1\environment publicationsstyle
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3\startcomponent publicationsintroduction
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5\startchapter[title=Introduction]
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7\startsubject[title=How Hans got involved]
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9This manual is dedicated to Taco \Name{Hoekwater}{T.} who in a previous century
10implemented the first \BIBTEX\ module and saw it morph into a \TEX\LUA\ hybrid
11in this century. The fact that there was support for bibliographies made it
12possible for users to use \CONTEXT\ in an academic environment, dominated by
13bibliographic databases encoded in the \BIBTEX\ format.
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15This manual describes how \MKIV\ now handles bibliographies. Support in \CONTEXT\
16started in \MKII\ for \BIBTEX, as mentioned above, using a module written by Taco
17\Name {Hoekwater} {T.}. Later his code was adapted to \MKIV, but because users
18demanded more, I decided that reimplementing made more sense than patching. In
19particular, through the use of \LUA, the \BIBTEX\ data files can be easily
20directly parsed, thus liberating \CONTEXT\ from the dependency on an external
21\BIBTEX\ executable. The \Index{CritEd project} (by Thomas \Name {Schmitz} {T.},
22Alan \Name {Braslau} {A.}, Luigi \Name {Scarso} {L.} and \name {Hagen}
23{H.}myself) was a good reason to undertake this rewrite. As part that project
24users were invited to come up with ideas about extensions. Not all of them are
25(yet) honored, but the rewrite makes more functionality possible.
26
27The subsystem described here is one of the most complex and messy of all
28\CONTEXT\ subsystems. This has to do with the fact that it combines (multiple)
29lists and (multiple) forward and backward references, all kind of rendering of
30the citation as well as the entry in the list, rather complex interactivity,
31multiple databases, datasets and renderings and of course combinations of this.
32The implementation uses a mix of \TEX\ and \LUA\ code with so called setups as
33rendering specifications. At the cost of complexity (and some runtime penalty)
34this provides a lot of freedom and flexibility.
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42\stopsubject
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44\startsubject[title=How Alan got involved]
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46Bibliographies and citations are of utmost importance in any scholarly work.
47Nevertheless, the production of bibliography lists and the insertion of
48citations, just like the production of an index, is a task that is often
49postponed to a later stage in the writing of an article, a book, or a manual.
50Perhaps this is because it can be more important to create than to refer, but
51maybe the necessary tools are found to be insufficient or unnatural.
52
53A computerized typesetting system should help an author produce a text, not
54impose any preset format or unnecessary constraint. In a referenced work, a
55bibliography system should be flexible enough to adapt to very different styles
56and practices. Creating such a system is quite a challenge.
57
58\CONTEXT\ \MKII\ implemented a system that was based on a use of \BIBTEX, an
59external program that built upon basic bibliographic macros introduced in \LATEX.
60\CONTEXT\ \MKIV\ moved away from this dependency, opening up many possibilities
61for new functionality and, we hoped, providing more natural and flexible tools
62for authors. For my own use, the most important of which is a very powerful
63search and match mechanism that has been made possible though the use of \LUA.
64
65I had started by asking simple questions on details of the workings of this new
66system and making \quotation{wouldnt it be nice to} requests for functionality
67that I knew was somehow buried in the inner workings of \CONTEXT. As a result of
68these inquiries, I got drawn into the project to make this new system a reality.
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75\stopsubject
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77\startsubject[title=How you can be involved]
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79Bibliography management is indeed one of the most complex subsystems in \CONTEXT,
80and many, many design decisions had to be made during its development.
81Experimental features were added, some of which were later abandoned as being
82inappropriate or else superseded by some better mechanism. The effort (and time)
83that we spent in reimplementing the treatment of bibliographies was much greater
84than any of us had anticipated when we undertook this project. Hopefully, now the
85system is stable enough to be more widely used and this manual is an attempt to
86make it accessible to all users.
87
88There are \CONTEXT\ users who will just use whatever the bibliograpy modules
89provide by default. For many, the \APA\ style is good enough; others may have
90specific needs. This manual should provide insight on how to adapt the system to
91new styles. But sometimes users will ask questions on the mailing list that are
92not answered here. Feel free to come up with additional examples that can be
93added to the test suite, or when we consider them to be of general use, to this
94manual.
95
96\stopsubject
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98\startsubject[title=Hyperlinks]
99
100Please note \startfootnote Footnotes are placed at the end of each chapter.
101\stopfootnote that this document contains hyperlinks that are not highlighted for
102aesthetic reasons. In addition to standard interaction (table of contents, index,
103and crossreferences, some external web sources are selectable.
104
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