Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucla-cs!ucla-ma!pico!barry From: barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: TeX = as seen by a reviewer of the NeXT cube Message-ID: <1991Jun14.173831.10415@math.ucla.edu> Date: 14 Jun 91 17:38:31 GMT References: <1991Jun13.004311.27226@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu> <1991Jun13.063513.3050@math.ucla.edu> Sender: news@math.ucla.edu Organization: UCLA Dept. of Math, UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research Lines: 40 In article jpl1@ra.MsState.Edu (Jean P. Legrand) writes: >>>*************************************************************************** >>>TEX. Probably named after the macho dude who wrote it. This is page layout >>>and document processing for real men. Incredibly rich and capable. Also >>>incredibly difficult. >>>*************************************************************************** > > >Maybe we should take him seriously. I personally would like to see even >wider acceptance of TeX. 1) because it means more ancillary support >products, and 2) because I know it to be the best way to put text on a >page. Actually, I would like to see TeX replaced by something better. These days, much more should be possible. Don't get me wrong---I agree TeX does a great job of typesetting---but it could be easier to use. For example, the TeX macro language is pretty grungy. Basically, if the algorithms for typsetting could be preserved, but put into a nice object oriented formulation---Knuths paradigm is ripe for object orientation---and with a nice low level macro facility, and PostScript as its imaging model, a good high level macro package (a la LaTeX) plus a graphical interface for the NeXT---now that would be good. > >Oh, and one more thing, I have worked with TeX and LaTeX for 10 years >and I don't think LaTeX is easier. Not in the long run. Well, I suspect you used raw TeX too long, and became a TeXpert. I only used it for a year, so I was still ripe for the transition. But, sure, if you do a lot of very fancy typsetting, you use raw TeX a lot anyway. -- Barry Merriman UCLA Dept. of Math UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research barry@math.ucla.edu (Internet) barry@arnold.math.ucla.edu (NeXTMail)