[XeTeX] XeTeX in lshort

[Apostolos Syropoulos]

>     TeX was developed as a  subset of SGML or if you wish clone, variant, etc.
>     TeX is  a declarative and procedural programming language. What is  more
>     important it is dynamic! That is it is possible to  change the definitions 
>of the
>     macros used while the  program is running. Thereby giving you the ability 
>to  change
>     the semantics of the command itself as well as the  semantics of the 
>document structure!
 
TeX as a programming language is a derivative of LISP and in this sense it is 
declarative,
though not functional. Now, a language that is procedural is (almost?) an 
imperative
programming language and frankly I don't understand how an imperative language 
can be
declarative at the same time. Also, informally speaking, when one says a 
language is dynamic
or static, he/she refers to the type system of the language. 

A.S.
 

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Apostolos Syropoulos
Xanthi, Greece