Reading the source...?

Reading the source...?

[Marcin Borkowski]

Hi,

assume that I would like to read some parts of the ConTeXt source (to
learn something interesting, to learn how to do that-and-that in
ConTeXt, or just for fun;)).  Where do I start?  I mean: what is the
non-terribly-difficult way for the beginner?  I have rather good
expertise in plain TeX and also some in LaTeX (if this helps).

Thanks in advance

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)

- Is it a Perl program or a Perl script?
- Well, a script is what you give the actors.
  A program is what you give the audience.

                (Larry Wall)
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Re: Reading the source...?

[Aditya Mahajan]

Hi Marcin,

On Sat, 18 Oct 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:

> Hi,
>
> assume that I would like to read some parts of the ConTeXt source (to
> learn something interesting, to learn how to do that-and-that in
> ConTeXt, or just for fun;)).  Where do I start?  I mean: what is the
> non-terribly-difficult way for the beginner?  I have rather good
> expertise in plain TeX and also some in LaTeX (if this helps).

Start by reading http://wiki.contextgarden.net/System_Macros

This would explain how basic programming structures in Context work. Since 
you know plain tex, you can also read syst-gen.tex. Most of it is fairly 
straight forward.

Then I would suggest that you start with some functionality that you use 
fairly often, and see how it is implemented in ConTeXt (don't start with 
section heads, they are the most convoluted ConTeXt macros). Most of 
ConTeXt source code is fairly easy to read.

Also see 
http://archive.contextgarden.net/message/20080721.165918.1ce40456.en.html

Aditya
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Re: Reading the source...?

[luigi scarso]

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On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 12:01 AM, Marcin Borkowski <
mbork@atos.wmid.amu.edu.pl> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> assume that I would like to read some parts of the ConTeXt source (to
> learn something interesting, to learn how to do that-and-that in
> ConTeXt, or just for fun;)).  Where do I start?  I mean: what is the
> non-terribly-difficult way for the beginner?  I have rather good
> expertise in plain TeX and also some in LaTeX (if this helps).
>
> Thanks in advance


If you want to see
http://groups.foundry.supelec.fr/modules/

-- 
luigi

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Re: Reading the source...?

[Marcin Borkowski]

Dnia Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 06:17:35PM -0400, Aditya Mahajan napisał(a):
> Hi Marcin,
> 
> On Sat, 18 Oct 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > assume that I would like to read some parts of the ConTeXt source (to
> > learn something interesting, to learn how to do that-and-that in
> > ConTeXt, or just for fun;)).  Where do I start?  I mean: what is the
> > non-terribly-difficult way for the beginner?  I have rather good
> > expertise in plain TeX and also some in LaTeX (if this helps).
> 
> Start by reading http://wiki.contextgarden.net/System_Macros

Wow, I've just looked into this and it seems it's great - I hope I'll
finally be able to actually understand some parts of ConTeXt!

> This would explain how basic programming structures in Context work. Since 
> you know plain tex, you can also read syst-gen.tex. Most of it is fairly 
> straight forward.

I saw that this file seems to have some provisions for "pretty printing"
(i.e., nice formatting by TeX/ConTeXt).  How do I typeset it?  (It will
be more convenient to read than a bare text file, I guess.)

> Then I would suggest that you start with some functionality that you use 
> fairly often, and see how it is implemented in ConTeXt (don't start with 
> section heads, they are the most convoluted ConTeXt macros). Most of 
> ConTeXt source code is fairly easy to read.

I'll try it!

> Also see 
> http://archive.contextgarden.net/message/20080721.165918.1ce40456.en.html

Thanks, too!

> Aditya

Thanks a lot!!!

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)
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Re: Reading the source...?

[Aditya Mahajan]

On Sat, 18 Oct 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:

> Dnia Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 06:17:35PM -0400, Aditya Mahajan napisał(a):
>>
>> On Sat, 18 Oct 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:
>>
>> This would explain how basic programming structures in Context work. Since
>> you know plain tex, you can also read syst-gen.tex. Most of it is fairly
>> straight forward.
>
> I saw that this file seems to have some provisions for "pretty printing"
> (i.e., nice formatting by TeX/ConTeXt).  How do I typeset it?  (It will
> be more convenient to read than a bare text file, I guess.)

Usually you can do (in a temp dir)

texexec --modules --color kpse:syst-gen.tex

to get a typeset pdf. Also look at the link that Luigi sent. He has already
typeset *all* the source files of ConTeXt are arranged them in a nice, easy to
browse format.

Aditya
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