Re: [groff] Creating a numbered list without macros

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi Tadziu,

Tadziu Hoffmann wrote on Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 11:22:44PM +0200:
> Peter Schaffter wrote:

>> A macro package does not hide the controls any more than writing
>> macros yourself does.  A macro package aggregates the requests
>> needed to perform typesetting functions for convenience, not
>> opacity.

> Well said.  I would like to add that I sometimes get the
> impression that people think that once they use a macro
> package, raw formatter requests should not be used anymore,
> as they somehow taint the "purity" of the manuscript.
> (This idea also appears to exist among some LaTeX users.)
> 
> But this is of course nonsense.

Indeed.  That only applies to some special areas like manual pages,
where you want consistency across a wide range of authors, document
maintainers (many of whom are inexperienced with typesetting),
operating systems, and formatting tools.

> The purpose of macro packages
> is not to *limit* what you are *allowed* to do, but to *help*
> you in what you *want* to do.  And we should keep in mind
> that one of the core uses of macros is not to save a few
> keystrokes in marking up the manuscript (although it helps),
> but to maintain *consistency* across the entire document.

Right.  When you write a book, consistency with a book written by
someone else on the other side of the globe is of relatively little
concern.  As opposed to the case of manual pages.

Yours,
  Ingo