Vladimir Volovich <vvv@vsu.ru> 2002.06.13 tor 20:41:57:
>On Thu, 13 Jun 2002 01:05:42 +0100 (WEST)
> Laurent Siebenmann <sieben@cristal.math.u-psud.fr> wrote:
..
>first, i wonder, how you can make a distinction (say color) in your editor
>for German A and Polish A for text files?? text files do not have any
>additional structure besides characters.

Perhaps Laurent was thinking from a Macintosh point of view? On the
mac it is possible. A mac file consist of two files, so called
"forks": data and resource fork. How it is implemented varies a bit.
THe most consequent use of this is probably found in Nisus Writer. A
NW file can always be opened therefore. Because the styling will only
be visible in NW. NW also lets you ad "language styles" to any text.
THis is mostly used for spell checking so the right speller is used
for each language. In fact, in NW it is possible to ad the latex
commands as *invisible* text (a "style invisible"). Thus you can, if
you wish, print a nicely formatted file directy from NW to your
print, and thenafter send the same file to your tex program.

Alas, in OSX the "double fork" file format is not used anymore.
--
leif