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From: ecashin@coe.uga.edu (Ed L. Cashin)
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Subject: Re: (La)TeX vs ConTeX ?
Date: 19 Jan 2000 08:27:32 -0500
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Jorge Vilhena <jvilhena@est.ips.pt> writes:

> Hello TeX Friends
> 
> I'm new to the world of TeX and I've one question that I would like someone
> to answer me. Here it is.
> What is the main differences between LaTeX and ConTeX, and what was the goal
> in ConTeX creation?
> I want to write my master thesis which has lots of figures, tables and
> formulas with one of them, but I don't know which should I use. Could
> someone give me some hints?

In addition to the comments of the others, I would just add that
context has a different philosophy than latex.  

Context has a similar feel to plain tex.  I really like plain tex.
Knuth made the plain macropackage for simplicity, coherency, and
flexibility.  You can do _many_ things with plain tex because it is
like a programming language.

Latex is different.  It is for people who want to use a standard
typesettting format like journal submissions.  If you want to do
something normal, latex is easier, but if you have special needs,
latex will be very hard, since instead of a small, coherent set of
macros, latex has a proliferation of commands--each feature of each
package has its own command.

Context, like plain tex, is a coherent set of macros that are tools
that allow you to build anything you want.  A big plus is that the
tools context provides are more hip to current advancements in
document engineering, like interactive, hyperlinked documents, color
and graphics, PDF output, etc.

HTH.

-- 
--Ed Cashin                     PGP public key:
  ecashin@coe.uga.edu           http://www.coe.uga.edu/~ecashin/pgp/