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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}