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authorNorbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900
committerNorbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900
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+\newcommand{\sgml}{\textsc{sgml}}
+\title{A.N.Other's Gleanings}
+\author{}
+\begin{Article}
+\section{Framed, or a boojum?}
+In the latest Nesletter of the BCS eletronic publishing specialist
+group, my colleague Conrad Taylor points out the following: ``it
+strikes me as odd that people often choose for \emph{electronic}
+publishing a tool named after the quark, since an electron is, of
+course, a lepton -- just as a muon is -- and nary a quark goes into
+making one up.'' We can carry this a little further by noting one of
+the many definitions of Frame: ``concoct a false charge or
+accusation'', or even recalling that ``the Word was with God''. But as
+someone who has to state that he ``works in latex'', it is dangerous
+to bandy these words about. On the other hand, you do get invited to
+some very interesting parties\dots\ What is in a name anyway? I have
+to admire the sheer chutzpah of naming your product after a zone in an
+industrial park in Swindon. Trivial Pursuit question: to which vastly
+under-rated electronic publishing package do I refer?
+
+\section{Lettres}
+I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the uniform and high standard
+of the \emph{Lettres Gutenberg}, the newsletter of our French sister
+organisation. In fact, you have to admire them even more when you
+appreciate that they produce not only this excellent newsletter, but a
+journal which easily stands shoulder to shoulder with \TUB. Our recent
+joint meeting on Portable Documents was paralleled by a very similar
+meeting of theirs in Nanterre. Many of the papers presented appeared
+in \emph{Cahier GUTenberg 19}, making a rather interesting contrast
+with those published in the last edition of \BV. The future holds
+similar excitements: next is a special edition on character encoding
+(it will be difficult to inject excitement into this dry topic, but if
+it can be done, it will be done); and in early June, the annual
+conference takes/took place. This picks up the theme of electronic
+documents and their distribution once more. Slipping the magic words
+`Internet' `World Wide Web' and `Acrobat' into your programme is a
+sure-fire way of packing the halls. I wish them much success: I have
+many pleasant memories of events organised by GUTenberg: I commend
+their meetings to you, and urge you to demonstrate your commitment to
+the progressive forces in Europe by taking the train to their next
+meeting.
+
+\section{To be taken daily}
+A copy of Kopka \& Daly's \emph{A Guide to \LaTeXe} arrived the
+other day. I have long been an admirer of the first edition of this
+book. The second edition, which, as its new title implies, reflects
+the \LaTeXe\ standard, maintains the former high level. I think it
+fairly neatly bridges the gap between Lamport's rather terse account
+and the uneven whirlwind tour of thousands of packages in the `three
+men and a dog' tome which unleashed the new release upon us. I find it
+intriguing that in a book of over 500 pages, less than 300 are given
+directly to \LaTeXe, and 200 to appendices. The book is published by
+Addison-Weley, ISBN 0-201-42777-X.
+
+\section{Web}
+As the World Wide Web continues its inexorable conquest of the world,
+let's stand back for a moment and see how \TeX\ fits in. First, look
+at its origins. Consider the primitive nature of the early HTML
+`standard'. Can you guess why it was so brain dead? If you look at it
+closely, you'll see that apart from its hypertext anchors, its two
+main features were tons of headings and various types of list
+structures. In fact, it was modelled closely on \texttt{texinfo}, a
+variant \TeX-macro package used chiefly by the Free Software
+Foundation afficionados. Consider too what stroke of chance it was
+that led Tim Berners-Lee to sit down with one of \textsc{cern}'s tribe
+of \sgml{} people for coffee one morning. Sheer luck (or genius) which
+has done more for the street credibility of \sgml{} than years of
+conferences in exotic climes and hob-nobbing with the
+militarly-industrial complex. Consider also what might have happened
+if it had been Michel Goossens who had that fateful cup of coffee with
+Tim. The world would now be beating a path to the door of \LaTeX. Or
+would it? Nevertheless, \LaTeX\ is re-appearing within HTML
+developments. The new `standard', very much still in draft, includes
+maths and tables. There is a test-bed available, called \emph{Arena}
+which will allow you to see what is planned. The encoding of maths is
+essentially that of \LaTeX. And surprisingly, the encoding of tables
+looks currently just like \LaTeX\ too -- I say surprisingly since
+\texttt{tbl} is more powerful and equally stable.
+
+\subsubsection{The Trojan horse option}
+I wonder though if we are not missing a real opportunity. While
+Acrobat, or \texttt{pdf}, is now an `official' \textsc{mime} type
+(implying that it can be happily included on the Web, and browsers can
+be configured to handle it in a standardised way), \texttt{dvi} has
+not yet made it to this status. Consider that Acrobat readers are
+available for Sun machines running Solaris (and Motif), and not for
+the other myriad of Unix boxes. What is present on almost every Unix
+box? Why, \TeX\ and \LaTeX, and therefore something like \texttt{xdvi}
+which will display \texttt{dvi} files. Acrobat is therefore not quite
+as widely available as we would like (only Solaris, Mac and Windows),
+while \TeX\ and \LaTeX\ are not as widespread as we would like on Mac
+and Windows (it's not that people can't afford the disk space, since
+you can hardly buy a machine these days with less than 500Mbyte of
+disk, but rather that the installation is still such a pig). The Unix
+piece of the problem is simple, since downloading a \texttt{dvi} file
+over the Web would mererly fire up \texttt{xdvi} or some similar
+previewer. With Windows, the situation is more difficult. If we had a
+nice simple installation of a previewer which could use Multiple
+Master fonts, a \texttt{dvi} \textsc{mime} type might be a success.
+All I'm talking about is a previewer, not the whole \TeX/\LaTeX\
+installation. Using Adobe's Multiple Master fonts appeals to me as a
+way of piggy backing off their technology, and also means that in font
+terms, it can do at least anything that Acrobat can. Of course, we
+have to change the name of \texttt{dvi}, since it is a registered
+trade mark (of Intel?) for digital video\dots One advantage is that
+all the archives of scientific papers created using \TeX, \LaTeX\ or
+\texttt{groff} are available no matter what platform you use. It would
+also be a very open standard, with no whiff of proprietary
+machinations. It's so obvious that someone is bound to have done it
+already.
+
+\section{Deathwish 1996}
+Am I alone in thinking that there are some odd decisions being made on
+the location of TUG conferences? The notion of going to Florida in the
+summer didn't appeal to me (although I appreciate that there may have
+been a sub-text which somehow equated TUG and Disneyworld), but next
+year's conference location outdoes this: Russia. At least I think
+that's what they said. Maybe it will really be in Moscow (that's a wee
+place in Ayrshire). With at least two TUG members in Russia, it
+promises to be an unforgettable meeting.
+
+
+\section{Another famous Belgian}
+
+You will remember the parlour game where you were challenged to name
+ten famous Belgians (it isn't really that difficult). There is now an
+eleventh! Michel Goossens of \emph{Companion} fame will be President
+of TUG. This makes three non-US Presidents in a row, neatly
+confounding any claims that it is solely a US organisation. Someone
+unkindly remarked upon the similarity between Michel and Tin-tin, but
+apart from the dogs and the nationality I can't see this. Perhaps we
+should be told.
+
+\section{Thank you}
+
+This edition of \BV\ carries an announcement of the elevation of M
+Clark to Honorary Membership of the group. In a rare interview MC told
+me how deeply moved he was by this singular honour, all the more so,
+he said, since the committee at that time had been populated by a
+large number of people who he held in high regard. He went on to say
+that one of the things he enjoyed most about the \TeX\ (and \LaTeX)
+world was the comradeship and good fellowship which characterised
+it. Almost without exception, \TeX\ people helped one another, and did
+so in a friendly and concerned way. If anything, they were sometimes
+too nice, he added with a twinkle in his eye (too many bottles of Cab
+Sov). He asked your correspondent to convey his heartfelt thanks to
+all those involved.
+\end{Article}