% \iffalse meta-comment % % Copyright 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 % The LaTeX3 Project and any individual authors listed elsewhere % in this file. % % This file is part of the LaTeX base system. % ------------------------------------------- % % It may be distributed and/or modified under the % conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c % of this license or (at your option) any later version. % The latest version of this license is in % http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt % and version 1.3c or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX % version 2005/12/01 or later. % % This file has the LPPL maintenance status "maintained". % % The list of all files belonging to the LaTeX base distribution is % given in the file `manifest.txt'. See also `legal.txt' for additional % information. % % The list of derived (unpacked) files belonging to the distribution % and covered by LPPL is defined by the unpacking scripts (with % extension .ins) which are part of the distribution. % % \fi % Filename: ltnews18.tex % % This is issue 18 of LaTeX News. \documentclass [lw35fonts] % uncomment this line to get Palatino {ltnews}[2004/02/28] % \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \publicationmonth{December} \publicationyear{2007} \publicationissue{18} \begin{document} \maketitle % \raisefirstsection \section{} \emph{empty shell} \section{Updates of required packages} \section{Work on \LaTeX{} fixes} \section{Current development} The title of this section is a little misleading as it actually describes \emph{current} development. In 1998 the \package{expl3} bundle of packages was put on \ctan\ to demonstrate a possible \LaTeX3 programming environment. These packages have been lying dormant for some time while the \LaTeX\ Project Team were preoccupied by other things such as developing the experimental packages \package{xor}, \package{template}, etc., (and also writing that indispensable and encyclopaedic volume,\\ The \LaTeX{} Companion -- 2nd edition). In October 2004 work on this code base was resumed with the goal of some day turning it into a kernel for \LaTeX3. This work can now also make full use of the widely accepted \eTeX\ extensions. Currently two areas are central to this work. \begin{itemize} \item Extending the kernel code of \LaTeX3. \item Converting the experimental packages such as \package{xor}, \package{template} to use the new syntax internally. \end{itemize} Beware! Development of \package{expl3} is happening so fast that the descriptions above might be out of date when you read this! If you wish to see what's going on then go to \url{http://www.latex-project.org/code.html} where you can download fully working code (we hope!). \end{document}