Damian.Cugley@prg.ox.ac.uk (Damian Cugley) (02/07/91)
From: Xiaofei Wang <xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu> Message-Id: <58132@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> > Would that be a good idea to remove LaTeX related discussions from > ``comp.text.TeX'' to ``comp.text.LaTeX''? Yes!! Sounds doubleplusgood to me. (The names would have to be downcased.) An alternative would be to always have `LaTeX' in the subject line when talking about problems with 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. I feel the same -- normally I use plain TeX, or rather macro packages of my own devising. Partly because, by the nature of TeX code, trying to get someone else's macros to work is so much hassle it's just as easy to write my own. (The number of times I was forced to read the LaTeX source to get around holes in the manual...!) > 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. I used LaTeX to do some maths but ended up writing an enormous so-called style file to get the things I wanted. LaTeX has many holes that can only be patched with arcane plain-TeX knowledge or non-standard style files full of same. (A lot of this should have been avoided through "hooks" allowing the user to insert code into standard macros without rewriting them.) //- Damian Cugley ----\ /--- Oxford University Computing Laboratory, -\ || pdc@prg.ox.ac.uk || \--- 11 Keble Rd, Oxford, UK OX1 3QD --------/ || pdc@uk.ac.ox.prg || \--------------------// "His feet are the wrong size for his shoes."
maschler@VMS.HUJI.AC.IL (MICHAEL MASCHLER) (02/11/91)
In article <DAMIAN.CUGLEY.91Feb7112825@msc2.prg.ox.ac.uk>, Damian.Cugley@prg.ox.ac.uk (Damian Cugley) writes... >From: Xiaofei Wang <xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu> >Message-Id: <58132@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> > >> Would that be a good idea to remove LaTeX related discussions from >> ``comp.text.TeX'' to ``comp.text.LaTeX''? > .. > >> 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. > >I used LaTeX to do some maths but ended up writing an enormous so-called >style file to get the things I wanted. LaTeX has many holes that can >only be patched with arcane plain-TeX knowledge or non-standard style >files full of same. (A lot of this should have been avoided through >"hooks" allowing the user to insert code into standard macros without >rewriting them.) > > > //- Damian Cugley ----\ /--- Oxford University Computing Laboratory, -\ > || pdc@prg.ox.ac.uk || \--- 11 Keble Rd, Oxford, UK OX1 3QD --------/ > || pdc@uk.ac.ox.prg || > \--------------------// "His feet are the wrong size for his shoes." Without expressing any opinion on the merits/drawbacks of Latex, because I never had a chance to study it seriously, I want to point out the existence of a package entitled LamS-TeX, written by Michael Spivak, that adds many LateX features and other features to AMS-TeX. It has the following advantages: 1. It is compatible with plain.tex as well as AMS-TeX (written by the same author). 2. As a consequence of 1., it is quite convenient for typesetting mathematical formulas. 3. I gives the reader a lot of options to devise his own style. 4. It enables relatively easy ways to typeset complicated table, place figures in various places on apage, draw commutative diagrams ands many other features. Michael Maschler One should observe two rules Department of Mathematics in order to succeed in one's career: The Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel 1. Never reveal to others everything you know.