Re: Spaces after full stop

[Dossy Shiobara <dossy -at- panoptic -dot- com>]

I keep seeing two things mentioned in responses:

1) There's a reason to use two spaces after periods--embedding semantic
   information (i.e., end of sentence) in the data (the copy text).

2) Since the introduction of computerized word processing, deficiencies
   in implementations of word processors and layout engines have caused
   people to stop using two spaces after periods that end sentences.

IMHO, #2 is a defect and needs to be corrected.  Software should be
fixed so that end of sentence periods--those followed by a newline, or
two spaces--are laid out properly.  Using only one space loses valuable
semantic information.

How is it valuable?  While a human may be able to infer where a sentence
ends, it's a much harder task for a computer.  Take this sentence, for
example:

    "I went to the Dr. His name is Bob."

One sentence?  Or two?  I'm pretty sure most humans can tell it's
supposed to be two.  (Ignore arguments that "Dr." shouldn't have been
abbreviated there, and instead spelled out as "doctor".)

However, think about the task for a computer: is this actually two
sentences, where the recommendation "expand 'Dr.' to 'doctor'" should be
made, or is it one single grammatically incorrect sentence?  If there
were two spaces following "Dr.", the added semantic information encoded
in the data would disambiguate the sentence in a way that the software
could handle very easily.

In the end, I still use two spaces after end of sentence periods within
paragraphs because I find them more aesthetically pleasing that way.
It's just a pity that a deficiency in the more common word processors
have driven others to abandon the practice.  :-(

-- Dossy

-- 
Dossy Shiobara              | dossy -at- panoptic -dot- com | http://dossy.org/
Panoptic Computer Network   | http://panoptic.com/
  "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
    folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)
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