From e0c6872cf40896c7be36b11dcc744620f10adf1d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Norbert Preining Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2019 13:46:59 +0900 Subject: Initial commit --- usergrps/uktug/baskervi/8_3/editorial.tex | 159 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 159 insertions(+) create mode 100644 usergrps/uktug/baskervi/8_3/editorial.tex (limited to 'usergrps/uktug/baskervi/8_3/editorial.tex') diff --git a/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/8_3/editorial.tex b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/8_3/editorial.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..5d2fa54392 --- /dev/null +++ b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/8_3/editorial.tex @@ -0,0 +1,159 @@ +\vspace*{1cm} +\title{Snippets} +\author{} +\begin{article} +\section{\TeX\ consultant sought} +The Wellcome Trust is interested to hear from \TeX\ experts who would be +willing and able to provide technical support and consultancy to one user +on an ad-hoc basis. + +The project concerned aims to catalogue several hundred Arabic manuscripts +and software used at the moment is MS Word, em\TeX, emTeXgi and Arab\TeX\ +under MS Windows 3.11. This tool-set might change with an imminent move to +Windows NT4 or could be changed if recommended. It is foreseen that there +will be telephone inquiries as well as on-site visits. + +Interested parties should apply to The Wellcome Trust by submitting a +resume of their relevant technical experience, details of other +commitments and expected payment mode. To find out more about the +project, please e-mail Dr Nikolai Serikoff +(\url{n.serikoff@wellcome.ac.uk}) , to apply please send the requested +information to Ms Dagmar Jeschin (\url{d.jeschin@wellcome.ac.uk} or Dagmar +Jeschin, The Wellcome Trust, 210 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE) by the +middle of August. +\section{Committee members sought: a message from Philip Taylor} + Having now served as Chairman of \uktug\ for about nine months, I can + without hesitation confirm that it is both an incredibly rewarding + yet frequently frustrating experience. Rewarding, because at first + hand I get to see how hard the various members of the Committee work + to make \uktug\ a better organisation; frustrating, because I see how + much time gets wasted on the minutiae of committee work. + + Yet despite the frustrations, work gets done: \BV\ is edited, + formatted, printed and distributed; new editions of the \TeX\ Live CD + are prepared, pressed and sent out; and meetings and workshops are + researched, planned, organised and announced. But who does this + work, and why? The answer is `the members of the Committee' (aided + and abetted by willing volunteers such as Martyn Johnson of the + Cambridge Computer Laboratory). And why? Only they can tell you! + It's hard work, and the only reward is an occasional letter from a + member expressing his or her thanks for the work which has been done. + + But each year, a number of the Committee have to stand down. Some + because they have served their time, and our Constitution (blessed be + its name) ensures that no Committee member may serve more than his or her + allotted time without standing down for at least one year. Some because + pressure of `real' work prevents them from spending the time on \uktug\ + activities that such activities demand. + + And who is to replace them? That, dear Member, is where you come in! + Do you care about \TeX? Do you care about \uktug? Do you have the + energy to attend some four to six meeting a year, and to receive some + two thousand or more electronic mail messages a year (and to send about + 1/12 of that number yourself?). If you do, then this is the time to + step forwards. A number of the present Committee will be standing + down or retiring at the Annual General Meeting in September, and the + remaining members of the Committee are very concerned to ensure + that those leaving are replaced. If you are willing to stand, + then \emph{please} complete one of the nomination forms which accompanies + this issue of \BV. Beg (on your bended knees, if + necessary) two people to propose and second you. And canvass all + your friends in \uktug\ to vote for you, because this is going to be + the hardest fought election in the history of \uktug! + + Do all this, and I look forward \emph{very much} to seeing you on the + Committee next year. + +\end{article} +\title{Introduction to \Lftrou} +\author{Malcolm Clark} +\begin{article} +I started my \TeX-life with `plain' \TeX\ in about 1984. Being younger +and more set in my ways, I truly believed that \LaTeX\ was an affront +to family values and represented yet another downward step in the +sorry decline of moral and ethical values. If not actually the spawn +of the devil, \LaTeX\ users were at least beyond the pale. This view +managed to sustain me for many years, until in 1989 Katherine +Butterfield persuaded me to teach \LaTeX\ to a research group at the +University of California, Berkeley. \textit{\Lftrou} (or +\textit{\LaTeX$^\prime$} as it was then) was born. At first I thought +(quite arrogantly) that I could merely adapt my existing \TeX\ course +to \LaTeX. \LaTeX\ requires a much more subtle and mellow thought +process. Unlike \TeX, where you really can do exactly what you want +(whether or not it is a good idea), \LaTeX\ requires that you relax +and go with the flow. Trust it, and all will be well: remember \LaTeX\ +can smell your fear. Looking back, I have to say that the average +dedicated \LaTeX-er is a much less stressed individual than the +average dedicated \TeX-er. + +When I published my \textit{\TeX\ Primer} in 1992, I planned to follow +it shortly after by \Lftrou. I was overtaken by the euphoria of +\LaTeX3, which eventually became the muted excitement of \LaTeXe, and +had to start re-writing whole chunks. At the same sort of time, some +excellent \LaTeX\ books, like Goossens, Mittelbach \& Samarin's +\textit{\LaTeX\ Companion}, Kopka \& Daly's second edition of their +\textit{Guide to \LaTeXe}, Goossens, Rahtz \& Mittelbach's +\textit{\LaTeX\ Graphics Companion}, and then the second edition of +Lamport's own \textit{\LaTeX: A Document Preparation System} appeared +on the scene. We were awash with good quality stuff (at last!). My +enthusiasm for the project waned, but it was revitalised by the last +course I taught, at the Technical University of Malaysia, where I had +one of the biggest and best classes I have ever had the pleasure to +teach. They helped me get things pretty close to their present state. + +We are presenting this as a serialisation, though perhaps not quite in the +same long and honourable tradition which includes Hardy and Dickens. What is in +your hands represents about the first quarter of the text. The next quarter +will be out later this year (we are aiming for \BV\ 8.5), and the other half +should appear next year sometime, although precise dates and editions for 1999 +are but figments of our collective imagination (neither the present editor nor +myself are likely to be on the UK TUG committee next year, and our loyalty +could be stretched\dots). There are also questions embedded in the text. Once +all the text has been finished, solutions to these questions will be provided. +This probably means yet another chunk of \BV, but since I haven't yet written +the solutions, I don't know quite how much space they will take up. + +All being well, and if our enthusiasm stands up, we're very tempted to +create a pdf (Adobe Acrobat) version with tons of hyper-links. That +would be available electronically (and maybe even as part of one of +these magnificent \TeX\ Live CDs that Sebastian Rahtz keeps +producing). I love the idea of a hyper-\LaTeX\ electronic book. The +\LaTeX\ source will of course go up as part of the \BV\ archive files +on \CTAN, where anyone may obtain it for their own pleasure and +delectation. + +The UK \TeX\ Users Group will hold copyright. If anyone wishes to use +the text of \textit{\Lftrou}, in part, or entire, they are welcome to +do so. I merely ask that they should acknowledge me as the `original' +source, but if they make any commercial advantage they should arrange +with the UK \TeX\ Users Group to make any appropriate royalty payment. +I'd really prefer they gave it away. In spirit I would like to be +fairly close to the GNU copyleft declaration. But I'm not against +crass commercialism: I'm just against someone else making loads of +money out of my efforts, and \TeX\ not benefiting in some way. + +There are too many people to thank to be able to do so individually, +but I will always be grateful to Katherine Butterfield who provided +the initial impetus. I gratefully acknowledge the many students from +Santa Barbara to Johor Bahru who have been exposed to versions of the +\LaTeX\ courses I have given, and who have therefore unwittingly +contributed to this project. I am especially privileged to have +Sebastian Rahtz as editor, and David Carlisle as reviewer. + +There will likely be errors in the text. I expect them to be errors +of fact, omission, opinion or interpretation. I would be happy to +hear of them, but except for errors of fact, I may choose to ignore +them. Don't be surprised if I appear to lie or mislead in the initial chapters. +This trait has a long and honorable tradition in books on \TeX. Sometimes +the truth takes a little longer to tease out. I've never believed that it was +appropriate to tell all the truth in all circumstances. You won't find +details of how to install \TeX\ and \LaTeX\ in \textit{\Lftrou}. This is +quite deliberate since I believe it to be a non-problem, especially for +members of this group, who all have a copy of the \TeX\ Live CD. +\end{article} + + + + + + -- cgit v1.2.3