TeX in a Nutshell

Olšák, Petr. "TeX in a Nutshell." Zpravodaj Československého sdružení uživatelů TeXu 031.1-4 (2021): 9-55. <http://eudml.org/doc/298678>.

@article{Olšák2021,
abstract = {Nowadays, many users discover TeX through high-level formats that hide the complexity of typesetting behind a facade of a friendly markup language. However, all except the simplest of typesetting tasks require that the user can understand what happens under the hood and knows how they can influence the algorithms of TeX when needed. In this article, the author introduces the foundations of most high-level TeX formats, which will help the readers with their day-to-day work with TeX as well as their more difficult typesetting tasks. The readers are first introduced to the program TeX and its extensions. Then, they learn about the different processors of TeX and their modes. Finally, the readers learn about the registers and primitive commands of TeX as well as the macros of the plain TeX format. The word of the day is brevity as the exposition spans less than forty pages: An excellent reading material for an otherwise uneventful train ride! The author has previously written three books about TeX, has developed the OpTeX format, maintains a dozen package on the CTAN archive, and has taught a university course about TeX for over twenty years.},
author = {Olšák, Petr},
journal = {Zpravodaj Československého sdružení uživatelů TeXu},
keywords = {TeX; eTeX; pdfTeX; XeTeX; LuaTeX; microtypography; plain TeX; TeX; eTeX; pdfTeX; XeTeX; LuaTeX; microtypografie; plain TeX},
language = {eng},
number = {1-4},
pages = {9-55},
publisher = {Československé sdružení uživatelů TeXu},
title = {TeX in a Nutshell},
url = {http://eudml.org/doc/298678},
volume = {031},
year = {2021},
}

TY - JOUR
AU - Olšák, Petr
TI - TeX in a Nutshell
JO - Zpravodaj Československého sdružení uživatelů TeXu
PY - 2021
PB - Československé sdružení uživatelů TeXu
VL - 031
IS - 1-4
SP - 9
EP - 55
AB - Nowadays, many users discover TeX through high-level formats that hide the complexity of typesetting behind a facade of a friendly markup language. However, all except the simplest of typesetting tasks require that the user can understand what happens under the hood and knows how they can influence the algorithms of TeX when needed. In this article, the author introduces the foundations of most high-level TeX formats, which will help the readers with their day-to-day work with TeX as well as their more difficult typesetting tasks. The readers are first introduced to the program TeX and its extensions. Then, they learn about the different processors of TeX and their modes. Finally, the readers learn about the registers and primitive commands of TeX as well as the macros of the plain TeX format. The word of the day is brevity as the exposition spans less than forty pages: An excellent reading material for an otherwise uneventful train ride! The author has previously written three books about TeX, has developed the OpTeX format, maintains a dozen package on the CTAN archive, and has taught a university course about TeX for over twenty years.
LA - eng
KW - TeX; eTeX; pdfTeX; XeTeX; LuaTeX; microtypography; plain TeX; TeX; eTeX; pdfTeX; XeTeX; LuaTeX; microtypografie; plain TeX
UR - http://eudml.org/doc/298678
ER -