Re: "Writing my PhD using groff"

[G. Branden Robinson]

At 2022-07-24T10:08:59+1000, Alexis wrote:
> Just came across this, thought people here might appreciate it:
> 
> "Quality was not the only way in which groff surprised me: it has
> serious speed too, especially in comparison to LaTeX ...
> 
> "In fact, many of the advantages of using groff are the same as LaTeX,
> but with the added advantage of speed and simplicity. Just like with
> LaTeX, you can dive into the code to change a macro but, unlike LaTeX,
> I have found Mom’s macros fairly understandable and not nested ten
> layers deep in some ancient package ...
> 
> "Below a sample of the in–progress PhD. I don’t want laggy Word and
> inconsistent styling issues. I don’t want KOMA-Script woes and
> minutes–long compile times. I want something simple that works:
> groff!"
> 
> -- https://jstutter.netlify.app/#220721-writing-my-phd-using-groff

Good stuff!  Thank you for sharing.

I will also note that Peter Schaffter's mom macro package is singled out
for praise.  (He reads this list.)

"Using groff as my preferred backend for converting Markdown to PDF
piqued my interest in the system, and soon I found the macro set called
“Mom” that applies numerous quality–of–life changes and sensible
defaults to groff. Mom has a good set of documentation,[7] and it didn’t
take me long to begin writing documents using the macro set."

I also observe that the "Sample page from groff-powered thesis" features
a header with a horizontal rule below it, and the section title set in
italics.  I know who Mr. Sutter wouldn't want sitting at his
dissertation defense... (do they do that in the U.K.?)   ;-)

Regards,
Branden

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