Re: [9fans] troff book

[tlaronde@polynum.com]

On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 01:04:47PM +0100, John Stalker wrote:
>[...]
> Also, LaTeX's use of .aux files in both input and output plays havoc
> with make.  Where TeX wins is in the actual typesetting of equations.
> That's one reason why I went back to LaTeX after using eqn|troff
> for a few months.  The other reason is that using troff makes
> collaboration nearly impossible, as no one else is willing to use it.

LaTeX != TeX.

LaTeX is another example of "best is good' foe" ("Le mieux est l'ennemi
du bien"). There are some constructions that plain TeX---the set of
macros designed by D.E. Knuth---does not help to produce. But LaTeX has
not only eased some common things, but built a kind of huge framework
that render finding "what does what" difficult if not impossible.

If it takes more time to learn how to use (superficially) an extension
riding piggy-back on an engine than learning how the engine works and
how to program it, there is a problem.

All what LaTeX does, finally, for typesetting is what TeX does. One can
do mathematics with TeX using plain TeX and the AMS supplementary fonts.

It took me far less time to master Donald E. Knuth's Typesetting series
than to try to read the LaTeX documentation. And I'm now totally
autonomous. And that's probably why I was able to do kerTeX: I didn't
care about the multi-mouths Hydra shouting "GPL!" in front of the
community's TeX "organised" in the Augean Stables. Wizardry and Magic
disappear as soon as one knows the tricks.

And if you read---carefully...-the TeXbook, you know all you has to
know. The missing part is the "administration" of the software: how to
compile and install. But this is what kerTeX is for: give easily people
the software, having then just to use it according to D.E.K.'s books.
--
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                      http://www.kergis.com/
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