Re: LaTeX, misallocated effort?


Achim Blumensath wrote:
[snip] ant does separate

(a) document markup,
(b) programming of styles/classes, and
(c) typesetting algorithms.

What you are now asking is whether the user has access to all of these
parts.

(a) Document markup is provided by a TeX-like macro language.
(b) To write styles ant provides a scripting language.
(c) The typesetting algorithms are written in OCaml. They can only be
changed by recompiling ant.


Most users may only be interested in level (a): they just want to get
their papers done; some may be tempted to become typographers, so they
may need additional expertise; a few are the maintainer of the core
engine: that's reserved. I like this arrangement. LaTeX pretty much
works like that. This way, the three tasks are clearly distinct, thanks
to the difference in programming languages.

Your posting is very enlightening. I'll try to compile ant this
afternoon; meanwhile, tell me what sort of scripting language is
provided to write styles|packages. You say the end-user will see
something like TeX (document markup), and the maintainer will use
OCaml; what's the expertise required by the macro programmer?

Luis.

.

Loading