dhosek@linus.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) (02/12/91)
> Ummm, the idea of LaTeX is to remove the user from the complexity > of TeX. Of course TeX can do what LaTeX can do, LaTeX is, after all, > a subset of TeX. LaTeX was not built to become a new TeX, but to make > common functions easier to use, thus, LaTeX cannot do everything TeX can. > On the other hand, LaTeX does allow the user to enter TeX commands if > needs arise. I'm not sure how since I don't understand TeX commands > to begin with. The purpose of LaTeX has nothing to do with removing the complexity of plain TeX from the user. (It is a happy side-effect, but it's _not_ the purpose). It's amazing how many people out there will sing the praises of object-oriented programming and never once think about object-oriented formatting. The purpose of LaTeX is to tell the computer what things _are_ and leave worrying about how things _look_ to some other time and/or person. In an ideal world, customization of styles in LaTeX would have been simpler and there would be a manual on style design (and there will be if I ever get my LaTeX users guide finished and out the door). -dh