Introducing Cobra

[Ralph Shumaker]

SJS wrote:
> begin  quoting Ralph Shumaker as of Fri, Jan 04, 2008 at 12:14:27AM -0800:
>   
>> SJS wrote:
>>     
>>> The eye *believes* whitespace, but it's also not very good at it.  It's
>>> okay at determining that yeah, verily, there *is* whitespace, but it's
>>> not very good at determining how much.  For very small programs, that's
>>> okay; but these languages are no longer being used solely for small 
>>> programs.
>>>       
>
> ...to follow my own comment, one of the neat things in many IDEs (and
> some editors too) is the thin line that marks some column boundary,
> typically column 80.  Having a reference other than the edge of the
> window is, amazingly enough, quite useful.
>   

Yeah, thunderbird used to do that.  I miss it.  Or maybe it was mozilla 
that did it.  Anyone know if thunderbird has it?  and how to turn it on?

>   
>> I never understood why spaces and tabs cannot be displayed with 
>> something visible.
>>     
>
> There are several (proprietary) programming editors that do just that.
> Flexibly. (Some of those editors are very nearly an IDE in and of
> themsevles.)
>   

IDE?  I keep seeing that term used but never spelled out, and from the 
context, all I can gather is that it is some kind of special editing 
program or programming environment.  (I kept waiting for someone to 
elaborate, but if anyone has, I've missed it, or forgotten.)

> In vi(m), I use ":set list" and ":set nolist" frequently -- it lets me
> look for tabs (^I) and trailing spaces in the source code.
>   

Pre-CISE-ly what I wanted (for end-of-line anyway)!  Thanks.

> [snip]
>   
>> Come to think of it, does anyone know how I can modify the fonts that 
>> show up in gnome terminal and vim, and even the console while I'm at it, 
>> and any other fonts that are used by programs like firefox and 
>> thunderbird?  Come to think of it, I can't be the only one who has ever 
>> wanted such a thing.  Is anyone aware of fonts already so modified?
>>     
>
> Well, gvim will let you choose your own font.
>
> Presumably, xrdb(1) would let you set the font-string for the X
> application of your choice. I haven't tried this. It's been ages
> since I've messed with fonts.
>   

I have too many things to do at the moment, but I'll save this email and 
try it later.  Thanks.



-- 
Ralph

--------------------
The most arduous task a reformer has to execute, is to make people think; to rouse them from that lethargy, which, like the mantle of sleep, covers them in repose and contentment.
--Noah Webster, 1789