another newbie stupid question

[maryellen sniffen]

In the perldoc's, when something is double-quoted, it looks like the opening
double quote is actually 2 backticks ( ``$string" ). Is this a programming
convention that I would have learned had I gone to formal school for
computer science, or am I missing something. On my screen, double quotes
look like ths ( "$string" ).
Please educate me.
Thank You
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Anno Siegel]

In the perldoc's, when something is double-quoted, it looks like the opening
double quote is actually 2 backticks ( ``$string" ). Is this a programming
convention that I would have learned had I gone to formal school for
computer science, or am I missing something. On my screen, double quotes
look like ths ( "$string" ).

Those are called "smart quotes" (google for some background). They are by
no means specific to Perl, or even to programming. The particular rendering
depends on what is available in your font -- some look better than others.

Anno

 

[Lars Eighner]

In our last episode, <[email protected]>,
the lovely and talented Anno Siegel broadcast on
comp.lang.perl.misc:

Those are called "smart quotes" (google for some background). They are by
no means specific to Perl, or even to programming. The particular rendering
depends on what is available in your font -- some look better than others.

However, plain old single backticks on both sides `something`
*do* mean something special (namely, execute the system command
something and put the output here), so beware.

 

[Anno Siegel]

In our last episode, <[email protected]>,
the lovely and talented Anno Siegel broadcast on
comp.lang.perl.misc:




However, plain old single backticks on both sides `something`
*do* mean something special (namely, execute the system command
something and put the output here), so beware.

True in Perl code, but not in POD, where these are coming from.

Anno

 

[Tad McClellan]

Subject: another newbie stupid question

Please put the subject of your article in the Subject of your article.

Your article is not about newbie questions, it is about displaying
Perl's docs.

In the perldoc's, when something is double-quoted, it looks like the opening
double quote is actually 2 backticks ( ``$string" ).

It does NOT look like that in the *.pod files.

It may look like that in whatever display you are looking at
it in though. (in which case it is the displaying that is broken
rather than the docs that are broken.)

Are you talking about the output of the "perldoc" program?

Or is this on some website?

Is this a programming
convention that I would have learned had I gone to formal school for
computer science,

Heavens no!

Pretty much exactly the opposite in fact. Formally schooled CS
folks are much less likely be members of Bill's cult.

I expect that what you are seeing is the effect of classic
Microsoft "embrace and extend" lockin.

In this case, I'm guessing M$'s "smart quotes" are not being
all that smart...


We can't really help you fix the display until you tell us
what display it is that needs fixing.

 

[Chris Mattern]

Those are called "smart quotes" (google for some background). They are by
no means specific to Perl, or even to programming. The particular
rendering depends on what is available in your font -- some look better
than others.

Since "smart quotes" are a Windows perversion, I assume this is particular
to the perldocs shipped with Active Perl. Certainly none of the perldocs
on my systems have this...thing.
--
Christopher Mattern

"Which one you figure tracked us?"
"The ugly one, sir."
"...Could you be more specific?"

 

[Peter Scott]

It does NOT look like that in the *.pod files.

Opening quotes often do:

% grep \`\` *.pod | wc -l
62

However, they are paired with two single quotes (``...'') and
not a double quote (") as the poster alleged. However^2, in
many fonts it can be very difficult to distinguish '' from ".

 

[Scott Bryce]

It may look like that in whatever display you are looking at
it in though. (in which case it is the displaying that is broken
rather than the docs that are broken.)

I think what is broken is the OS's method of copying "smart" quotes and
pasting them into a program that does not support smart quotes.

In this case, I'm guessing M$'s "smart quotes" are not being
all that smart...
Bingo!


We can't really help you fix the display until you tell us
what display it is that needs fixing.

I see this from time to time on websites that have content copied from
the docs.