Publications by topic: LaTeX2e Concepts and Design

Key–value setting handling in the LaTeX kernel

• Joseph Wright
• TUGboat 43:2, 2022

This paper describes the new kernel mechanism to handle package and class options using key–value methods introduced in release 2022-06-01.

A video on “Key-value setting handling in the kernel (2022)” as presented by Joseph at the TUG conference is also available.

From the TUG Conference 2022 (Online conference)

New in stock — recent LaTeX improvements (that you may have missed)

• Ulrike Fischer
• Video of the TUG 2022 online conference
• Keywords: LaTeX, features, improvements
• Abstract

  In this talk I present a selection of improvement we made in the recent LaTeX releases. The changes are not discussed in depth; the goal is to give some interesting examples and make you curious enough to explore the documentation and learn more.

Key-value setting handling in the kernel

• Joseph Wright
• Video of the TUG 2022 online conference
• Keywords: LaTeX, key/value handling
• Abstract

  LaTeX2ε introduced class and package setting in the optional arguments to \documentclass and \usepackage. To date, these were designed to handle simple keyword-based option. Over time, packages have extended the mechanism to accept key-value (keyval) arguments. Recent work by the team brings keyval handling into the kernel. This brings the added benefit of allowing repeated package loading to avoid clashes. Here, I will look briefly at the background, then explore how to use the new mechanism in package development.

Using spot colors with LaTeX

• Ulrike Fischer
• Video of the TUG 2022 online conference
• Keywords: LaTeX, spot color
• Abstract

  In this talk I recount some practical experiences with spot colors I gained while working on the third edition of The LaTeX Companion. I describe what spot colors are, how to use them for text and (Ti_k_Z) graphics, how to mix them properly, and some of the pitfalls we found and how we worked around them.

Creating document commands: The good, the bad and the ugly

• Joseph Wright
• TUGboat 42:1, 2021
• Abstract

  Creating document commands in LaTeX has traditionally involved a mix of \newcommand, semi-internal kernel commands (like \@ifnextchar and \@ifstar) and low-level TeX programming using \def. As part of wider efforts to improve LaTeX, the team have over the past few years developed ideas for creating document commands in the package xparse. In a parallel article (on \NewDocumentCommand, on the following pages), I’ve looked at how the xparse ideas compare to the abilities of other packages.

\NewDocumentCommand versus \newcommand versus . . .

• Joseph Wright
• TUGboat 42:1, 2021
• Abstract

  Creating new document commands in LaTeX has traditionally been the job of \newcommand. This lets you create a command with mandatory arguments, and also support a first optional argument. However, it can’t create more complex commands: LaTeX uses stars, multiple optional arguments, and plenty more. To define commands using such syntaxes, the kernel itself uses lower-level TeX programming. But this is opaque to many users, and a variety of packages have been created to ease the burden. …

The LaTeX release workflow and the LaTeX dev formats

• Frank Mittelbach
• TUGboat 40:2, 2019
• Abstract

  How do you prevent creating banana software (i.e., software that gets ripe at the customer site)? By proper testing! But this is anything but easy.

  The paper will give an overview of the efforts made by the LaTeX Project Team over the years to provide high-quality software and explains the changes that we have made this summer to improve the situation further.

TUG Conference 2019 (Palo Alto, USA)

Taming UTF-8 in pdfTeX (handouts)

• Frank Mittelbach
• TUG Conference 2019 (Palo Alto, USA)

To understand the concepts in pdflatex for processing UTF-8 encoded files it is helpful to first take a look at the models used by the TeX engine and earlier attempts made by LaTeX on top of TeX. The talk provides a short historical review of that area and gives an overview about the improvements with respect to UTF-8 handling that will be activated in LaTeX within 2019.

From the TUG Conference 2018 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Compatibility in the LaTeX world (handouts)

• Frank Mittelbach
• TUG Conference 2018 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Abstract:

In this talk I take a look at the major disruptions that have rocked the LaTeX world in the past decades and how we handled them, covering some of the resulting consequences.

In the latest part of this saga a rollback concept for the LaTeX kernel was introduced (around 2015). Providing this feature allowed us to make corrections to the software (which more or less didn’t happen for nearly two decades) while continuing to maintain backward compatibility to the highest degree.

I will give some explanation on how we have now extended this concept to the world of packages and classes which was not covered initially. As the classes and the extension packages have different requirements compared to the kernel, the approach is different (and simplified). This should make it easy for package developers to apply it to their packages and authors to use when necessary.

• Video of the talk recorded by IMPA on YouTube: What’s to stay, what’s to go – Compatibility in the LaTeX world

• Conference published in TUGboat 39:2, 2018 A rollback concept for packages and classes

From the TUG Conference 2010 (San Francisco, USA)

A brief history of LaTeX — with a prediction

• Chris Rowley
• TUG Conference 2010 (San Francisco, USA)
• Video of the talk: A brief history of LaTeX — with a prediction (via River Valley TV)

From the TUG Conference 2008 (Cork, Irland)

Windows of opportunity: A (biased) personal history of two decades of LaTeX development — Are there lessons to be learned?

• Frank Mittelbach
• TUG Conference 2008 (Cork, Irland)
• Video of the talk: Windows of opportunity: A (biased) personal history of two decades of LaTeX development — Are there lessons to be learned? (via River Valley TV)

Interview of Frank Mittelbach – A combined interview of the LaTeX Project director

• Frank Mittelbach, Gianluca Pignalberi, Dave Walden
• Published paper, 2006, Free Software Magazine
• Keywords: LaTeX history, LaTeX future, LPPL, LaTeX3
• Abstract

  Free Software Magazine (FSM) and the TeX Users Group (TUG) both like to publish interviews. Recently, Gianluca Pignalberi of Free Software Magazine and Dave Walden of TUG both approached Frank Mittelbach about interviewing him. Rather than doing two separate interviews, Mittelbach, Pignalberi, and Walden decided on a combined interview in keeping with the mutual interests already shared by Free Software Magazine and TUG.

From the twentieth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing in 2001 (Newport, Rhode Island, USA)

The LaTeX Legacy

• Chris Rowley
• Published paper, PODC ‘01 Proceedings of the twentieth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing, Pages 17-25
• Keywords: LaTeX history, LaTeX future
• Abstract

  The second edition of The LaTeX Manual begins: `LaTeX is a system for typesetting documents. Its first widely available version, mysteriously numbered 2.09, appeared in 1985.’

  It is too early for a complete critical assessment of the impact of LaTeX 2.09 because its world-wide effects on many aspects of many cultures, not least scientific publication, remain strong after 15 years—and that itself is significant in a technological world where a mere 15 months of fame can make and break an idea.

  Therefore this paper provides simply a review and evaluation of the relationship between TeX, LaTeX and some of the major technical developments in the world of quality automated formatting since the publication of LaTeX 2.09 in 1985. It is neither definitive nor comprehensive but I hope it is informative.

LaTeX2e encoding interfaces

• Frank Mittelbach
• Presentation, 1995
• Keywords: LaTeX2e interface, input encoding, font encoding

A presentation held at Brno about the encoding interfaces that LaTeX offers. It discusses the various issues related to input and output encodings.

TUG Conference 1989 (Stanford, USA)

With LaTeX into the Nineties

• Frank Mittelbach, Rainer Schöpf
• Published paper, 1989 TUGboat Volume 10 Conference Proceedings
• Keywords: LaTeX 2.09
• Abstract

  During the last three years, LaTeX has spread widely, even into such new fields as business applications. The fact that there are new classes of users forces one to reconsider the LaTeX implementation and some of its features. Within a few years, LaTeX 2.09 alone will not be sufficient to satisfy the increasing needs of its users. As a consequence one of the important characteristics of the LaTeX concept – the possibility of exchanging documents – is in danger of being sacrificed on the altar of local changes and enhancements.

  Starting from these considerations and from our experiences of several years of LaTeX support, we will present a proposal for a re-implementation of LaTeX. This new version would not only preserve the essential features of the present user interface (in order to be compatible with old LaTeX files), but also take into account already formulated requests, as well as future developments.

The paper of the talk given at the 1989 conference in Stanford that started the LaTeX project.