path: root/Master/texmf-dist/doc/latex/expl3/readme.txt

   Experimental Packages Demonstrating
   A Possible LaTeX3 Programming Convention
   ========================================

   2008/08/05


WHERE TO GET IT
---------------

The files in this distribution represent a snapshot of selected files
from the Subversion (SVN) repository of the LaTeX3 Project.

To obtain current versions of the files, visit
<http://www.latex-project.org/code.html> which contains further
instructions.

OVERVIEW
--------

The files of the expl3 bundle provide a low-level API for TeX
programmers with special syntax conventions, completely separating it
from document level syntax. Hence, the commands provided are not
intended for use at the document level nor for use in describing
design layouts in document class files.

This API provides the foundation on which the LaTeX3 kernel and other
advanced extensions are built. Special care has been taken so that
they can be used within a LaTeX2e context as regular packages.

While the existing code is approaching a stable state, we cannot
guarantee that names of packages or commands they define will not
change. This is also related to the history of the code: It has been
developed over time and has been used in previous versions for
prototypes implementations, experiments, etc. It may therefore
occasionally contain references to parts that are at present not
distributed.


THE GUILTY PERSONS
------------------

   Frank Mittelbach, Denys Duchier, Johannes Braams, Michael Downes,
   David Carlisle, Alan Jeffrey, Chris Rowley, Rainer Schoepf 
   Javier Bezos, Morten Hoegholm, Thomas Lotze


DISCUSSION
----------

Discussion concerning the approach, suggestions for improvements, changes,
additions, etc. should be addressed to the list LATEX-L. 

You can subscribe to this list by sending mail to

  listserv@urz.uni-heidelberg.de

with the body containing

  subscribe LATEX-L  <Your-First-Name> <Your-Second-Name>


BUGS
----

If you find a real bug that makes a package stop working you can
report it via the standard LaTeX bug reporting mechanism of the LaTeX
distribution (see bugs.txt there) using the category "Experimental
LaTeX kernel".  However please do *not* use this method for
suggestions / comments / improvements / etc. For this the list LATEX-L
should be used instead.

Also please don't expect these package to work with *any* code that
floats around in the LaTeX2e world. :-)



MANIFEST
--------

The following packages are in this release:


l3names
=======

Documents the general naming scheme, and gives new names to all the TeX
primitives.

If this package is used with the option [removeoldnames] then the
original TeX primitive names (\hbox, \def, ...) are made *undefined* and
so free to be defined for other purposes if needed. Of course this
breaks almost all existing LaTeX2 code, but it may be used for testing
purposes, see test2.tex.

The option removeoldnames has been disabled temporarily.

l3basics
========

Some basic definitions that are used by the other packages.

l3chk
=====

Functions that check definitions.
(Comparable to LaTeX2's \newcommand/\renewcommand.)

l3alloc
=======

Generic functions for allocating registers.

l3toks
======

TeX's token registers.  (Can be compiled with checking enabled)

l3tlp
=====

Token List Pointers. A basic LaTeX3 datatype for storing token lists.
(These are essentially macros with no arguments.) The module also
provides functions for arbitrary token lists. (Package can be compiled
with checking enabled.)

l3expan
=======

The argument expansion module. One of the main features of the language
proposed here is a systematic treatment of the handling of argument
expansion. The basic functions for preprocessing command arguments are
defined here.

l3quark
=======

A `quark' is a command that is defined to expand to itself. So it may
not be directly used (it would generate an infinite loop) but has many
uses as special markers within LaTeX code.

l3seq
=====

A module implementing the basic list and stack datatypes.

l3clist
=======

A module implementing the handling of comma separated lists

l3prop
======

Property lists are the datatype for handling key/value assignments.

l3int
=====

Integer and fake integer registers. With eTeX/Omega becoming more and
more accessible this module is, at least in parts only of historical
significance.  (Can be compiled with checking enabled)

l3num
=====

Storing numbers as token-lists in macros

l3skip
======

Dealing with length registers

l3precom
=========

Low-level pointer-related code, with further checking and tracing.

l3io
====

Low-level input and ouput.

l3prg
=====

Experimental control structures. This covers booleans and various
other code.

l3box
=====

Low level box handling code

l3token
=====

Functions that investigate tokens and determine of which categories
they are. For instance, is the token in question expandable or not? Is
it a macro taking arguments?  Also functions for peeking ahead in the
token stream.

l3xref
=====

Module providing the low-level interface for cross references. This
module also contains a test file which is generated along with the
package.

l3messages
=====

Module providing a new mechanism to provide longer warning and error
messages based on storing the messages in external files.

l3calc
=====

Module for using infix notation for the built-in register types
(lengths and counters).

l3keyval
=====

Module for extracting data from a key=val list for further processing.

=====================================================================

Install file
=============

l3.ins
======

Process with plain TeX or LaTeX2e to generate the experimental
packages.

=====================================================================

Experimental LaTeX3 Format
==========================

l3vers.dtx
==========

This file contains the version information and other release related
coding. 

l3final.dtx
===========

This file is reserved for the last minute coding for producing a
format (such as the dump instruction).

source3.tex
===========

Run this file with pdfLaTeX in extended mode:
pdflatex "*source3.tex" to produce the documentation.
Doing this will produce three extra files (source3.ist, l3doc.cfg and
l3full.cfg). The first of these is a style file for makeindex; the
others or configuration files for the documentation class.
If you want to full documentation including the code listings than
rename l3full.cfg to l3doc.cfg and run LaTeX again.
Alternatively, run (in extended mode)
  pdflatex "\PassOptionsToClass{full}{l3doc}\input{source3}"
After that run makeindex to produce the index, like so:
makeindex -s source3.ist source3
and rerun LaTeX.

l3format.ins
============

Process with plain TeX or LaTeX2e to generate the experimental
format file lbase.ltx and its companion lbase.ini.
The run pdfetex --ini "*lbase.ini" to produce the experimental
format. 

=====================================================================

Test Files
==========

Two test files show the expansion module at work.

test1.tex
=========

Test document showing the expansion module at work.

test2.tex
=========

The same test as the file test1, but this time the l3names package is
loaded with [removeoldnames]. This is useful for testing, but as it
breaks all LaTeX2 code, it is not so useful for documents.  (For
example {document} would generate an error.)  In this mode
\RequirePackage may be used to load further packages, as demonstrated
in this file, but any other LaTeX2 command is likely to fail.

The option removeoldnames has been disabled temporarily and so this
test file is of limited use.

test3.tex
=========

This tests the io and precomp modules.


=====================================================================

--- Copyright 1998 -- 2008
    The LaTeX3 Project.  All rights reserved ---