blob: 7b376a47aeb8635c0699f627f0a23b6c3f7c04ec (
plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
|
<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label LaTeXandPlain</title>
</head><body>
<h3>How does LaTeX relate to Plain TeX?</h3>
<p>LaTeX is a program written in the programming language TeX. (In
the same sense, any LaTeX document is also a program, which is
designed to run 'alongside', or 'inside' LaTeX, whichever metaphor
you prefer.)
<p>Plain TeX is also a program written in the programming language
TeX.
<p>Both exist because writing your documents in 'raw' TeX would
involve much reinventing of wheels for every document. They both
serve as convenient aids to make document writing more pleasant:
LaTeX is a far more extensive aid.
<p>LaTeX is close to being a superset of Plain TeX. Many documents
designed for Plain TeX will work with LaTeX with no more than
minor modifications (though some will require substantial work).
<p>Interpretation of any (La)TeX program involves some data-driven
elements, and LaTeX has a wider range of such elements than does
Plain TeX. As a result, the mapping from LaTeX to Plain TeX
is far less clear than that in the other direction.
<p><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=LaTeXandPlain">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=LaTeXandPlain</a>
</body>
|
