Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!csrd.uiuc.edu!s41.csrd.uiuc.edu!eijkhout From: eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Re: Why is TeX so Great? (want info) Keywords: tex report Message-ID: <1990Nov12.192018.3868@csrd.uiuc.edu> Date: 12 Nov 90 19:20:18 GMT References: Sender: news@csrd.uiuc.edu (news) Organization: UIUC Center for Supercomputing Research and Development Lines: 29 yorkw@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (Willis F York) writes: >Now i want to know what all of the TeXperts out there Like soo much >about TeX. >(Kinda general huh..) >some specifics, (But don't limit your self to these) >1) Why is a "Language" like program soo much better then a WYSIYUG program > a) Why is TeX better then WORD (Ick) > b) That can ya do with TeX that ya can't with This is the most important aspect of TeX. A programmable system is by definition better than a fixed system, because you can add whatever is not part of it. Of course you must have a good collection of primitive operations, and TeX has that. Usual wysiwyg systems lack the most elementary operations. For instance, there are practically no systems that can behave like \parindent=0pt \parfillskip=0pt, that is, produce rectangular paragraphs. >2) How advanced is the "macro" ability, and what's a good way to prove this. Very. Look up my article on 'unusual paragraph shapes' in Tugboat, number 1 this year, to see some things that are rather complicated, and still heavily automated. Victor.