Dear Final Debug: There’s not much I hate in computers more than the smart quotes function in Microsoft Word. Even when I turn it off the way the program tells me to, I can’t get rid of ’em. Help!–John Hill, Arlington. Final Debug Replies: John, as surprising as it seems in 1998, some people did learn how to use a typewriter keyboard before they were introduced to a computer. And any look at an IBM Selectric or Royal manual reveals only one set of quotemarks:’ and — There were no desktop publishing programs yet, so there was no attempt to make the keyboard include formatting commands like smart quotes. But with word-processing programs taking on more and more formatting commands, it’s not surprising that “smart” quotes, which simulate “open quote” and “close quote” commands in typesetting systems, are included in Word 97 and other packages. What is infuriating, though, is that they are included by default. When there are new, not necessarily standard features in a package, customers should have the option of adding it; all of us, especially those upgrading from previous versions of a program, should be informed what the new feature is and then explicitly asked whether we want it. Unnecessary additions to a familiar program are just as likely to decrease productivity than improve it. Why do this to customers? Now that we’ve had a chance to rave, we’ll answer your question. In Word 97, you would think that following Microsoft’s instructions would solve the problem: pull down the Tools menu, click on Options, and remove all references to smart quotes. But that isn’t sufficient. Here’s what you need to do: Smart quotes is part of Word’s AutoFormat function, so you need to turn off smart quotes from inside AutoFormat. So pull down the Format menu, click on AutoFormat, click on the Options button, and you’ll see a check box that lets you turn off smart quotes. Do you use Smart Quotes? Tell us about it.
A Java answerWe have found a new owner for our extra copy of Symantec’s Visual Cafe for Java, Professional Development Edition. If your memory goes back as far as last week, you know that the question was: What does the Reflection API in Java 1.1 add to java.lang.reflect? We received many correct answers. The first one came from Greg Nims, who wrote: “Hey, The Reflection API allows java classes to inspect and manipulate themselves. As for what does it add to java.lang.reflect, j.l.r didn’t exist prior to 1.1, so it adds the whole thing!” Others answered the question in more detail, but Greg was the first (kudos nonetheless to JULMEDINA and Bill Nieman), so he’s our winner. Come back next week for a new contest, and if you want to submit a question, send it!
