Lout beginner's queries

[G . B . Stott]

Hi there,

I am just beginning with lout (version 3.10 on a Debian Linux 2.0.27 system)
having used TeX for a long time. A sensible thing to start out with was the
reproduction of something that I already use in TeX and the heading I use
for personal letters seemed a good choice.

Within about 20 minutes, mostly reading the user manual, I obtained the
following which worked almost as I want it.

@RightDisplay lines @Break {
9 Bankfield
Westhoughton
Bolton   BL5 2QG
Tel: 01942 817892
@I address@hidden
@FullWidthRule
@Date
}

Flushed with success, I decided to define @MyAddress as a name to use for
the above block using the following where the ... stands for the working
block. That's when the problems started.

def @MyAddress {
...
}

I tried putting this definition in several places all of which except one
gave errors. I put it where it was going to be used; I put it near the start
of the file (initially at the very beginning of the file, then after
address@hidden { doc }', then repeatedly further in till it was well and truly
in the body of the file; I also put it in file `mydefs' as suggested in the
user manual.

Only the last gave no errors but it put the address in a different place on
the paper output. Further trials changed the place of output but none put it
where it was before `def' was used.

A regularly occurring error was: `symbol @MyAddress unknown or misspelt'
with a reference to the line containing `def' but I would expect it to be
unknown there! It leaves me feeling that there are some places where
definitions can occur and some where they cannot but so far I have been
unable to find definitive information on this.

Here are some questions whose answers may get me further.

1. Where do I put the definition (preferably in a separate file) and what am
I doing wrong at present?

2. Are there constructs which are not allowed inside definitions?

3. Is there more documentation than the supplied user, expert and design
papers that may help when errors occur?

4. Is version 3.10 the latest?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Barrie.