This second radical novelty shares the usual fate of all
radical novelties: it is denied, because its truth would be
too discomforting.
I have no idea what this specific denial and disbelief costs
the United States, but a million dollars a day seems a modest
guess."

Page xxix in

The Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science

Edsger W. Dijkstra (Dykstra)

SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), pp. xxv-xxxix.
Also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"

#

  "Since breaking out of bad habits, rather than acquiring new
ones, is the toughest part of learning we must expect from that
system permanent mental damage for most students exposed to
it."

Page xxxvii in:

On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science

Edsger W. Dijkstra (Dykstra)

SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), pp. xxv-xxxix.
Also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"

#

  "The problems of the real world are primarily those you are
left with when you refuse to apply their effective solutions."

Page xxxviii in:

On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science

Edsger W. Dijkstra (Dykstra)

SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), pp. xxv-xxxix.
Also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"

#

The problem with today's students is that they are so
used to spoon-feeding that they cannot learn anything
else even with assistance.  Furthermore, most textbooks
now are quite bad, concealing everything but routine.

Herman Rubin on the Usenet forum "misc.education".

####

  Seen recently:

Education enables us, to think critically and to question things
(ideas), even when it is inconvenient.


-- 
Bjarni I. Gislason