ascii tables

[John Baxter]

In article <bbg6kb$dif$0 at 216.39.172.122>, bokr at oz.net (Bengt Richter) 
wrote:

> >On Thu, May 29, 2003 at 02:01:47PM -0500, John Hunter wrote:
> >...
> >> Here is my first pass at a solution, which prints
> >> 
> >>     Name   | Age | Sex | Weight | Height
> >>     ------------------------------------
> >>     John   |  35 |  M  |  170.0 |   60.1
> >>     ------------------------------------
> >>     Miriam |  31 |  F  |  135.0 |   58.2
> >>     ------------------------------------
> >>     Rahel  |   5 |  F  |   40.0 |   48.2
> >>     ------------------------------------
> >>     Ava    |   2 |  F  |   25.0 |   30.0
> >
> >it's old printer wisdom that one should be very reluctant to use lines
> >in tables, and indeed I find the following much easier on the eyes:
> >
> >    Name   : Age : Sex : Weight : Height
> >    ------------------------------------
> >    John      35    M     170.0     60.1
> >    Miriam    31    F     135.0     58.2
> >    Rahel      5    F      40.0     48.2
> >    Ava        2    F      25.0     30.0

Partly (only partly), the avoidance of lines was to avoid cutting 
weaknesses across fast-moving paper and ribbon.  Only once did I see 
(through the window) an operator unwinding the paper and ribbon from the 
ribbon take up on a fast line printer.  He looked as if he'd rather be 
doing something else.  ;-)  I have no idea whether the cause of the 
tangle was excessive lines...probably not, since there were so many 
other ways for those things to go insane.

[The nail of my left big toe still grows improperly as a result of my 
dropping the back cover of a line printer onto the toe.  Ouch.]

  --John