[Python-Dev] textwrap.py

[David Ascher]

Fredrik Lundh wrote:

>Greg Ward wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Which, after whitespace-mangling, becomes
>>
>>  ... end of a line. And here's ...
>>
>>which is incorrect (sentences should be separated by two spaces in
>>fixed-width fonts).
>>    
>>
>
>that depends on the locale.
>
>the two space rule does not apply to swedish, for example.
>
>and googling for "two space rule" and "one space after" + period
>makes me think it doesn't really apply to english either...  see eg
>
>http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/cmosfaq.OneSpaceorTwo.html
>
>    "There is a traditional American practice, favored by some,
>    of leaving two spaces after colons and periods. This practice
>    is discouraged /.../"
>
>(and thousands of similar entries.  from what I can tell, the more
>*real* research done by an author, the more likely he is to come
>down on the one space side...)
>  
>
I did some research on this in a previous life, and my memory is that 
the two-space rule was designed, much like using underscores, as a guide 
to the typesetter, since periods are easily missed.  Underscores were an 
indication that the text should be emphasized, and no well-typeset 
document will include real underscores (except for "effect").

--da