Re: The ConTeXt Companion

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Idris Samawi Hamid wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:58:11 -0600, Patrick Gundlach <patrick@gundla.ch>  
> wrote:
>
>   
>> ... ConTeXt would probably stabilize, which IMHO is not a good thing.
>> One thing I really love ConTeXt for is the speed new techniques are
>> adopted (pdf features, luatex,...) One day we might have a ConTeXt
>> MKII book for those who are afraid of swithing to pdftex2.
>>     
>
> Hmm, we had this discussion in Epen...
>
> I think that enough of the high-level interface is stable enough that a  
> thorough ConTeXt book will be useful, particularly after luaTeX/pdfTeX2. I  
> recall a particular someone at Epen volunteering to set up a working  
> committee on this, even to write the book himself if no one volunteers to  
> help soon...
> :D :D :D
>
> As for MKII/pdfTeX1, it makes no sense making a book for a stalled branch;  
> pdfTeX1 will go the way of the original TeX engine. Who today will write a  
> book for those who only want to use the dvi format?
>   
hey, it's not that bad ...

functionality will not change but mkiv

- will have less to no input encoding and font encoding mess to be explained
- font installation wil be easier due to lack of encodings
- some functionality will be more robust due to node postprocessing 
(hidden for user)
- some new stuff (for idris -)

So ... apart from some chapters, much mkii/mkiv descriptions are the same

Hans

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