[1] : Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002)

troff
     typesetter new run-off unix
     
     

[2] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

troff /t'rof/ or /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," att 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.


see also:
multics ctss nroff tex 

[3] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

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",
        att 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
     
     
see also:
unix pdp-11 assembly code c roff multics 
runoff nroff tex groff gnu 
roff c++ jargon file 

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