Chris's Wiki :: blog/unix/ManpageMacroLongevity Commentshttps://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/unix/ManpageMacroLongevity?atomcommentsDWiki2017-08-20T08:44:54ZRecent comments in Chris's Wiki :: blog/unix/ManpageMacroLongevity.By sam on /blog/unix/ManpageMacroLongevitytag:CSpace:blog/unix/ManpageMacroLongevity:d427640b969beda16d17e5ae6d43e88a5c32888asam<div class="wikitext"><p>Markup language history runs deep.</p>
<p>One of my favourite bits of computing history trivia is that there have only been a few (significant) inventions of markup, and one of the most significant of all was RUNOFF. RUNOFF begat runoff, and runoff begat roff, and then the rest is history. But RUNOFF also begat SCRIPT, and SCRIPT begat GML, and GML begat SGML, and SGML begat XML and HTML. So, in a funny sort of way, manpages and webpages are cousins; considering how seriously browsers take backwards compatibility, it's not a big surprise that groff and company can read old files.</p>
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