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author | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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committer | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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diff --git a/info/digests/tugboat/articles/15-2/tlc-rvw.tex b/info/digests/tugboat/articles/15-2/tlc-rvw.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..e02a571d04 --- /dev/null +++ b/info/digests/tugboat/articles/15-2/tlc-rvw.tex @@ -0,0 +1,331 @@ +%%% ==================================================================== +%%% @TeX-file{ +%%% filename = "tlc-rvw.tex", +%%% version = "1.03", +%%% date = "28 February 1995", +%%% time = "16:17:08 EST", +%%% author = "David M. Jones and David E. Wald", +%%% address = "MIT Laboratory for Computer Science +%%% Room NE43-316 +%%% 545 Technology Square +%%% Cambridge, MA 02139 +%%% USA", +%%% telephone = "(617) 253-5936", +%%% FAX = "(617) 253-3480", +%%% checksum = "37536 331 2213 15684", +%%% email = "dmjones@theory.lcs.mit.edu", +%%% codetable = "ISO/ASCII", +%%% keywords = "", +%%% supported = "yes", +%%% docstring = "The checksum field above contains a CRC-16 +%%% checksum as the first value, followed by the +%%% equivalent of the standard UNIX wc (word +%%% count) utility output of lines, words, and +%%% characters. This is produced by Robert +%%% Solovay's checksum utility.", +%%% } +%%% ==================================================================== +\documentstyle{ltugboat} + +\vol 15, 2. +\issdate June 1994. + +\setcounter{page}{1} +\PrelimDraftfalse + +\def\LaTeXe{\LaTeX{}\kern.05em2$_{\textstyle\varepsilon}$} + +\title{\Review: The \LaTeX{} Companion\thanks{This review originally +appeared in {\sl TUGboat\/} 15(2):103--106, June 1994, and appears +here by permission.}} + +\author{David M. Jones} + +\address{MIT Laboratory for Computer Science\\ +545 Technology Square\\ +Cambridge, MA 02139} + +\netaddress{dmjones@theory.lcs.mit.edu} + +\author{David E. Wald} + +\address{MIT Laboratory for Computer Science\\ +545 Technology Square\\ +Cambridge, MA 02139} + +\netaddress{wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu} + +\date{June 1, 1994} + +\begin{document} + +\maketitle + +\begin{verse} +{\em In darkness languishes the precious stone.\\ +When will its excellence enchant the world?}\\ +\hfill -- Barry Hughart +\end{verse} + +\medskip + +\reviewitem +\revauth{Michel Goossens, Frank Mittelbach and Alexander Samarin} +\revtitle{The {\LaTeX} Companion} +\revpubinfo{Addison-Wesley, 1993. xxx + 492~pp.\ + index +(36~pp.) ISBN 0-201-54199-8} +\endreviewitem + +Without question, this book is absolutely necessary for all who use, +support, modify, or rue the day that they first heard of +\LaTeX. You should all run right out and get a copy. We'll wait. + +\centerline{\vdots} + +\noindent +All set? Good. Now we'll tell you what you've just acquired. + +\bigskip + +\noindent +In recent years there has been an explosion of books about \TeX{} and +\LaTeX, and the majority of \LaTeX{} users have probably gone from +gnashing their teeth over the lack of supplemental documentation to +gnashing their teeth over which of the numerous books on the market +are the best investment for their time and money. Let there be no +confusion about the \booktitle{\LaTeX{} Companion}: the +\booktitle{Companion} belongs next to the \booktitle{\TeX book} and the +\LaTeX{} manual as a book that every \LaTeX{} user should have +available. + +Since its introduction in the early 80's, \LaTeX{} has been the center +of a flurry of grassroots development, with contributors world-wide +producing a variety of style files and support packages, many of which +have become basic necessities to any well-dressed \LaTeX{} +installation. In recent years, this development has reached a minor +crisis point, with several slightly incompatible variants of \LaTeX{} +coming into common use. + +As anyone who has been following the recent development of \LaTeX{} +knows, the \LaTeX3 team, spearheaded by Frank Mittelbach, Chris +Rowley, and Rainer Sch\"opf, has taken over the development of \LaTeX, +and is in the process of producing a completely rewritten +\LaTeX3~[1--3]. +%\cite{Mittelbach:TB13-1-96-101,Mittelbach:TB10-4-681-690,Mittelbach:TB12-1-74-79}. +Recently, the \LaTeX3 team, in an attempt to head off the +aforementioned crisis, announced the imminent release of a single +``state of the art'' version of \LaTeX, to be designated \LaTeXe. + +Along with the ``crisis of infinite formats,'' there has been a +corresponding crisis in documentation. Beyond Lamport's manual +presenting the original core of \LaTeX, there has been no central +source that systematically presented the most useful style files, the +most necessary support programs and, frankly, the best-known tricks +for convincing \LaTeX{} to behave itself. Even when documentation +exists, it has tended to circulate in the form of electronic folklore, +or unpublished documents distributed with individual macro packages, +supplemented by the occasional TUGboat article. The unfortunate +result is that many worthy packages have languished in darkness for +lack of widely-available documentation. + +In other words, there exists a gap between the numerous \LaTeX\ +primers now available on the market and the various comprehensive +lists and archives of \LaTeX\ styles now available electronically. +The authors of this book have taken it upon themselves to fill this +gap. They are in a particularly good position to do so, as one of +them is a member of the core \LaTeX3 team, and all three have +extensive experience in supporting \LaTeX{} and initiating novices +into its deeper mysteries. + +The \booktitle{Companion} is designed to be used alongside Lamport's +\LaTeX{} manual; as such, it assumes that the reader is familiar with +the core system as documented in Lamport's book, and gives frequent +cross-references to the \LaTeX{} manual. Each chapter focuses on a +different aspect of document preparation and presents a +carefully-chosen combination of packages, utilities, and less +well-known features, which allow the user to transcend the boundaries +of Lamport's book. + +Since Chapter~2 is in many ways typical of the rest of the book, we +will give an extended description of it to illustrate the flavor of +documentation provided by the \booktitle{Companion}. Chapter~2 covers +the physical and logical structure of a \LaTeX{} document. The first +section covers the package and class interface to \LaTeXe, which +replaces the \verb+\documentstyle+ interface of \LaTeX~2.09. +Succeeding sections cover sectioning commands, tables of contents, and +cross-referencing. + +The discussion of sectioning commands begins with a brief summary of +their syntax and use, covering roughly the material presented in +Section~2.2.3 and Appendix~C.3 of the \LaTeX{} manual. The authors +don't stop here, however; they also present a wealth of information on +modifying the behavior of sectioning commands and on defining new +ones. (As anyone who has supported +\LaTeX{}---or who has read any newsgroup or mailing list where +\LaTeX{} is discussed---well knows, this is exactly the sort of +question that is asked repeatedly by \LaTeX{} users, and which the +determined user has usually had to delve into the +\LaTeX{} source code to answer.) + +The discussion of tables of contents follows similar lines, and is +supplemented by a description of the nonstandard {\tt minitoc} +package, which can be used to create a separate table of contents at +the beginning of each chapter of a book or report. + +The chapter concludes with a description of \LaTeX's cross-referencing +features, together with descriptions of the {\tt varioref} and {\tt +xr} packages, which support alternate styles of referencing and +cross-references between documents. + +Moving along, Chapter~3 covers the formatting of paragraphs, lists, +and other structures; Chapter~4 discusses page layout; and Chapters~5 +and~6 cover tables and floats in depth. + +Chapter~7 presents the first of several major extensions to \LaTeX, +the \LaTeXe{} font selection scheme. Since the New Font Selection +Scheme is the single largest difference between \LaTeX~2.09 and +\LaTeXe, this chapter is perhaps the most important in the book. The +scheme is indeed described well, with the first sections providing a +detailed introduction to the basic vocabulary and features of font +selection, and the latter sections providing full details for those +wishing to install new fonts. + +Chapter~8, entitled ``Higher Mathematics,'' will be welcome reading to +anyone to whom mathematical typesetting is of more than passing +interest. It has long been a source of amusement---and occasional +chagrin---that although \TeX's {\em raison d'\^etre\/} has always been +its superb support for mathematical typesetting, \LaTeX{} hardly +represents an advantage over plain \TeX{} in this regard, and has been +lagging behind \AmSTeX{} for some years. Thus, we were delighted when +\AmS-\LaTeX{} was released a few years ago, and are now pleased that +\AmS-\LaTeX{} has been fully legitimized by Chapter~8, which provides a +detailed introduction to and description of the various features of +this excellent package. Armed with the \booktitle{\LaTeX{} +Companion}, we will now continue with renewed vigor our campaign to +see that every +\LaTeX{} site installs the \AmS-\LaTeX{} package and brings \LaTeX{} +out of the dark ages of mathematical typesetting.\footnote{While +approving of the sentiment, one of the authors of this review would +like to distance himself from the evangelical tone of this paragraph, +and wishes to remind the other author that there are several +full-flavored decaffeinated coffees on the market.} + +Chapter~9 addresses another issue that has been of burning interest in +the \LaTeX{} community for several years---support for typesetting in +languages other than American English. The authors briefly discuss the +handling of alternate character sets and encodings such as the Cork +standard, and then discuss the Babel package of Johannes Braams, as +well as an alternate package for French typography. + +Chapter~10 discusses several extensions to \LaTeX's picture +environment, a subject which leads naturally to Chapter~11, which +tackles the complex issues surrounding the use of PostScript in +\LaTeX{} documents. This chapter covers such diverse topics as choice +of DVI device driver, use of PostScript graphics, installation of +PostScript fonts, and various PostScript \verb+\special+ effects. + +Chapters~12 and~13 discuss two auxiliary programs that, although they +are an essential part of any \LaTeX{} installation, have long suffered +from a dearth of documentation. Chapter~12 describes {\tt makeindex} +in detail, bringing into print for essentially the first time a +comprehensive discussion not only of the \LaTeX{} interface for +creating indexes and the use of the {\tt makeindex} program itself, +but also of {\tt makeindex} style files and packages for producing +documents with multiple indexes. Chapter~13 is a similarly detailed +description of \BibTeX. This chapter, in fact, seems capable of +replacing not only Appendix~B of Lamport's book, but also much of the +documentation supplied with \BibTeX{} itself, since it not only +subsumes them, but also offers an extensive list of non-standard +\BibTeX{} style files. + +Chapter~14 describes the {\tt doc} system for writing self-documenting +\LaTeX{} code and perhaps should have been merged with Appendix~A, +which is an overview of \LaTeX{} for writers of packages and classes. +Appendix~B rounds the book out with a brief introduction to the major +resources for \TeX{} users. The first part of this appendix describes +the major electronic sites that serve as sources for \TeX{} software +(which will surely be appreciated by those whose curiosity has been +piqued by the rest of the book), and the second gives a list of \TeX{} +user groups throughout the world. Regrettably missing is a separate +list of the major mailing lists and newsgroups devoted to \TeX. + +The book ends with a well-annotated bibliography that should serve as +a valuable introduction to the literature, a well-constructed---though +occasionally incomplete---index, and a combination colophon and +empirical software study that should prove enlightening to anyone who +has used or is contemplating using +\LaTeX{} to produce a book-length document. + +Although we recommend the \booktitle{Companion} without hesitation, +there are a few caveats worth mentioning. The major one is that this +book, like \LaTeXe, is a snapshot of a rapidly changing system. As +such, there are aspects of the book that are sure to be confusing to +anyone who has not been following the development of \LaTeX{} over the +past several years, and there are other aspects that are likely to +become obsolete in the near future. For example, although the +discussion of \BibTeX\ in Chapter~13 is comprehensive as of this +writing, this may cease to be true with the eventual release of +\BibTeX~1.0. Similarly, all of the cross-references to the \LaTeX{} +manual refer to the first edition of the book, which will soon be +superceded.\footnote{A related problem is that +\LaTeXe\ itself is still under development. Although a stable +distribution version of \LaTeXe{} is expected soon, many of the +packages described in the \booktitle{Companion} have not yet been +converted into \LaTeXe{} packages, which is likely to cause +discrepancies between the actual behavior of some packages and the +behavior described in the \booktitle{Companion}.} + +Another problem is that the very thoroughness of the book may +occasionally present obstacles for readers who merely want to use the +new features documented in the book without becoming intimately +acquainted with all aspects of the new system. For example, although +the description of the font system in Chapter~7 is very detailed, this +means that the reader is ten pages into the chapter before being told +the now-preferred method for changing to an italic font. Similarly, +there is no place where the reader can turn to find a brief summary of +the most important differences between \LaTeX~2.09 and +\LaTeXe.\footnote{Most likely, this reflects the history of the book: +When the book was begun, there were no plans to release a new version +of \LaTeX, and indeed, production of the book was well underway before +the necessity of \LaTeXe{} became evident.} We hope that with the +release of a new edition of Lamport's \LaTeX{} manual, beginners will +be able to find the answers to their questions with less difficulty. + +A final difficulty with the book results from \LaTeX{} itself. +Experience with \LaTeX{} has taught us that there are many perfectly +reasonable things a user wishes to do that are impossible in +\LaTeX{} with the published interface. Such tasks often require a use +of \LaTeX's internal commands, and the \booktitle{Companion} has to +deal with this. To their credit, the authors have handled this +delicate situation with tact, presenting a careful selection of +internals without requiring the user to understand the entire +composition of the program. Naturally, it is our hope that with the +eventual release of \LaTeX3, this last difficulty (and, dare we hope, +the need for two separate manuals) will disappear. + +\bibliographystyle{plain} + +%% \bibliography{/b/dmjones/tex/misc/tugboat} + +\begin{thebibliography}{1} + +\bibitem{Mittelbach:TB13-1-96-101} +Frank Mittelbach and Chris Rowley. +\newblock {{\LaTeX\ 2.09 $\hookrightarrow$ \LaTeX3}}. +\newblock {\sl TUGboat}, 13(1):96--101, April 1992. + +\bibitem{Mittelbach:TB10-4-681-690} +Frank Mittelbach and Rainer Sch{\"{o}}pf. +\newblock {{With \LaTeX\ into the Nineties}}. +\newblock {\sl TUGboat}, 10(4):681--690, December 1989. + +\bibitem{Mittelbach:TB12-1-74-79} +Frank Mittelbach and Rainer Sch{\"{o}}pf. +\newblock {{Towards \LaTeX\ 3.0}}. +\newblock {\sl TUGboat}, 12(1):74--79, March 1991. + +\end{thebibliography} + +\makesignature + +\end{document} |