V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):

TROFF
       Typesetter New Run-OFF (Unix)


The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

troff
 /T'rof/, /trof/, n.

    [Unix] The gray eminence of Unix text processing; a formatting and
    phototypesetting program, written originally in PDP-11 assembler and then
    in barely-structured early C by the late Joseph Ossanna, modeled after the
    earlier ROFF which was in turn modeled after the Multics and CTSS
    program RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer (that name came from the expression ?to
    run off a copy?). A companion program, nroff, formats output for terminals
    and line printers.

    In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so that it could drive
    phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. His paper describing
    that work (?A Typesetter-independent troff,? AT&T CSTR #97) explains
    troff's durability. After discussing the program's ?obvious deficiencies ?
    a rebarbative input syntax, mysterious and undocumented properties in some
    areas, and a voracious appetite for computer resources? and noting the
    ugliness and extreme hairiness of the code and internals, Kernighan
    concludes:

        None of these remarks should be taken as denigrating Ossanna's
        accomplishment with TROFF. It has proven a remarkably robust tool,
        taking unbelievable abuse from a variety of preprocessors and being
        forced into uses that were never conceived of in the original design,
        all with considerable grace under fire.

    The success of TeX and desktop publishing systems have reduced troff's
    relative importance, but this tribute perfectly captures the strengths that
    secured troff a place in hacker folklore; indeed, it could be taken more
    generally as an indication of those qualities of good programs that, in the
    long run, hackers most admire.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

troff

    /T'rof/ or /trof/ The grey eminence of Unix
   text processing; a formatting and phototypesetting program,
   written originally in PDP-11 assembly code and then in
   barely-structured early C by the late Joseph Ossanna,
   modelled after the earlier ROFF which was in turn modelled
   after Multics' RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer (*that* name came
   from the expression "to run off a copy").  A companion
   program, nroff, formats output for terminals and line
   printers.

   In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so that it could drive
   phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT.  His
   paper describing that work ("A Typesetter-independent troff",
   AT&T CSTR #97) explains troff's durability.  After discussing
   the program's "obvious deficiencies - a rebarbative input
   syntax, mysterious and undocumented properties in some areas,
   and a voracious appetite for computer resources" and noting
   the ugliness and extreme hairiness of the code and internals,
   Kernighan concludes:

   None of these remarks should be taken as denigrating
   Ossanna's accomplishment with TROFF.  It has proven a
   remarkably robust tool, taking unbelievable abuse from a
   variety of preprocessors and being forced into uses that
   were never conceived of in the original design, all with
   considerable grace under fire.

   The success of TeX and desktop publishing systems have
   reduced troff's relative importance, but this tribute
   perfectly captures the strengths that secured troff a place in
   hacker folklore; indeed, it could be taken more generally as
   an indication of those qualities of good programs that, in the
   long run, hackers most admire.

   groff is GNU's implementation of roff in C++.

   [Jargon File]

   (1995-03-21)