Conference thebay::joyoflex

As far as I know, parenthetic comments only contain terminal punctuation
if such punctuation is an exclamation mark (as in your example) or a
question mark. A simple statement in parentheses does not need a period.

Only one space is required after *any* puncuation mark. Occasionally,
though, two spaces are put after terminal puncuation, though not interior
puncuation. If you put two spaces after a semi-colon, you are technically
in the wrong, though it's not a point that many people would fight over.

--- jerry

re .1

There is a typographic convention for putting two spaces after a colon (e.g., 
the colon in this sentence) and after a terminal punctuation mark:  period, 
question mark, and exclamation point.  The reason for the extra space is 
legibility.  

Dave C.

how about nested parenthesis?  I have a nasty habit (from my LISP days
(before converting to PROLOG) during school) of dropping parenthetical
phrases inside of the same.  It's even worse in conversation when you
try to keep track of the dynamic nesting of n parenthetical utterances -
an easy way to corrupt your stack.

Is this practice correct?  To how many levels?

        There's nothing wrong with nesting parenthetical comments to any
        depth (although some people (but not all (in fact, there are
        those who find a sort of perverse pleasure in nesting many
        levels of parentheses (I am reminded of an interview I read with
        Tom Stoppard, who said that he found that whenever he tried to
        explain something completely, he found himself chasing an
        infinite string of right parentheses))) find it annoying).

!(!(!(!(!))))

Does anyone out there know of any conventions for punctuating a 
sentence that discusses using a command in, say, VMS?  I'll give 
you an example of my quandary:  

        Type the command @LOGIN.COM.  

Now, what I want the reader to do is type @LOGIN.COM without the
period that completes the sentence, but is that clear?  Yet what
is my alternative except to leave the sentence without terminal
punctuation, which leads me down the road to run-ons . . . . I
suppose I could set the command within quotation marks, but I'm
not sure the users for whom I am writing, all of whom are naive
enough for this to be an issue, wouldn't try to type the
quotation marks also. 

Mark
 

I usually handle it by setting the command to be typed off by itself:

     Type the command

          @LOGIN

     When you see another $ do...

Yes, the sentence ends without a stop, but the possibility of confusion
is minimal.  I believe that indentation makes the commands easier to read
and find on subsequent references to the document, too.

         -mg_

You can also say something like:

	Type the following command:
	
		@LOGIN

Then the sentence has a stop (more or less); at least, you don't feel like
you're left hanging.
							-- Nina

Thanks.  I'll give these a whirl.

Mark

Parenthetical remarks also have punctuation within them when they constitute a 
separate sentence. (This remark is a complete sentence, so the period is 
inside.)  More common, however, is the case of a parenthetical phrase at the 
end of a sentence (such as this one). 

Re: .6 -- .9 :

	Type the command "@LOGIN.COM", omitting the enclosing quotation 
	marks, and then press the "Return" key.

Sufficiently confusing?

There is no GOOD way to do this that will work in every instance.

Some documentation uses a different color to set off the text the user 
should type in from the text that describes it.  This increases the cost 
of production and reduces the usefulness of photocopies of the text; it 
also makes it difficult to use a terminal to display the documentation.

Tom

Production costs don't strike me as a real issue; it's penny-wise and pound-
foolish. Confusing documentation is worse than no documentation. If it takes
multiple colors to be clear, then it takes multiple colors to be clear.

On a terminal, even a terminal as primitive as a VT100 has multiple typefaces
(bold and underline -- flashing is gaudy). On a workstation or other bitmapped
device, you're home free.

	Jon

Photocopying costs are the real issue. Some 40 - 50% of DEC's business is
overseas. The low volume per country means that photocopying is the cheapest
way of reproducing the manuals. Color is a secondary method of distinguishing
type. A discernably different typeface is the primary method. It often
reproduces poorly and adds signifigant expense in anything but high volume.


							.wIx.