1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
|
% language=us
\usemodule[present-boring,abbreviations-logos]
\startdocument
[title={MKII MKIV LMTX},
banner={where does it end},
location={context\enspace {\bf 2020}\enspace meeting}]
\starttitle[title=Welcome]
This meeting was kind of special because of the Covid situations. It forces us to
adapt and think about how to deal with this kind of situations. But, we had a
very nice meeting as usual. The first talk was a summary of where we started and
where we are now. The other talks are more specialized.
All presentations use the same simple style. No interaction, no fancy \PDF\
features, also because we had to stream them.
\stoptitle
\starttitle[title=MKII]
\startitemize
\startitem
In the 80's I bought the \TEX book but it all stayed pretty abstract.
\stopitem
\startitem
In the beginning of the 90's we had to get some math on paper we bought (!) a
copy of \LATEX.
\stopitem
\startitem
Right from the start we had to make in look a bit better than out of the box.
\stopitem
\startitem
So a shell around if evolved but soon we started from scratch.
\stopitem
\startitem
We did so first on top \LAMSTEX, then we switched to \INRSTEX.
\stopitem
\startitem
Soon we only used a few components of that: we learned from trial and error.
\stopitem
\startitem
We joined the \NTG, met Taco and friends, and slowly got some presence.
\stopitem
\startitem
And it all went on till we had what we later called \MKII.
\stopitem
\startitem
But, we always had ideas about what more we wanted.
\stopitem
\startitem
We went from \TEX\ to \ETEX\ to \PDFTEX\ to \PDFETEX.
\stopitem
\startitem
We played with the idea of \type {eetex}, different backends etc.\ (show old
\MAPS\ article).
\stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptitle
\starttitle[title=MK{\thinspace\periods[2]}]
\startitemize
\startitem
\CONTEXT\ has been keyword driven and class based from the start.
\stopitem
\startitem
This came with a performance hit so the reputation was that it was slow:
inheritance, flexibility, user control \unknown\ it all comes at a price.
\stopitem
\startitem
\CONTEXT\ always had an abstract driver model (\DVIPS, \DVIPSONE, \DVIWINDO,
\ACROBAT, \PDFTEX, etc).
\stopitem
\startitem
It also had an adaptive the front end so we could support successive engines:
\TEX, \ETEX, \PDFTEX, \ALEPH, \XETEX.
\stopitem
\startitem
There had to be color and graphics support from the beginning.
\stopitem
\startitem
The interfaces permitted extension without breaking compatibility. The user
interface was multilingual: we started with Dutch and German (users).
\stopitem
\startitem
It came with management tools (like \TEXEXEC, \TEXUTIL, \TEXFONT, \TEXMFSTART) etc.\
for job control, dealing with (user) fonts, image manipulations etc.
\stopitem
\startitem
And of course \METAPOST, \XML, combining font setups, mixing encodings, \UTF\
patterns evolved with the system.
\stopitem
\startitem
Educational usage was often the reason for new features.
\stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptitle
\starttitle[title=MKIV]
\startitemize
\startitem
At some point we started playing with \LUA\ (in \SCITE).
\stopitem
\startitem
And then with Hartmut started adding some basic \LUA\ support to a clone of
\PDFTEX\ that soon became \LUATEX.
\stopitem
\startitem
Next the Oriental \TEX\ project provided means for Taco to transition to
\CCODE .
\stopitem
\startitem
And for years we slowly built up the system. A \LUAJITTEX\ version showed up
and Luigi took over integration in \TEXLIVE\ (like compilation within the
infrastructure and updating libraries).
\stopitem
\startitem
In parallel we tested features and explored what we needed with \CONTEXT:
\MKIV\ evolved.
\stopitem
\startitem
And \unknown\ soon, all further development happened in \MKIV\ only: \MKII\
became frozen.
\stopitem
\startitem
The interface subsystem was upgraded and Wolfgang checked and completed all
setups while we did. Obsolete (font, language, input) mechanisms were
removed.
\stopitem
\startitem
A lot happened: some more \TEX, lots of \LUA, better \METAPOST\ integration,
more advanced \XML.
\stopitem
\startitem
To some extend a project like that became to late because the glory days of
\TEX\ were already past (publishing changed) but just as with \PDFTEX\ a
conceptual upgrade like was felt needed.
\stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptitle
\starttitle[title=MKXL (aka LMTX)]
\startitemize
\startitem
When \LUATEX\ had to be frozen a follow up took place in \LUAMETATEX. The name
reflects the importance of each core component.
\stopitem
\startitem
The idea is to have an lean and mean engine, one that will become very stable
and does not depend on the issues of the day.
\stopitem
\startitem
It's for all those dedicated users who like quality and playing around but
also want guarantees that the tools keeps working years from now: it's about
independence.
\stopitem
\startitem
Of course we tested and explored with \CONTEXT\ and this time \LMTX\ evolves.
Here the \type {X} reflects that we consider \XML\ to be part of the picture.
\stopitem
\startitem
Although there will be (and already is) new functionality the change is less
dramatic because this we don't have the change in fonts, encoding and regime
subsystems (which made some \MKII\ commands go away).
\stopitem
\startitem
Hopefully some of the more tricky (hard to do in good old \TEX) mechanisms
can be improved now.
\stopitem
\startitem
And at some point we will freeze \MKIV\ and development will happen in \LMTX\
only.
\stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptitle
\starttitle[title=This meeting]
\startitemize
\startitem
My talks in this meeting are mostly about \LUAMETATEX\ and the \CONTEXT\
version \LMTX\ that targets it: how it is done, which concepts show up, where
we want to go.
\stopitem
\startitem
Unless you kept a close eye on last years development, you will encounter of
plenty of new features that relate to \LUAMETATEX. So, there is more to tell,
but most of that is already known from previous meetings.
\stopitem
\startitem
And, as usual, a \CONTEXT\ meeting is not only a deadline, but also a
starting point. It's you who keep it all going. And, even more than that,
it is about us meeting.
\stopitem
\stopitemize
\stoptitle
\stopdocument
|