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6 [title={MKII MKIV LMTX},
7 banner={where does it end},
8 location={context\enspace {\bf 2020}\enspace meeting}]
9
10\starttitle[title=Welcome]
11
12This meeting was kind of special because of the Covid situations. It forces us to
13adapt and think about how to deal with this kind of situations. But, we had a
14very nice meeting as usual. The first talk was a summary of where we started and
15where we are now. The other talks are more specialized.
16
17All presentations use the same simple style. No interaction, no fancy \PDF\
18features, also because we had to stream them.
19
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21
22\starttitle[title=MKII]
23
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26 In the 80s I bought the \TEX book but it all stayed pretty abstract.
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29 In the beginning of the 90s we had to get some math on paper we bought (!) a
30 copy of \LATEX.
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33 Right from the start we had to make in look a bit better than out of the box.
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36 So a shell around if evolved but soon we started from scratch.
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39 We did so first on top \LAMSTEX, then we switched to \INRSTEX.
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42 Soon we only used a few components of that: we learned from trial and error.
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45 We joined the \NTG, met Taco and friends, and slowly got some presence.
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48 And it all went on till we had what we later called \MKII.
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51 But, we always had ideas about what more we wanted.
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54 We went from \TEX\ to \ETEX\ to \PDFTEX\ to \PDFETEX.
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57 We played with the idea of \type {eetex}, different backends etc.\ (show old
58 \MAPS\ article).
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60\stopitemize
61
62\stoptitle
63
64\starttitle[title=MK{\thinspace\periods[2]}]
65
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68 \CONTEXT\ has been keyword driven and class based from the start.
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71 This came with a performance hit so the reputation was that it was slow:
72 inheritance, flexibility, user control \unknown\ it all comes at a price.
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75 \CONTEXT\ always had an abstract driver model (\DVIPS, \DVIPSONE, \DVIWINDO,
76 \ACROBAT, \PDFTEX, etc).
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79 It also had an adaptive the front end so we could support successive engines:
80 \TEX, \ETEX, \PDFTEX, \ALEPH, \XETEX.
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83 There had to be color and graphics support from the beginning.
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86 The interfaces permitted extension without breaking compatibility. The user
87 interface was multilingual: we started with Dutch and German (users).
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90 It came with management tools (like \TEXEXEC, \TEXUTIL, \TEXFONT, \TEXMFSTART) etc.\
91 for job control, dealing with (user) fonts, image manipulations etc.
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94 And of course \METAPOST, \XML, combining font setups, mixing encodings, \UTF\
95 patterns evolved with the system.
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98 Educational usage was often the reason for new features.
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100\stopitemize
101
102\stoptitle
103
104\starttitle[title=MKIV]
105
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108 At some point we started playing with \LUA\ (in \SCITE).
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111 And then with Hartmut started adding some basic \LUA\ support to a clone of
112 \PDFTEX\ that soon became \LUATEX.
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115 Next the Oriental \TEX\ project provided means for Taco to transition to
116 \CCODE .
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119 And for years we slowly built up the system. A \LUAJITTEX\ version showed up
120 and Luigi took over integration in \TEXLIVE\ (like compilation within the
121 infrastructure and updating libraries).
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124 In parallel we tested features and explored what we needed with \CONTEXT:
125 \MKIV\ evolved.
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128 And \unknown\ soon, all further development happened in \MKIV\ only: \MKII\
129 became frozen.
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132 The interface subsystem was upgraded and Wolfgang checked and completed all
133 setups while we did. Obsolete (font, language, input) mechanisms were
134 removed.
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137 A lot happened: some more \TEX, lots of \LUA, better \METAPOST\ integration,
138 more advanced \XML.
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141 To some extend a project like that became to late because the glory days of
142 \TEX\ were already past (publishing changed) but just as with \PDFTEX\ a
143 conceptual upgrade like was felt needed.
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146
147\stoptitle
148
149\starttitle[title=MKXL (aka LMTX)]
150
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153 When \LUATEX\ had to be frozen a follow up took place in \LUAMETATEX. The name
154 reflects the importance of each core component.
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157 The idea is to have an lean and mean engine, one that will become very stable
158 and does not depend on the issues of the day.
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161 Its for all those dedicated users who like quality and playing around but
162 also want guarantees that the tools keeps working years from now: its about
163 independence.
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166 Of course we tested and explored with \CONTEXT\ and this time \LMTX\ evolves.
167 Here the \type {X} reflects that we consider \XML\ to be part of the picture.
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170 Although there will be (and already is) new functionality the change is less
171 dramatic because this we dont have the change in fonts, encoding and regime
172 subsystems (which made some \MKII\ commands go away).
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175 Hopefully some of the more tricky (hard to do in good old \TEX) mechanisms
176 can be improved now.
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179 And at some point we will freeze \MKIV\ and development will happen in \LMTX\
180 only.
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183
184\stoptitle
185
186\starttitle[title=This meeting]
187
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190 My talks in this meeting are mostly about \LUAMETATEX\ and the \CONTEXT\
191 version \LMTX\ that targets it: how it is done, which concepts show up, where
192 we want to go.
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195 Unless you kept a close eye on last years development, you will encounter of
196 plenty of new features that relate to \LUAMETATEX. So, there is more to tell,
197 but most of that is already known from previous meetings.
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200 And, as usual, a \CONTEXT\ meeting is not only a deadline, but also a
201 starting point. Its you who keep it all going. And, even more than that,
202 it is about us meeting.
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