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-% Copyright 2009 The LaTeX Project
-\documentclass{ltnews}
-\PassOptionsToPackage{colorlinks}{hyperref}
-
-\usepackage{metalogo,ragged2e}
-
-\AtBeginDocument{
- \renewcommand{\LaTeXNews}{\LaTeX3~News}
- \RaggedRight
-}
-
-\usepackage{url}
-\newcommand\TUG[1]{\textsc{tug}~#1}
-
-\publicationmonth{June}
-\publicationyear{2009}
-\publicationissue{2}
-
-\begin{document}
-\maketitle
-
-\section{\TeX~Live and the \textsf{expl3} code}
-
-\TeX~Live 2009 is almost upon us, and the \LaTeX3 team have been
-readying a new release of the experimental \LaTeX3 code for this.
-Very dramatic changes have occurred since the
-last public release of the code in \TeX~Live~2008; no backwards compatibility has been
-maintained (as warned in the beginning of the documentation) but we
-believe the changes made are all much for the better. Almost every
-single part of \textsf{expl3} has been scrutinized, resulting in a far
-more coherent code base.
-
-The \textsf{expl3} code is now considered to be much more stable than
-it was before; a comprehensive test suite has been written that helps
-to ensure that we don't make any mistakes as we change things in the
-future. In the process of writing the test
-suite, many minor bugs were fixed; we recommend such test suites for
-all similar developmental projects!
-Some small underlying changes are still expected in the
-\textsf{expl3} code, but major, disruptive, changes aren't planned.
-
-\section{Planned updates}
-
-Until now, the last update to \textsc{ctan} of the \textsf{expl3}
-bundle was for \TeX~Live~2008. Now that work on the code is happening
-on a semi-steady basis, we plan to keep updates rolling out to
-\textsc{ctan} more frequently. This will allow anyone who wishes to
-experiment with the new code to use the \TeX~Live or MiK\TeX\
-updaters to install a recent version without having to `check out' the
-\textsc{svn} repository and install the packages manually.
-
-\section{New members}
-
-We didn't say anything about it in the last status update, but Joseph
-Wright and Will Robertson are now members of the \LaTeX\ Team. They
-have been working fairly exclusively on the \textsf{expl3} code.
-
-It's worth repeating that \LaTeXe\ is essentially frozen in order to
-prevent any backwards compatibility problems. As desirable as it is
-to benefit from the new features offered by new engines \XeTeX\ and
-Lua\TeX, we cannot risk the stability of production servers running
-older versions of \LaTeXe\ which will inevitably end up processing
-documents written into the future.
-
-\LaTeX3 will not be inheriting the same restraints, so stay tuned.
-
-\newpage
-
-\section{Some specifics}
-
-Morten H\o gholm will be presenting the recent changes in much more detail at
-\TUG{2009}. Here are some quick specifics for those interested. New code written
-and broad changes made to the \textsf{expl3} modules:
-\begin{description}
-\item [More logical function names]
- Many function names that were hold-outs from the \TeX\ naming system
- have been changed to fit into the more logical scheme of \textsf{expl3}; e.g.,
- \verb|\def:Npn| and \verb|\let:NN| are now \verb|\cs_set:Npn| and
- \verb|\cs_set_eq:NN|.
-
-\item [Defining functions and conditionals]
- Much thought was put into new ways to define
- functions and conditionals with a minimum of code.
- See \verb|\cs_set:Nn| and \verb|\prg_set_conditional:Nnn|.
-
-\item [Smart comparisons]
- Comparisons can be made much more easily now, with familiar notation such as
- \verb|\intexpr_compare_p:n{ #1+3 != \l_tmpa_int }|.
-
-\item [Data from variables] A new function argument specifier \texttt{V} has
- been added for extracting information from variables of different types,
- without needing to know the underlying variable structure. Some other
- tidy-ups on the argument specifiers offered, partially as a result of the
- addition of this new one.
-
-\item [l3msg] New module to deal with communication between \LaTeX3 code
- and the user (info messages, warnings, and errors), including message
- filtering partially inspired by the \textsf{silence} package.
- \end{description}
-
-\section{The next six months}
-
-Having overhauled the \textsf{expl3} code, we now plan to perform an
-analogous process with the foundations of the
-\textsf{xpackages}. These are the higher-level packages that will
-provide the basic needs such as control of the page layout and rich
-document-level interaction with the user. As the groundwork for this
-layer of the document processing matures, we will be able to start
-building more packages for a \LaTeX3 kernel; these packages will also
-be usable on top of \LaTeXe\ and serve as broadly customisable
-templates for future document design.
-
-As gaps in the functionality offered by \textsf{expl3} are found (in
-some cases, we know that they exist already), the programming layer
-will be extended to support our needs. In other cases, wrappers around
-\TeX\ functions that can be more usefully handled at a higher level
-will be written.
-
-In terms of what we're planning to work on next, three \textsf{xpackage}s
-will take the focus of our attention.
-\begin{description}
-\item [xbase]
- `\textsf{xbase}' is actually two packages: \textsf{xparse} and
- \textsf{template}. These contain code for, respectively, defining new
- document commands (such that a user would use; e.g., \verb|\section|,
- \verb|\makebox|, \dots) and for handling keyval lists for user input and
- document specification. \textsf{xparse} was presented at \TUG{1999}%
- \footnote{\url{http://www.latex-project.org/papers/tug99.pdf}}
- and Lars Hellstr\"om wrote some notes on \textsf{template} in 2000%
- \footnote{\url{http://www.latex-project.org/papers/template-notes.pdf}}.
- Functionality coverage for these packages is good but concepts need a good
- ``airing''. There are various approaches taken for keyval input, some more
- recent than the \textsf{template} code, so there are some alternatives to
- evaluate.
-\item [galley2] Sophisticated handling for \mbox{constructing} paragraphs and
- other document elements. Morten spoke on this at \TUG{2008}%
- \footnote{\url{http://river-valley.tv/the-galley-module/}}.
- Design needs to be revisited after some stress testing.
-\item [xor] This is the \LaTeX3 output routine for splitting the galley into
- page and sub-page sized chunks. Ideas and code need work to move to
- ``production ready'' status. Early developments with this package were
- published by Frank in 2000%
- \footnote{\url{http://www.latex-project.org/papers/xo-pfloat.pdf}}.
-\end{description}
-
-Expect to hear again from us at Christmas. If you'd like to discuss any
-of these ideas, please join us on the \textsc{latex-l} mailing list%
-\footnote{\url{http://www.latex-project.org/code.html}}.
-
-\end{document}
-
-
-