[luatex] Hash tokens meaning

[Sensei]

On 5/28/13 12:06 PM, Arthur Reutenauer wrote:
>> Under your comparison, C is LaTeX, and an object file is TeX (I don't
>> care about the dvi right now).
>
>    That doesn't make any sense.  TeX is a program, you can't compare it
> to a file format.  A comparison that would make more sense is that C is
> TeX, the object file is TeX's hash table (that is usually not dumped on
> file), and up to now you've not really used TeX itself, but a macro
> package, LaTeX, that provides a convenient user interface to it.

Since I am not a TeX user, I compared the "LaTeX output/under the hood" 
to an object file.

>> However, I find the translation from C to object much easier: the
>> number of segments in an object files roughly compares to the number
>> of functions contained in the original source code. It seems that
>> LaTeX commands are much more complex than I've thought.
>
>    That's because they're macros, and -- presumably -- you've only used
> the high-level user interface up to now.  Hence you seem disturbed by
> the fact that LaTeX defines many more commands that you've used until
> now; but you shouldn't.  If you look at LaTeX's source code it should be
> much clearer.

I have tried, but it's not like what I expected. I know how to walk 
through a program in source code, because that's what I'm accustomed to: 
I find LaTeX's source code very different, I find myself wandering 
around without any clear and sharp indication on a "main".

I guess I will read the TeX book, first.


Cheers!