Re: LaTeX / Metafont was Re: Arabic transliteration

On Fri, Nov 15, 2002 at 09:19:18AM -0600, Peter Clark wrote:
> On Friday 15 November 2002 04:35 am, Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> > En réponse à Peter Clark <peter-clark@...>:
> > >         Unless, of course, you are using LaTeX.
> >
> > But LaTeX is not really a text *editor* ;)))) .
<rant>
Who cares if it's not an editor. Editors are not typesetters and vice
versa. This is IMNSHO a fundamental design flaw with WYSIAYG word
processors. It's mixing up logical structure with physical presentation.
The recent momentum towards XML and content-based web design is proof of
this. Eye candy is never the right answer. This has been known since the
early days of computing, but has been lost and only recently
re-discovered. (Or more like, people are only now rudely awakened to the
fact of it.)
</rant>

[snip]
>         While technically you are correct (it is not an editor), that's beside the
> point--you can use any text editor (nano, vi, notepad, even *shudder* emacs)
<joke> Misguided sheep, all of you. Pico forever!! ;-) </joke>

[snip]
>         I read the book and went, "Huh?" I'm more the type that learns from
> example--if there are any decent tutorials out there, that would be far more
> helpful. Although I suppose a local copy of the book wouldn't hurt, either.
I'm dying to get a hold of a dead-tree version of the Metafont book. (As
well as the other volumes in that masterpiece of Knuth's, but that's
another topic. :-P) Now, if I can only figure out a way to order from
Addison-Wesley without needing a credit card...

[snip]
>         Hmm--maybe we should start a separate mailing list: "LaTeX and Friends for
> Conlangers." Let's see, H.S. Teoh has also been threatening to create a MF
> font, anybody else?
[snip]

Oh, this would be an AWESOME idea. TeX and Metafont aren't simple beasts
to tame; it would be *extremely* helpful to have a group of people to
discuss problems/solutions/ideas with. Esp. like-minded conlangers. :-)

I can't wait to unleash an Ebisedian metafont on a shocked world. :-P (It
would motivate me to actually finalize this miserable _sanoki'_ writing
system, at least!)


T

--
Why is a river rich? 'cos it has two banks.

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