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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am interested in writing new packages. I
appreciate any answers to these questions:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Do I needs tex source code? When Lamport wrote
latex did he modify tex executable or he just wrote a bunch of macros in place
of or in addition to plaintex? If latex is a bunch of macros why do I have
a latex executable which I run on my .tex files?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. Does it matter to know tex well if I want
to develop new packages? If it does could you tell me what is the best book,
help, documentation for tex (particularly free resources)?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. I like to write a .tex file which changes
according to the value of a variable say x inside the .tex file. Other things in
the file depend on the x value by means of some arithmatic operations. Does tex
accept arithmatic values as parameters?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Moheb</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>