Helmut Kopka's interpretation of the TDS

[Paul A Vojta]

> Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 16:22:55 -0500
> From: "K. Berry" <kb@cs.umb.edu>
> To: lavaud@centre.univ-orleans.fr
> Subject: Re: Helmut Kopka's interpretation of the TDS
> 
> We will see whether the benefits of the TDS to *users* are important
> enough to actually make it spread or not.

This raises a question that has been behind my rather lukewarm acceptance
of TDS, but that I've never really addressed (until now).

That is, as far as I can tell, the benefits to users are all negative:

   o	TeX and its support programs become bigger and slower.
   o	If you want to look directly at a macro file (e.g., plain.tex or
	amstex.tex) (which I do from time to time), then you have to dig
	to find it.

The only benefits to TDS that I see are for site admins (and others higher
up on the pyramid).  Perhaps you lump site admins in with users?  Or
are there benefits to users (construed narrowly) that I am not aware of?

--Paul Vojta, vojta@math.berkeley.edu (temporarily at math.ias.edu)