Introduction
The Box language is used in the
generic pretty print framework as an language-independent intermediate representation. The input language dependent parts and the output format dependent parts of
GPP are connected through this intermediate representation. Box is a mark-up language to describe the intended layout of text and is used in
pretty print tables.
A Box expression is constructed by composing sub-boxes using Box operators. These operators specify the relative ordering of boxes. Examples of Box operators are the H and V operator which format boxes horizontally and vertically, respectively:
/pub/Tools/BoxLanguage/box.gif
The exact formatting of each Box operator can be customized using Box options. For example, to control the horizontal layout between boxes the H operator supports the hs space option.
/pub/Tools/BoxLanguage/space-opts.gif
For a detailed description of Box (including a description of all available Box operators) we refer to
http://www.cs.uu.nl/groups/ST/twiki/bin/view/Merijn/PaperPrettyPrintingForSoftwareReengineering
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