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From: mdeck@acsu.buffalo.edu (Mary Deck)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: Really GENERIC questions on TeX
Message-ID: <31006@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 18 Jul 90 20:02:00 GMT
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In article <1048100001@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>
> [...]
>With an ordinary programming language like C or Pascal, it turns out to be
>relatively easy to take what someone gives you and compile it, load it, and
>come up with a runnable program.  I'm not a programmer of Pascal and never
>will be, but yet I've had to compile programs in Pascal and this seems to
>always be easy.  It is made even easier with make.

How hard would it be for you to figure out what to do with a program
written in any programming language if you didn't know what a compiler
was, or perhaps didn't know that you had to link it before it would
run?  Odds are, you wouldn't have any idea where to look for
information, or what to start looking for.  TeX is no different.  It's
just like any process: If you don't have enough basic information, you
aren't going to be able to do anything useful.  But if you have enough
information to take advantage of the whole thing, you'll be worlds
better off.  (My point: Don't pick on TeX.  It's bigger than you. :)

> [...]
>One thing I notice is that there are usually lots of vast macros written
>for many text formatting languages.  Apparently it is a practice to ASSUME
>that everyone has every macro.  Is this a valid assumption with TeX?  If it
>is, then the macros are public domain.  I suspect not, but I could be wrong.
>What are the various macro libraries available?  How do I use them (from the
>point of view of getting the .tex document printed, no in writing in TeX)?

One of the great things about TeX is that the really useful parts of
it are available by anonymous FTP (from several sites, for many
different computers), including all the 'standard' macro packages
(which are labeled as such).  You *can* get it for free, and what you
get will be useful and complete.  All you have to do is know what to
get, where to get it from, and what to do with it once you get it.
It's a learning process which I haven't finished, or I'd gladly tell
you everything. :)

Another really nice thing about TeX is that a lot of places use it.
It's well tested and well supported, besides being an "industry
standard."  It's also very flexible, and you can make it do what you
want it to, given the knowledge, sufficient time and the will to make
it work.  

					....Mary

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Mary M. Deck
Student Assistant, Software Development
State University of New York at Buffalo
acsgmmd@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu [VAX/VMS]
mdeck@cs.buffalo.edu [UNIX]

"I'm a lowly undergraduate.  I'm overworked and underpaid.  I
represent no one but myself."
-- 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mary M. Deck
Student Assistant, Software Development
State University of New York at Buffalo