[comp.text.tex] comp.fonts

edh@ux.acs.umn.edu (Eric D. Hendrickson) (05/13/91)

Can someone explain what an ATM file is?  And what the .mf, .tfm, etc files
are?  I have looked for an FAQ in comp.fonts, no such thing it appears...

Thanks,
		--eric

marcel@cs.caltech.edu (Marcel van der Goot) (05/16/91)

Eric D. Hendrickson (edh@ux.acs.umn.edu) asks
> Can someone explain what an ATM file is?  And what the .mf, .tfm, etc files
> are?  I have looked for an FAQ in comp.fonts, no such thing it appears...

Here are the file types you'll most frequently encounter in a TeX
environment. Any others that are important?

xxx.tex --- TeX input file (text to be typeset and/or macro definitions).
xxx.dvi --- Output file from TeX. Contains the description (for the printer)
	    of the pages to be printed.
xxx.mf  --- Metafont input file (program-like description of characters
	    that must be generated).
xxx.gf  --- Output file from Metafont, containing the description (for the
	    printer) of the characters of the font.
xxx.pk  --- Alternative to xxx.gf (more compact). Can be generated from
	    xxx.gf using the program GFtoPK.
xxx.tfm --- Another output file from Metafont. Contains that part of the
	    font description that is used by TeX (namely, the sizes and
	    ligatures, but not the actual bit patterns). tfm = TeX font metric.
	    [gf and pk files usually have some number in the name indicating
	    the magnification of the font; tfm files are independent of
	    the magnifcation.]
xxx.pl  --- Property list file. A (more-or-less) human-readable form of
	    a tfm file (generated by TFtoPL).
xxx.afm --- Adobe font metric file. The equivalent of a tfm file, but then
	    for PostScript fonts.
xxx.vf  --- A virtual font file. Provides a mapping between fonts in
	    different formats, so that TeX can use non-TeX fonts.
	    (vf files are produced from vpl files by VPtoVF.)
xxx.vpl --- Virtual property list file. The human-readable version of a vf
	    file. Can be generated by hand, or, e.g., by afm2tfm.
xxx.log --- Produced by various programs (e.g., TeX, Metafont). Contains
	    a description of what the program did, what went wrong, etc.
xxx.sty --- Style file. A file with TeX macros to be included by LaTeX.
xxx.aux --- Auxiliary file containing cross-referencing information.
	    Produced and read by LaTeX; also read by BibTeX. There
	    are various other files that can be generated by LaTeX; see
	    the LaTeX manual for a description (section C.10.1).
xxx.bib --- Bibliography database. Read by BibTeX.
xxx.bbl --- Bibliography file. Produced by BibTeX, read by LaTeX.
xxx.atm --- File produced by an automatic teller machine to typeset
	    your monthly statement.


                                          Marcel van der Goot
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