Bizarre layout rules have me confused

[ser]

I'm relatively new to Lout, coming from TeX and WYSIWYG editors.  I have a 
number of questions relating to layout in Lout that I didn't see answered
in any of the documentation (User, Expert or Design) or in the maillist
archive.  I'm sure that these won't be the last questions I have, but I'd 
appreciate any light shed on these issues, whether it's what I'm doing wrong
or what Lout is doing wrong.

1) In the Expert manual, the example of a macro for TeX is given as:
        T{/0.2fo E}X
   however, this does not produce a correct glyph composite.  The evaluation
   in the manual looks correct, but under Ghostview or printed on an
   HP PS lvl 2 printer, the letters are not kerned correctly.  To achieve
   the desired effect, I must use:
        {T @HAdjust /0.2fo |0.4fo E} @HAdjust |0.9fo X
   This confuses me; it seems that the 'o' in the spacing command is being
   ignored.  Is this unusual?

2) I can not understand the rules for when a '//' is required for correct
   output, and when it is not.  For example, I often get strange results
   in a fig environment when I don't prepend objects with '//.'  Other times,
   it doesn't seem to matter.  I'd rather not have to experiment, and I 
   certainly don't want to have to prepend everything with the spacer if
   I don't have to.  Are there logical rules as to when this is required?
   Similarly, in a simple doc, after the @Text @Begin sometimes a beginning
   @LLP (or other paragraph separator) is required, else strange things
   happen.  I assume these are related issues.

3) Consider the following code:

        def @squiggle
                named @wid{ 1 0 }
                named @hei{ 0 3 }
                named @color{ darkgray }
                address@hidden @Color @Fig{
                        @Figure paint{ nochange } shape{
                                @wid @Label MX
                                @hei @Label MY
                                MX**0.5 @Label HW
                                MY**0.5 @Label HH
                                MX**0.25 @Label LX
                                MX**0.75 @Label HX

                                HW @Label A
                                LX++MY**0.08 @Label B
                                LX++MY**0.17 @Label C
                                HW++MY**0.25 @Label D
                                HX++MY**0.33 @Label E
                                HX++MY**0.42 @Label F
                                HW++HH @Label G
                                B++HH @Label H
                                C++HH @Label I
                                D++HH @Label J
                                E++HH @Label K
                                F++HH @Label L
                                G++HH @Label M
                
                                A [B C] D [E F] G [H I] J [K L] M
                                MX++MY MX A
                                }
                        }{}
                }

   I do not claim that this is a well designed Lout program; my desire was to 
   produce a variable dimensioned, elongated, vertical tilde; sort of a 
   graphical wave box.  Now, when called from the environment:

        @Fig address@hidden 24c @High 1c @Wide 
                // @squiggle @wid{ X } @hei{ Y }
                }}

   it seems to work.  However, when called with:

        // @squiggle @wid{ X**2 } @hei{ Y }

   it draws a hollow copy of the object; simply a bizarre result that you
   have to see, and I can not firgure out why.  Also, calling squiggle with:

        // {0 0} @BaseOf @squiggle @wid{X} @hei{Y}

   works correctly, but

        // X @BaseOf @squiggle @wid{X} @hei{Y}

   or any variation of X**n for the @BaseOf results in similarly bizarre
   output.  I would like to know why; what is going on that I can't see?
   Are there some scoping issues that I'm not aware of?

Thank you, and I must admit that despite my confusion with some of the 
behavior of Lout, I really enjoy the package.

--- SER
Sean Russell               \   It's OK to judge a book by its cover,
address@hidden      \  as long as you understand that most of
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~ser ) the cover artists
Finger Me for PGP Key       /                have never read the book.
University of Oregon       /