TeX 1995 July/TeX CD-ROM July 1995 (Disc 1)(Walnut Creek)(1995).ISO/tex-k/eplain-2.6.tar.gz/eplain-2.6.tar/eplain-2.6/doc/eplain.info-3

GNU Info File | 1994-05-02 | 47KB | 806 lines

This is Info file eplain.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the input
file eplain.texi.
  This file documents the Eplain macros.
  Copyright (C) 1989, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94 Karl Berry.  Steven Smith
wrote the documentation for the commutative diagram macros.  (He also
wrote the macros.)
  Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
  Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
section entitled "GNU General Public License" is included exactly as in
the original, and provided that the entire resulting derived work is
distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this
  Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that the section entitled "GNU General Public License"
may be included in a translation approved by the author instead of in
the original English.
File: eplain.info,  Node: Allocation macros,  Next: Iteration,  Prev: Category codes,  Up: Programming definitions
Allocation macros
=================
  Plain TeX provides macros that allocate registers of each primitive
type in TeX, to prevent different sets of macros from using the same
register for two different things.  The macros are all named starting
with `new', e.g., `\newcount' allocates a new "count" (integer)
register.  Such allocations are usually needed only at the top level of
some macro definition file; therefore, plain TeX makes the allocation
registers `\outer', to help find errors.  (The error this helps to find
is a missing right brace in some macro definition.)
  Sometimes, however, it is useful to allocate a register as part of
some macro.  An outer control sequence cannot be used as part of a macro
definition (or in a few other contexts: the parameter text of a
definition, an argument to a definition, the preamble of an alignment,
or in conditional text that is being skipped).  Therefore, Eplain
defines "inner" versions of all the allocation macros, named with the
prefix `inner': `\innernewbox', `\innernewcount', `\innernewdimen',
`\innernewfam', `\innernewhelp', `\innernewif', `\innernewinsert',
`\innernewlanguage', `\innernewread',
`\innernewskip', `\innernewtoks', `\innernewwrite'.
  You can also define non-outer versions of other macros in the same way
that Eplain defines the above.  The basic macro is called `\innerdef':
     \innerdef \INNERNAME {OUTERNAME}
  The first argument (\INNERNAME) to `\innerdef' is the control
sequence that you want to define.  Any previous definition of
\INNERNAME is replaced.  The second argument (OUTERNAME) is the
*characters* in the name of the outer control sequence.  (You can't use
the actual control sequence name, since it's outer!)
  If the outer control sequence is named \CS, and you want to define
`innerCS' as the inner one, you can use `\innerinnerdef', which is just
an abbreviation for a call to `\innerdef'.  For example, these two
calls are equivalent:
     \innerdef\innerproclaim{proclaim}
     \innerinnerdef{proclaim}
File: eplain.info,  Node: Iteration,  Next: Macro arguments,  Prev: Allocation macros,  Up: Programming definitions
Iteration
=========
  You can iterate through a comma-separated list of items with `\for'.
Here is an example:
     \for\name:=karl,kathy\do{%
        \message{\name}%
     }%
  This writes `karl' and `kathy' to the terminal.  Spaces before or
after the commas in the list, or after the `:=', are *not* ignored.
  `\for' expands the iterated values fully (with `\edef'), so this is
equivalent to the above:
     \def\namelist{karl,kathy}%
     \for\name:=\namelist\do ...
File: eplain.info,  Node: Macro arguments,  Next: Converting to characters,  Prev: Iteration,  Up: Programming definitions
Macro arguments
===============
  It is occasionally useful to redefine a macro that takes arguments to
do nothing.  Eplain defines `\gobble', `\gobbletwo', and `\gobblethree'
to swallow one, two, and three arguments, respectively.
  For example, if you want to produce a "short" table of contents--one
that includes only chapters, say--the easiest thing to do is read the
entire `.toc' file (*note Contents::.), and just ignore the commands
that produce section or subsection entries.  To be specific:
     \let\tocchapterentry = \shorttocchapter
     \let\tocsectionentry = \gobbletwo
     \let\tocsubsectionentry = \gobbletwo
     \readtocfile
   (Of course, this assumes you only have chapters, sections, and
subsections in your document.)
In addition, Eplain defines `\eattoken' to swallow the single following
token, using `\let'.  Thus, `\gobble' followed by `{...}' ignores the
entire brace-enclosed text.  `\eattoken' followed by the same ignores
only the opening left brace.
  Eplain defines a macro `\identity' which takes one argument and
expands to that argument.  This may be useful if you want to provide a
function for the user to redefine, but don't need to do anything by
default.  (For example, the default definition of `\eqconstruct' (*note
Formatting equation references::.) is `\identity'.)
  You may also want to read an optional argument.  The established
convention is that optional arguments are put in square brackets, so
that is the syntax Eplain recognizes.  Eplain ignores space tokens
before an optional argument, via `\futurenonspacelet'.
  You test for an optional argument by using `\@getoptionalarg'.  It
takes one argument, a control sequence to expand after reading the
argument, if present.  If an optional argument is present, the control
sequence `\@optionalarg' expands to it; otherwise, `\@optionalarg' is
`\empty'.  You must therefore have the category code of `@' set to 11
(letter).  Here is an example:
     \catcode`@=\letter
     \def\cmd{\@getoptionalarg\finishcmd}
     \def\finishcmd{%
       \ifx\@optionalarg\empty
         % No optional argument present.
       \else
         % One was present.
       \fi
     }
  If an optional argument contains another optional argument, the inner
one will need to be enclosed in braces, so TeX does not mistake the end
of the first for the end of the second.
File: eplain.info,  Node: Converting to characters,  Next: Expansion,  Prev: Macro arguments,  Up: Programming definitions
Converting to characters
========================
  Eplain defines  `\xrlabel' to produce control sequence names for
cross-reference labels, et al.  This macro expands to its argument with
an `_' appended.  (It does this because the usual use of `\xrlabel' is
to generate a control sequence name, and we naturally want to avoid
conflicts between control sequence names.)
  Because `\xrlabel' is fully expandable, to make a control sequence
name out of the result you need only do
     `\csname \xrlabel{LABEL}\endcsname'
The `\csname' primitive makes a control sequence name out of any
sequence of character tokens, regardless of category code.  Labels can
therefore include any characters except for `\', `{', `}', and `#', all
of which are used in macro definitions themselves.
  `\sanitize' takes a control sequence as an argument and converts the
expansion of the control sequence into a list of character tokens.
This is the behavior you want when writing information like chapter
titles to an output file.  For example, here is part of the definition
of `\writenumberedtocentry'; `#2' is the title that the user has given.
     ...
     \def\temp{#2}%
     ...
       \write\tocfile{%
         ...
         \sanitize\temp
         ...
       }%
File: eplain.info,  Node: Expansion,  Next: Obeying spaces,  Prev: Converting to characters,  Up: Programming definitions
Expansion
=========
  This section describes some miscellanous macros for expansion, etc.
* Menu:
* \csn and \ece::               Abbreviations for \csname expansions.
* \edefappend::
* Hooks::                       Manipulating and executing named actions.
* Properties::                  Associating information with a csname.
* \expandonce::
* \ifundefined::
* \futurenonspacelet::
File: eplain.info,  Node: \csn and \ece,  Next: \edefappend,  Up: Expansion
`\csn' and `\ece'
-----------------
  `\csn'{NAME} simply abbreviates `\csname' NAME `\encsname', thus
saving some typing.  The extra level of expansion does take some time,
though, so I don't recommend it for an inner loop.
  `\ece'{TOKEN}{NAME} abbreviates
     \expandafter TOKEN \csname NAME \endcsname
For example,
     \def\fontabbrevdef#1#2{\ece\def{@#1font}{#2}}
     \fontabbrevdef{normal}{ptmr}
defines a control sequence `\@normalfont' to expand to `ptmr'.
File: eplain.info,  Node: \edefappend,  Next: Hooks,  Prev: \csn and \ece,  Up: Expansion
`\edefappend'
-------------
  `\edefappend' is a way of adding on to an existing definition.  It
takes two arguments: the first is the control sequence name, the second
the new tokens to append to the definition.  The second argument is
fully expanded (in the `\edef' that redefines the control sequence).
  For example:
     \def\foo{abc}
     \def\bar{xyz}
     \edefappend\foo{\bar karl}
results in `\foo' being defined as `abcxyzkarl'.
File: eplain.info,  Node: Hooks,  Next: Properties,  Prev: \edefappend,  Up: Expansion
Hooks
-----
  A "hook" is simply a name for a group of actions which is executed in
certain places--presumably when it is most useful to allow
customization or modification.  TeX already provides many builtin
hooks; for example, the `\every ...' token lists are all examples of
hooks.
  Eplain provides several macros for adding actions to hooks.  They all
take two arguments: the name of the hook and the new actions.
`hookaction NAME ACTIONS'
`hookappend NAME ACTIONS'
`hookprepend NAME ACTIONS'
     Each of these adds ACTIONS to the hook NAME.  (Any
     previously-defined actions are retained.)  NAME is not a control
     sequence, but rather the characters of the name.
`hookactiononce NAME `\CS''
     `\hookactiononce' adds CS to NAME, like the macros above, but
     first it adds
          \global\let \CS \relax
     to the definition of \CS.  (This implies \CS must be a true
     expandable macro, not a control sequence `\let' to a primitive or
     some other such thing.)  Thus, \CS is expanded the next time the
     hook NAME is run, but it will disappear after that.
     The `\global' is useful because `\hookactiononce' is most useful
     when the grouping structure of the TeX code could be anything.
     Neither this nor the other hook macros do global assignments to
     the hook variable itself, so TeX's usual grouping rules apply.
  The companion macro to defining hook actions is `\hookrun', for
running them.  This takes a single argument, the name of the hook.  If
no actions for the hook are defined, no error ensues.
  Here is a skeleton of general `\begin' and `\end' macros that run
hooks, and a couple of calls to define actions.  The use of
`\hookprepend' for the begin action and `\hookappend' for the end
action ensures that the actions are executed in proper sequence with
other actions (as long as the other actions use `\hookprepend' and
`\hookappend' also).
     \def\begin#1{ ... \hookrun{begin} ... }
     \def\end#1{ ... \hookrun{end} ... }
     \hookprepend{begin}\start_underline
     \hookappend{end}\finish_underline
File: eplain.info,  Node: Properties,  Next: \expandonce,  Prev: Hooks,  Up: Expansion
Properties
----------
  A "property" is a name/value pair associated with another symbol,
traditionally called an "atom".  Both atom and property names are
control sequence names.
  Eplain provides two macros for dealing with property lists:
`\setproperty' and `\getproperty'.
`\setproperty ATOM PROPNAME VALUE'
     `\setproperty' defines the property PROPERTY on the atom ATOM to
     be VALUE.  ATOM and PROPNAME can be anything acceptable to
     `\csname'.  VALUE can be anything.
`\getproperty ATOM PROPNAME'
     `\getproperty' expands to the value stored for PROPNAME on ATOM.
     If PROPNAME is undefined, it expands to nothing (i.e., `\empty').
  The idea of properties originated in Lisp (I believe).  There, the
implementation truly does associate properties with atoms.  In TeX,
where we have no builtin support for properties, the association is only
conceptual.
  The following example typesets `xyz'.
     \setproperty{a}{pr}{xyz}
     \getproperty{a}{pr}
File: eplain.info,  Node: \expandonce,  Next: \ifundefined,  Prev: Properties,  Up: Expansion
`\expandonce'
-------------
  `\expandonce' is defined as `\expandafter\noexpand'.  Thus,
`\expandonce TOKEN' expands TOKEN once, instead of to TeX primitives.
This is most useful in an `\edef'.
  For example, the following defines `\temp' to be `\foo', not `abc'.
     \def\foo{abc}
     \def\bar{\foo}
     \edef\temp{\expandonce\bar}
File: eplain.info,  Node: \ifundefined,  Next: \futurenonspacelet,  Prev: \expandonce,  Up: Expansion
`\ifundefined'
--------------
  `\ifundefined{CS} T \else F \fi' expands the T text if the control
sequence `\CS' is undefined or has been `\let' to `\relax', and the F
text otherwise.
  Since `\ifundefined' is not a primitive conditional, it cannot be
used in places where TeX might skip tokens "at high speed", e.g.,
within another conditional--TeX can't match up the `\if''s and `\fi''s.
  This macro was taken directly from `The TeXbook', page 308.
File: eplain.info,  Node: \futurenonspacelet,  Prev: \ifundefined,  Up: Expansion
`\futurenonspacelet'
--------------------
  The `\futurelet' primitive allows you to look at the next token from
the input.  Sometimes, though, you want to look ahead ignoring any
spaces.  This is what `\futurenonspacelet' does.  It is otherwise the
same as `\futurelet': you give it two control sequences as arguments,
and it assigns the next nonspace token to the first, and then expands
the second.  For example:
     \futurenonspacelet\temp\finishup
     \def\finishup{\ifx\temp ...}
File: eplain.info,  Node: Obeying spaces,  Next: Writing out numbers,  Prev: Expansion,  Up: Programming definitions
Obeying spaces
==============
  `\obeywhitespace' makes both end-of-lines and space characters in the
input be respected in the output.  Unlike plain TeX's `\obeyspaces',
even spaces at the beginnings of lines turn into blank space.
  By default, the size of the space that is produced by a space
character is the natural space of the current font, i.e., what `\ '
produces.
  Ordinarily, a blank line in the input produces as much blank vertical
space as a line of text would occupy.  You can adjust this by assigning
to the parameter `\blanklineskipamount': if you set this negative, the
space produced by a blank line will be smaller; if positive, larger.
  Tabs are not affected by this routine.  In particular, if tabs occur
at the beginning of a line, they will disappear.  (If you are trying to
make TeX do the "right thing" with tabs, don't.  Use a utility program
like expand instead.)
File: eplain.info,  Node: Writing out numbers,  Next: Mode-specific penalties,  Prev: Obeying spaces,  Up: Programming definitions
Writing out numbers
===================
  `\numbername' produces the written-out form of its argument, i.e.,
`zero' through `ten' for the numbers 0-10, and numerals for all others.
File: eplain.info,  Node: Mode-specific penalties,  Next: Auxiliary files,  Prev: Writing out numbers,  Up: Programming definitions
Mode-specific penalties
=======================
  TeX's built-in `\penalty' command simply appends to the current list,
no matter what kind of list it is.  You might intend a particular
penalty to always be a "vertical" penalty, however, i.e., appended to a
vertical list.  Therefore, Eplain provides `\vpenalty' and `\hpenalty'
which first leave the other mode and then do `\penalty'.
  More precisely, `\vpenalty' inserts `\par' if the current mode is
horizontal, and `\hpenalty' inserts `\leavevmode' if the current mode
is vertical.  (Thus, `\vpenalty' cannot be used in math mode.)
File: eplain.info,  Node: Auxiliary files,  Prev: Mode-specific penalties,  Up: Programming definitions
Auxiliary files
===============
  It is common to write some information out to a file to be used on a
subsequent run.  But when it is time to read the file again, you only
want to do so if the file actually exists.  `\testfileexistence' is
given an argument which is appended to `\jobname', and sets the
conditional `\iffileexists' appropriately.
  For example:
     \testfileexistence{toc}%
     \iffileexists
        \input \jobname.toc
     \fi
File: eplain.info,  Node: Copying,  Next: Freedom,  Prev: Programming definitions,  Up: Top
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
**************************
                         Version 2, June 1991
     Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

     Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
     of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
========
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     version published by the Free Software Foundation.  If the Program
     does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose
     any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
 11. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
     programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
     author to ask for permission.  For software which is copyrighted
     by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software
     Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this.  Our decision
     will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of
     all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing
     and reuse of software generally.
                                NO WARRANTY
 12. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO
     WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
     LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
     HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT
     WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT
     NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
     FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
     QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
     PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY
     SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
 13. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
     WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY
     MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE
     LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL,
     INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
     INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF
     DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU
     OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY
     OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN
     ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
                      END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
=======================================================
  If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
terms.
  To do so, attach the following notices to the program.  It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
     ONE LINE TO GIVE THE PROGRAM'S NAME AND A BRIEF IDEA OF WHAT IT DOES.
     Copyright (C) 19YY  NAME OF AUTHOR

     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
     it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
     the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
     (at your option) any later version.

     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
     but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
     MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
     GNU General Public License for more details.

     You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
     along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
     Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
  Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
mail.
  If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:
     Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19YY NAME OF AUTHOR
     Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
     This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
     under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
  The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License.  Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
program.
  You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or
your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program,
if necessary.  Here is a sample; alter the names:
     Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
     `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.

     SIGNATURE OF TY COON, 1 April 1989
     Ty Coon, President of Vice
  This General Public License does not permit incorporating your
program into proprietary programs.  If your program is a subroutine
library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library.  If this is what you want to do, use the
GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.
File: eplain.info,  Node: Freedom,  Next: Macro index,  Prev: Copying,  Up: Top
Regain your programming freedom
*******************************
  Until a few years ago, programmers in the United States could write
any program they wished.  This freedom has now been taken away by two
developments: software patents, which grant the patent holder an
absolute monopoly on some programming technique, and user interface
copyright, which forbid compatible implementations of an existing user
interface.
  In Europe, especially through the GATT treaty, things are rapidly
approaching the same pass.
* Menu:
* Software patents::            Algorithm monopolies.
* User interface copyright::    Forbidding upward-compatibility.
* What to do?::                 What to do?
File: eplain.info,  Node: Software patents,  Next: User interface copyright,  Up: Freedom
Software patents
================
  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted numerous software
patents on software techniques.  Patents are an absolute
monopoly--independent reinvention is precluded.  This monopoly lasts
for seventeen years, i.e., forever (with respect to computer science).
  One patent relevant to TeX is patent 4,956,809, issued to the Mark
Williams company on September 11, 1990, applied for in 1982, which
covers (among other things)
     representing in a standardized order consisting of a standard
     binary structure file stored on auxiliary memory or transported on
     a communications means, said standardized order being different
     from a different order used on at least one of the different
     computers;
     Converting in each of the different computers binary data read
     from an auxiliary data storage or communications means from the
     standardized order to the natural order of the respective host
     computer after said binary data are read from said auxiliary data
     storage or communications means and before said binary data are
     used by the respective host computer; and
     Converting in each of the different computers binary data written
     into auxiliary data storage or communications means from the
     natural order of the respective host computer to the standardized
     order prior to said writing.
... in other words, storing data on disk in a machine-independent
order, as the DVI, TFM, GF, and PK file formats specify.  Even though
TeX is "prior art" in this respect, the patent was granted (the patent
examiners not being computer scientists, even less computer
typographers).  Since there is a strong presumption in the courts of a
patent's validity once it has been granted, there is a good chance that
users or implementors of TeX could be successfully sued on the issue.
  As another example, the X window system, which was intended to be able
to be used freely by everyone, is now being threatened by two patents:
4,197,590 on the use of exclusive-or to redraw cursors, held by Cadtrak,
a litigation company (this has been upheld twice in court); and
4,555,775, held by AT&T, on the use of backing store to redraw windows
quickly.
  Here is one excerpt from a recent mailing by the League for
Programming Freedom (*note What to do?::.) which I feel sums up the
situation rather well.  It comes from an article in `Think' magazine,
issue #5, 1990.  The comments after the quote were written by Richard
Stallman.
         "You get value from patents in two ways," says Roger Smith, IBM
        Assistant General Counsel, intellectual property law.
     "Through fees,     and through licensing negotiations that give
     IBM access to other     patents.
     "The IBM patent portfolio gains us the freedom to do what we need
     to     do through cross-licensing--it gives us access to the
     inventions of     others that are the key to rapid innovation.
     Access is far more     valuable to IBM than the fees it receives
     from its 9,000 active     patents.  There's no direct calculation
     of this value, but it's many     times larger than the fee income,
     perhaps an order of magnitude     larger."
  This information should dispel the belief that the patent system will
"protect" a small software developer from competition from IBM.  IBM
can always find patents in its collection which the small developer is
infringing, and thus obtain a cross-license.
  However, the patent system does cause trouble for the smaller
companies which, like IBM, need access to patented techniques in order
to do useful work in software.  Unlike IBM, the smaller companies do
not have 9,000 patents and cannot usually get a cross-license.  No
matter how hard they try, they cannot have enough patents to do this.
  Only the elimination of patents from the software field can enable
most software developers to continue with their work.
  The value IBM gets from cross-licensing is a measure of the amount of
harm that the patent system would do to IBM if IBM could not avoid it.
IBM's estimate is that the trouble could easily be ten times the good
one can expect from one's own patents--even for a company with 9,000 of
them.
File: eplain.info,  Node: User interface copyright,  Next: What to do?,  Prev: Software patents,  Up: Freedom
User interface copyright
========================
  (This section is copied from the GCC manual, by Richard Stallman.)
     This section is a political message from the League for Programming
     Freedom to the users of the GNU font utilities.  It is included
     here as an expression of support for the League on my part.
  Apple, Lotus and Xerox are trying to create a new form of legal
monopoly: a copyright on a class of user interfaces.  These monopolies
would cause serious problems for users and developers of computer
software and systems.
  Until a few years ago, the law seemed clear: no one could restrict
others from using a user interface; programmers were free to implement
any interface they chose.  Imitating interfaces, sometimes with changes,
was standard practice in the computer field.  The interfaces we know
evolved gradually in this way; for example, the Macintosh user interface
drew ideas from the Xerox interface, which in turn drew on work done at
Stanford and SRI.  1-2-3 imitated VisiCalc, and dBase imitated a
database program from JPL.
  Most computer companies, and nearly all computer users, were happy
with this state of affairs.  The companies that are suing say it does
not offer "enough incentive" to develop their products, but they must
have considered it "enough" when they made their decision to do so.  It
seems they are not satisfied with the opportunity to continue to compete
in the marketplace--not even with a head start.
  If Xerox, Lotus, and Apple are permitted to make law through the
courts, the precedent will hobble the software industry:
   * Gratuitous incompatibilities will burden users.  Imagine if each
     car manufacturer had to arrange the pedals in a different order.
   * Software will become and remain more expensive.  Users will be
     "locked in" to proprietary interfaces, for which there is no real
     competition.
   * Large companies have an unfair advantage wherever lawsuits become
     commonplace.  Since they can easily afford to sue, they can
     intimidate small companies with threats even when they don't
     really have a case.
   * User interface improvements will come slower, since incremental
     evolution through creative imitation will no longer be permitted.
   * Even Apple, etc., will find it harder to make improvements if they
     can no longer adapt the good ideas that others introduce, for fear
     of weakening their own legal positions.  Some users suggest that
     this stagnation may already have started.
   * If you use GNU software, you might find it of some concern that
     user interface copyright will make it hard for the Free Software
     Foundation to develop programs compatible with the interfaces that
     you already know.
File: eplain.info,  Node: What to do?,  Prev: User interface copyright,  Up: Freedom
What to do?
===========
  (This section is copied from the GCC manual, by Richard Stallman.)
  To protect our freedom from lawsuits like these, a group of
programmers and users have formed a new grass-roots political
organization, the League for Programming Freedom.
  The purpose of the League is to oppose new monopolistic practices such
as user-interface copyright and software patents; it calls for a return
to the legal policies of the recent past, in which these practices were
not allowed.  The League is not concerned with free software as an
issue, and not affiliated with the Free Software Foundation.
  The League's membership rolls include John McCarthy, inventor of Lisp,
Marvin Minsky, founder of the Artificial Intelligence lab, Guy L.
Steele, Jr., author of well-known books on Lisp and C, as well as
Richard Stallman, the developer of GNU CC.  Please join and add your
name to the list.  Membership dues in the League are $42 per year for
programmers, managers and professionals; $10.50 for students; $21 for
others.
  The League needs both activist members and members who only pay their
dues.
  To join, or for more information, phone [phone] or write to:
     League for Programming Freedom
     1 Kendall Square #143
     P.O. Box 9171
     Cambridge, MA 02139
  You can also send electronic mail to `[e-mail]'.
  Here are some suggestions from the League for things you can do to
protect your freedom to write programs:
   * Don't buy from Xerox, Lotus or Apple.  Buy from their competitors
     or from the defendants they are suing.
   * Don't develop software to work with the systems made by these
     companies.
   * Port your existing software to competing systems, so that you
     encourage users to switch.
   * Write letters to company presidents to let them know their conduct
     is unacceptable.
   * Tell your friends and colleagues about this issue and how it
     threatens to ruin the computer industry.
   * Above all, don't work for the look-and-feel plaintiffs, and don't
     accept contracts from them.
   * Write to Congress to explain the importance of this issue.
          House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property
          2137 Rayburn Bldg
          Washington, DC 20515

          Senate Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights
          United States Senate
          Washington, DC 20510
     (These committees have received lots of mail already; let's give
     them even more.)
  Express your opinion!  You can make a difference.