Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!acsu.buffalo.edu From: xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Xiaofei Wang) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Idea for Discussion: Remove LaTeX from TeX Group? Message-ID: <58132@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> Date: 6 Feb 91 15:12:02 GMT Sender: news@acsu.Buffalo.EDU Organization: SUNY Buffalo Lines: 52 Nntp-Posting-Host: autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu Would that be a good idea to remove LaTeX related discussions from ``comp.text.TeX'' to ``comp.text.LaTeX''? As far as code writing is concerned, Plain TeX users and LaTeX users don't usually talk to each other. Few people use both Plain TeX and LaTeX. I am a Plain TeX user and not interested in how to do this and that in LaTeX. And I presume that a LaTeX user is not interested in how to do this and that in Plain TeX. Separation of LaTeX will do good for Plain TeX people as well as LaTeX people. LaTeX is designed the way as it is, it is inappropriate and a waste of time to ask it to do things it is not designed to do. In that case, I would think one should write one's own macro based on *original* TeX. [It seems to me that everything LaTeX can do Plain TeX can but not the opposite.] I think the One of the author [Karl Berry?] of eplain.tex say the same thing in the readme file I quoted below: ``If you think of additional features that would be useful, or extensions to existing ones, let me know. I am interested in providing macros that support formatting, not ones which do the formatting. (Which is to say, I am not planning on writing another LaTeX; I will not include, say, a macro to produce a chapter heading.)'' By the way, eplain is a very nice set of macros that every one should be using. It is available from labrea.stanford.edu [36.8.0.47] might under the dir of karl_berry ics.uci.edu [128.195.1.1] \TeX\eplain june.cs.washington.edu [128.95.1.4] Also the Book by the eplain authors ``TeX for the Impatient'' is very nice book to have. Knuth's Book is the original source of info, but it seems that the info is scattered around in the book. Every time when I try to find something, I have to locate the page numberS from the index and go through different sections of the Book. The ``TeX for the Impatient'' put related topics together: Commands for composing paragraphs Commands for composing pages Commands for composing horizontal and vertical modes Just to quote just a few chapters. Karl's address is ``karl@cs.umb.edu'' if you need to talk to him. And Paul Abrahams [First author]'s addresses : Paul Abrahams 214 River Road Deerfield, MA 01342 Abrahams%Wayne-MTS@um.cc.umich.edu According to the Book ``TeX for the impatient''.