I hate you all

[rusi]

On Apr 6, 8:01 pm, Roy Smith <r... at panix.com> wrote:
> What makes sense for a word processor and what makes sense for a
> programming language are two very different things.
>
> Word processors are almost always working with blocks of running text,
> set in proportional fonts, often with multiple font sizes and styles.
> It is usually assumed that line breaks are ephemeral, i.e. as the text
> gets edited and reformatted, lines will re-flow.
>
> Program text is almost always(*) displayed in a fixed-width font.  No
> font information is carried along with the program text at all; it is
> assumed the reader will pick a font and size of their own preference,
> with the only requirement being that it's monospaced.
>
> (*) There was a fad about 10 or 15 years ago to print code samples in
> books in proportional fonts.  Prentice-Hall seemed to be particularly
> guilty of this.  Fortunately, common sense prevailed and everybody has
> gone back to monotype.

Hmm…
One of my favourite books on programming is Intro to functional
programming by Bird and Wadler (1st edition Prentice Hall).
I always knew that part of why I liked the book was the beautifully
typeset code.
Now I know how this choice dates me!!
[It was published in 1988; I used it to teach from '89 onwards]