[W/K] :: troff

  TROFF
       Typesetter New Run-OFF (Unix)
       
       

  troff /T'rof/ or /trof/ n.[Unix] The gray eminence of Unix text
     processing; a formatting and phototypesetting program, written
     originally in PDP-11 assembler and then in barely-structured early C by
     the late Joseph Ossanna, modeled after the earlier ROFF which was in
     turn modeled after the Multics and CTSS program RUNOFF by Jerome
     Saltzer (_that_ name came from the expression "to run off a copy"). A
     companion program, nroff, formats output for terminals and line
     printers.
  
     In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so that it could drive
     phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. His paper
     describing that work ("A Typesetter-independent troff," AT&T CSTR #97)
     explains troff's durability. After discussing the program's "obvious
     deficiencies -- a rebarbative input syntax, mysterious and undocumented
     properties in some areas, and a voracious appetite for computer
     resources" and noting the ugliness and extreme hairiness of the code and
     internals, Kernighan concludes:
  
    None of these remarks should be taken as denigrating Ossanna's
    accomplishment with TROFF.  It has proven a remarkably robust
    tool, taking unbelievable abuse from a variety of preprocessors
    and being forced into uses that were never conceived of in the
    original design, all with considerable grace under fire.
    
     The success of {TeX and desktop publishing systems have reduced
     `troff''s relative importance, but this tribute perfectly captures the
     strengths that secured `troff' a place in hacker folklore; indeed, it
     could be taken more generally as an indication of those qualities of
     good programs that, in the long run, hackers most admire.
  
  

  troff
       
           /T'rof/ or /trof/ The grey eminence of Unix
          text processing; a formatting and phototypesetting program,
          written originally in PDP-11 assembly code and then in
          barely-structured early C by the late Joseph Ossanna,
          modelled after the earlier ROFF which was in turn modelled
          after Multics' RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer (*that* name came
          from the expression "to run off a copy").  A companion
          program, nroff, formats output for terminals and line
          printers.
       
          In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so that it could drive
          phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT.  His
          paper describing that work ("A Typesetter-independent troff",
          AT&T CSTR #97) explains troff's durability.  After discussing
          the program's "obvious deficiencies - a rebarbative input
          syntax, mysterious and undocumented properties in some areas,
          and a voracious appetite for computer resources" and noting
          the ugliness and extreme hairiness of the code and internals,
          Kernighan concludes:
       
          None of these remarks should be taken as denigrating
          Ossanna's accomplishment with TROFF.  It has proven a
          remarkably robust tool, taking unbelievable abuse from a
          variety of preprocessors and being forced into uses that
          were never conceived of in the original design, all with
          considerable grace under fire.
       
          The success of TeX and desktop publishing systems have
          reduced troff's relative importance, but this tribute
          perfectly captures the strengths that secured troff a place in
          hacker folklore; indeed, it could be taken more generally as
          an indication of those qualities of good programs that, in the
          long run, hackers most admire.
       
          groff is GNU's implementation of roff in C++.
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (1995-03-21)