[XeTeX] The future of XeTeX

[Keith J. Schultz]

Hi Zdenek,

	I believe well are pretty much inline with each other.



Am 01.08.2012 um 10:48 schrieb Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com>:

> 2012/8/1 Keith J. Schultz <keithjschultz at web.de>:
>> Hi Adam,
>> 
>> Yes, LuaTeX is a evolving project, especially at the lowest level.
>> Am 01.08.2012 um 02:54 schrieb Adam Twardoch (List) <list.adam at twardoch.com>:
>> 
>>> On 31.07.2012, at 13:02, Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa at web.de> wrote

[snip, snip]

>>        XeTeX has is strength in typography, and support for languages, due to polyglossia. This is definitely missing in LuaTeX.
> 
> This is not a principal problem. LuaTeX can still use babel and
> polyglossia may be ported. I think that it makes use of
> XeTeXinterchartoks for French, this has to be implemented in another
> way but it can be solved.
	I know that one can use Babel. but Polyglossia is design for unicode supoort and handles non-latin
	languages, far better than Babel. 

[snip, snip]

>>         From the simple user side. LuaTeX is about as easy as it gets. For most purpose I can teach you all you need to know how to use Lua for TeX in 2 hours!
>> 
> When trying to compile my first document written in Czech using UTF-8
> by lualatex it took me just a few minutes because from the user's
> point of view fontspec is almost the same as in xetex.
	I was talking about using Lua, not writing TeX.

> 
>>        Did I say 2 hours!, Well, that is only for the simple user. For the TeX Macro Package developer things are harder. That it is, you have to learn how to manipulate TeX with Lua.
>>        Due to the complexity of TeX that is no easy task. Especially, since the only documentation is a reference manual, that does not explain anything! So, you either know low-level
>>        TeX or you are out of luck.
>> 
> Yes, this is the problem. If I take the TeXbook, it explains chapter
> by chapter all algorithms. It would be nice to have luatex
> documentation that will explain, how all these algrithms may be
> affected be lua, where the hooks are, what are the data structures.
> The reference manual lists the hooks and provides syntax but I am
> afraid that without reading the luatex source code I will not be able
> to use them.
	How, true. One thing we should not forget is that LauTeX is not written
	in Lua. I believe they use C or one of its derivatives. Lua is just an
	extension to the binary code. The data structures should be pretty much
	the same as the ones in TeX. (just guessing, but it is my understanding).

[snip, snip]

regards 
	Keith.