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diff --git a/macros/latex/contrib/l3kernel/l3news04.tex b/macros/latex/contrib/l3kernel/l3news04.tex deleted file mode 100644 index a0fc82f3de..0000000000 --- a/macros/latex/contrib/l3kernel/l3news04.tex +++ /dev/null @@ -1,123 +0,0 @@ -% Copyright 2009,2010 The LaTeX Project -\documentclass{ltnews} -\PassOptionsToPackage{colorlinks}{hyperref} - -\usepackage{metalogo,ragged2e} - -\AtBeginDocument{ - \renewcommand{\LaTeXNews}{\LaTeX3~News} - \RaggedRight -} - -\usepackage{url,hologo} - -\publicationmonth{July} -\publicationyear{2010} -\publicationissue{4} - -\begin{document} -\maketitle - -\noindent -Now that we're back from the \TeX\ Users Group conference in San -Francisco, it's time to discuss what's been going on over the last six months. -Due to some extra travel plans after the conference, this issue is slightly -late in coming out. - - -\section{\textsf{expl3} in practice} - -Joseph Wright and Will Robertson have both released significant new versions -of their packages, resp., \textsf{siunitx} and \textsf{fontspec}. These have -been re-written in the \LaTeX3 programming language \textsf{expl3}, which we -have discussed here previously. Using \textsf{expl3} for production code has -been very successful, both in demonstrating that the concepts are sound and -highlighting areas that still need some attention. -% The \textsf{expl3} -% code will continue to evolve as more people use it for their work. - -In the case of \textsf{fontspec}, \textsf{expl3} programming is being used to -target \LaTeX\ running on either \XeTeX\ and \hologo{LuaTeX}. In the latter -case, the package is a mixture of Lua code and \pkg{expl3} code; Will -presented the \pkg{unicode-math} package at TUG~2010, which is developed in -the same style. - - -\section{New \textsf{xpackages}} - -Frank Mittelbach has started to work on a new experimental \LaTeX3 package -\textsf{xhead} that provides templates for one of the most complex areas of -document design: section headings and document divisions. This -is the beginning of an ambitious idea to map out the requirements for -typesetting most documents currently processed with \LaTeX. - -One of the challenges here is providing a ``natural'' design language for -describing the two-dimensional spatial relationships of objects participating -in the design, e.g., the placement of a heading number in relation to the -heading title, a possible sub-title, etc. In answer to this challenge Frank -developed the \textsf{xcoffin} package, which he presented at TUG~2010. It is -designed as a high-level interface for placing and aligning boxes on a page, -allowing a `designer's approach' for indicating the positional relationship -between boxes. (A `coffin' is a box with handles.) As an example, it is -possible to represent ideas such as `align the lower-left corner of box A with -the upper-right corner of box B after rotating it ninety degrees', without -having to calculate the intermediate positions. - -We expect a future version of \textsf{xcoffin} (after some further work on its -interface layer and its internal implementation) to play a major role in all -packages providing layout templates for higher-level document objects, such as -table of contents designs, floats, etc. - -Finally, -Joseph Wright has begun work with the current `galley' packages, producing the -new, minimal, \textsf{xgalley} based on \textsf{xfm-galley} as a testbed for -what we need and what will work. - - -\section{Developments with \textsf{expl3}} - -Meanwhile, Joseph's \emph{also} been writing a new floating-point calculation -module, called \textsf{l3fp}, for \pkg{expl3}. This module allows manipulation -and calculation of numbers with a much larger range than \TeX\ allows -naturally. The \textsf{l3fp} module has already been utilised in the -\pkg{xcoffin} code for calculatations such as coordinate rotations and -intersection points of vectors. - -The modules \pkg{l3io} and \pkg{l3file} have been revised, rethinking the way -that read and write streams are dealt with. \TeX\ has a hard limit of sixteen -input and output streams open at any one time, and the new implementation for -\pkg{expl3} provides more flexibility in how they are allocated; there's now -much less chance of running into a `\verb|No room for a new \read|' (or -\verb|\write|) error. - -Sometimes we discuss ideas for \textsf{expl3} that \emph{don't} end up making -it into the final code. One example of this is the concept of having `local -registers' for integers, boxes, and so on, that do not survive outside of the -group they are defined in (in contrast to Plain \TeX\ and \LaTeX, where -allocators such as \verb|\newcount| and \verb|\newbox| are always global). -Despite the scope for some small benefit, we decided that the extra complexity -that the additional functions required, in both syntax and documentation, was -not justified. - - -\section{TUG 2010 reflections} - -% added most of it back in: -fmi - -%% Most of the active \LaTeX3 Project team were able to attend the TUG~2010 -%% conference and (for Will) meet everyone in person for the first time. - -Our interpretation of the broad themes discussed at the conference are that -\TeX-based systems are still thriving and there are some big problems to solve -with robust solutions to transform \LaTeX\ source, including mathematics, into -a form such as HTML. While there are big pushes for standardising various aspects -of the \LaTeX\ syntax, we also believe that it is \LaTeX's very -flexibility---its inherently non-standardised markup---that has allowed it to -survive for so many years. There is a delicate trade-off here between moving -forward into more standards-based territory while also retaining the -extensibility of the third-party package system. - -\end{document} - - - |