是TeX / LaTeX的继任者吗？ [英] Is a successor for TeX/LaTeX in sight?

问题描述

TeX / LaTeX很棒，我用很多方法。它的一些优点是：

• 它使用文本文件，这样，输入文件可以被分离，并且有许多工具可以与文本一起使用


• 它非常灵活


• 它有一个稳定的布局：如果我在文档开头更改某些东西，它不会影响其他的东西在文档的末尾


• 它有许多扩展来达到不同的目标（后继者将从​​没有扩展名开始，但会有一个很好的扩展系统）

您可以使用标准的构建控制工具来支持复杂的文档（感谢dmckee）

• 您可以封装解决方案，并将其复制并粘贴到新文档或发送给他人以学习（感谢dmckee）

但另一方面，一些小事情并不那么好：

• 开始时很难学习


• 控制图片的位置很复杂


• a几件事情有点反直觉e


• 有时您必须输入太多（开始{itemize} ... \end {itemize}）

那么，是否存在LaTeX的后继/替代方案，或至少是替代开发中的一些热门候选人。一个真正的继任者/好的选择将保持优势并解决缺点，或至少其中一些。

解决方案

有一个 LaTeX3 项目基本上永远在继续。在这个意义上，它是当前LaTeX2e的继承者。

您忘记/忽略了TeX创建时的主要目标 - TeX是一种新的排版系统旨在创造美丽的书。 TeX的目标是排版，其主要关注点是打破段落（ Donald E. Knuth和Michael F. Plass，Software-Practice and Experience，第11卷，第1119-1184页，1981年），连字，字距调整，美丽的字体（Knuth与Hermann Zapf合作创建像AMS Euler这样的字体），并精确控制页面上文本的布局。

LaTeX是TeX之后构建的一组宏，它引入了文档管理功能，如自动编号方程和部分，交叉引用等等。 LaTeX：一个文件准备系统。

可以很好地想象LaTeX的后继者，提供LaTeX的文档管理功能的替代方案，也许可以做得更好 - - 像DocBook。 （它是基于XML，但...）但很难想象替代TeX，排版引擎本身。 TeX可能是其中缺少错误的程序之一 - Knuth为TeX中发现的每个错误提供了327.68美元，并且已经做了很长时间。有很多想法已经进入，克努特的追求完美。它的每个方面都是可配置的，代码是公有领域（除了限制，如果您进行修改，您必须使用其他名称调用它 - 这是因为TeX的目标是在任何机器上的任何地方将TeX文件排版世界应该在未来永远形成一个完全相同的文件），并且已经写了关于TeX：程序本身的书，还有关于TeX中发现的所有错误。

TeX的一些想法已经被纳入Adobe的Indesign（例如），而这些排版引擎也有一些创新的想法，但是TeX仍然保持优势。 [注：Knuth并不打算TeX成为永远的标准，只有接下来的100年左右，直到更好的事情发生。对于所有我们知道的，可能有一个。]

有TeTeX替代LaTeX，如ConTeXt和LuaTeX。有可能有更适合的任务。

回答您的其他反对意见：虽然LaTeX可能引入了比必要的更多的复杂性，但TeX部分学习是不可避免的 - 如果您想要在那里创建漂亮的书籍你有一些你想要知道的东西，不管怎样。控制图像位置并不难; TeX旨在让您控制页面上的每个点，但为了锻炼控制你可能不得不超越简单的结构（虽然我从来没有...）如果你使用一个好的编辑器或宏，你不必要键入太多\begin {itemize} ... \end {逐项};这只是一个跛脚的抱怨：P

TeX/LaTeX is great, I use it in many ways. Some of its advantages are:

• it uses text files, this way the input-files can be diffed and many tools exist to work with text
• it is very flexible
• it has a stable layout: if I change something at the start of the document, it doesn't affect other things at the end of the document
• it has many extensions to reach different goals (a successor would start without extensions, but would have a good extension-system)
• you can use standard build control tools to support complicated documents (thanks dmckee)
• you can encapsulate solutions and copy&paste them to new documents or send them to others to learn from (thanks dmckee)

But on the other hand some little things are not so good:

• it is hard to learn at the beginning
• it is complicated to control position of images
• a few things are a little counter-intuitive
• sometimes you have to type too much (begin{itemize} ... \end{itemize})

So, does there exist a successor/alternative to LaTeX or at least is some hot candidate for an alternative in development. A real successor/good alternative would keep the advantages and fix the disadvantages, or at least some of them.

解决方案

There is a LaTeX3 project that has been going on for basically forever. In that sense, it is a successor to the current LaTeX2e.

You forget/ignore the primary goal for TeX when it was created -- "TeX is a new typesetting system intended for the creation of beautiful books". The goal of TeX was typesetting, and its primary concerns were things like "Breaking Paragraphs Into Lines" (Donald E. Knuth and Michael F. Plass, Software--Practice and Experience, Vol. 11, pp. 1119-1184, 1981), ligatures, kerning, beautiful fonts (Knuth worked with Hermann Zapf in creating typefaces like AMS Euler), and precise control over layout of text on a page.

LaTeX was a later set of macros built on top of TeX that introduced "document management" capabilities like automatic numbering of equations and sections, cross-referencing, and so on. It goes by "LaTeX: a document preparation system".

One can very well imagine successors to LaTeX, alternatives that offer LaTeX's document management capabilities, and perhaps do it better -- like DocBook. (Well it's based on XML, but...) But it is hard to imagine alternatives that will replace TeX, the typesetting engine itself. TeX is probably among the programs with the least number of bugs in it -- Knuth offers $327.68 for every bug found in TeX, and has done so for a long time. A lot of thought has gone into it, with Knuth's characteristic pursuit of perfection. Every aspect of it is configurable, the code is public domain (well except for the restriction that if you make modifications you must call it by some other name -- this is because of TeX's goal that the same TeX file typeset on any machine anywhere in the world should produce an exactly identical-looking document forever into the future), and books have been written about TeX: The Program itself, and also about all the bugs that were discovered in TeX.

Some of TeX's ideas have been incorporated into Adobe's Indesign (for example), and those typesetting engines too have some innovative ideas, but TeX still remains superior. [Note: Knuth didn't intend TeX to be the standard forever, only "for the next 100 years or so" until something better comes along. For all we know, one might.]

There are TeX-based alternatives to LaTeX, such as ConTeXt and LuaTeX. It is possible that there are tasks for which they are better suited.

To answer your other objections: Although LaTeX has possibly introduced more complexity than is necessary, the TeX part of the learning is unavoidable -- if you want to create beautiful books there are some things you have to know, no matter what. And it is not hard to control position of images; TeX was designed to give you control over every point on the page, but to exercise that control you may have to go beyond the simple constructs (although I've never had to...) And if you use a good editor or macros, you won't have to type too much \begin{itemize} ... \end{itemize}; that's just a lame complaint :P

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