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-% Copyright 2009 The LaTeX Project
-\documentclass{ltnews}
-\PassOptionsToPackage{colorlinks}{hyperref}
-
-\usepackage{metalogo,ragged2e}
-
-\AtBeginDocument{
- \renewcommand{\LaTeXNews}{\LaTeX3~News}
- \RaggedRight
-}
-
-\publicationmonth{February}
-\publicationyear{2009}
-\publicationissue{1}
-
-\begin{document}
-\maketitle
-
-\section{Welcome to \LaTeX3}
-
-Momentum is again starting to build behind The \LaTeX{} Project. For the
-last few releases of \TeX~Live, the experimental programming foundation for
-\LaTeX3 has been available under the name \package{expl3}. Despite large
-warnings that the code would probably change in the future, we wanted to show
-that there was progress being made, no matter how slowly. Since then, some
-people have looked at the code, provided feedback, and~--- most
-importantly~--- actually tried using it. Although it is yet early days, we
-believe that the ideas behind the code are sound and there are only `cosmetic
-improvements' that need to be made before \package{expl3} is ready for the
-\LaTeX~package author masses.
-
-\section{What currently exists}
-
-The current \LaTeX3 code consists of two main branches: the
-\package{expl3} modules that define the underlying programming environment,
-and the `\package{xpackage}s', which are a suite of packages that are written
-with the \package{expl3} programming interface and provide some higher-level
-functionality for what will one day become \LaTeX3 proper. Both \package{expl3} and
-parts of the \package{xpackages} are designed to be used \emph{on top} of
-\LaTeXe, so new packages can take advantage of the new features while still
-allowing to be used alongside many of the vast number of \LaTeXe\ packages on
-\textsc{ctan}.
-
-\section{What's happening now}
-
-In preparation for a minor overhaul of the \package{expl3} code, we are
-writing a comprehensive test suite for each module. These tests allow us to
-make implementation changes and then test if the code still works as before.
-They are also highlighting any minor shortcomings or omissions in the code.
-As the tests are being written, our assumptions about what should be called
-what and the underlying naming conventions for the functions and datatypes are
-being questioned, challenged, and noted for further rumination.
-
-At the time of writing, we are approximately half-way through writing the test
-suite. Once this task is complete, which we plan for the first
-half of 2009, we will be ready to make changes without worrying about breaking
-anything.
-
-\section{What's happening soon}
-
-So what do we want to change? The current \package{expl3} codebase has
-portions that date to the pre-\LaTeXe\ days, while other modules have been
-more recently conceived. It is quite apparent when reading through the sources
-that some unification and tidying up would improve the simplicity and
-consistency of the code. In many cases, such changes will mean nothing more
-than a tweak or a rename.
-
-Beyond these minor changes, we are also re-thinking the exact notation behind
-the way functions are defined. There are currently a handful of different
-types of arguments that functions may be passed (from an untouched single
-token to a complete expansion of a token list) and we're not entirely happy
-with how the original choices have evolved now that the system has grown
-somewhat. We have received good feedback from several people on ways that we
-could improve the argument syntax, and as part of the upcoming changes to the
-\package{expl3} packages we hope to address the problems that we currently
-perceive in the present syntax.
-
-\section{What's happening later}
-
-After the changes discussed above are finished, we will begin freezing the core
-interface of the \package{expl3} modules, and we hope that more package
-authors will be interested in using the new ideas to write their own code.
-While the core functions will then remain unchanged, more features and new
-modules will be added as \LaTeX3 starts to grow.
-
-Some new and/or experimental packages will be changing to use the
-\package{expl3} programming interface, including \package{breqn},
-\package{mathtools}, \package{empheq}, \package{fontspec}, and
-\package{unicode-math}. (Which is one reason for the lack of progress in
-these latter two in recent times.) There will also be a version of the
-\package{siunitx} package written in \package{expl3}, in parallel to the
-current \LaTeXe\ version. These developments will provide improvements to
-everyday \LaTeX\ users who haven't even heard of The \LaTeX{} Project.
-
-Looking towards the long term, \LaTeX3 as a document preparation system needs
-to be written almost from scratch. A high-level user syntax needs to be
-designed and scores of packages will be used as inspiration for the
-`out-of-the-box' default document templates. \LaTeXe\ has stood up to the test
-of time~--- some fifteen years and still going strong~--- and it is now time
-to write a successor that will survive another score.
-
-\end{document}