Xref:	news2.mv.net comp.os.msdos.djgpp:2852
From:	alexlehm AT rbg DOT informatik DOT th-darmstadt DOT de (Alexander Lehmann)
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: LaTEX?
Date:	18 Apr 1996 17:16:33 GMT
Organization:	Technische Hochschule Darmstadt
Lines:	69
Message-ID:	<4l5tdh$mja@rs18.hrz.th-darmstadt.de>
References:	<Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 960418134019 DOT 10337B-100000 AT is>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	hp62.rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Eli Zaretskii (eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il) wrote:

: On Thu, 18 Apr 1996, Martynas Kunigelis wrote:

: >   Is there a share/freeware version of LaTEX browser available? And what
: > are its priorities against `info'?

: I don't know exactly what LaTeX adds to TeX, but at least TeX is not at
: all a language for hypertext documentation.  It's a non-WYSIWYG
: word-processor which is great for describing page layout and fonts, but
: has nothing to offer in the hypertext field.  Texinfo source can be used
: to generate a TeX output (using special TeX macros) but this is usually a
: step towards generating printed version of the docs. 

You can think of TeX as a macro processor and LaTeX as a collection of
macros to implement an alternate language. TeX and LaTeX files are mutually
incompatible, most people use LaTeX for writing scientific papers since it
has some features like automatic creation of a table of contents etc.
(In fact most people say they write something in TeX and mean LaTeX).

: >                                 Why did Eli choose TEX format for DJGPP
: > documentation sources? I suppose because there are converters to most other
: > formats from TEX, is that true?

: DJGPP documentation is not written in TeX, it's written in Texinfo (and I 
: didn't choose it for DJGPP, only for the FAQ).  Texinfo is *very* 
: different from TeX; the name is just a reminder that you can produce both 
: TeX and Info output from the same source.

Texinfo is also a macro package for TeX, which implements macros that make
creating DVI and info output very easy.

: The reason I've chosen Texinfo for the FAQ is that (1) the Info and text 
: versions of the FAQ are easily produced from it; (2) it has a macro 
: facility that allowed me to produce the HTML version without changing the 
: Texinfo package; (3) it is part of DJGPP, so I don't have to tell people 
: to install or port additional software; and (4) Emacs has an extensive 
: support for writing Texinfo documentation, which made it easy for me to 
: write the source.

: >                                   I'm quite satisfied with info, but I am
: > dreaming about something more comfortable, with mouse support, highlighting
: > and that kinda stuff. Is that what TEX is all about?

: No, TeX is certainly not about this.  You should distinguish between a
: language and a browser used to read the documents written in that
: language.  For instance, I read the Info documentation with Emacs, which
: does support the mouse and color highlighting of Info files that you are
: after.  If you need it badly enough, you could add these features to the
: stand-alone Info reader too. 

Yes, TeX is not for accessing tex/latex/texinfo files interactivly, but can
be used to produce a publication qualify hardcopy of the file. If you process
a .texinfo file with TeX and then print it, you will get a book-like
printout with table of contents, index, references etc.


For interactive browsing of the manual, I would probably use the HTML version
and maybe Netscape or Mosaic. Since you can load local HTML files into them,
you can read the FAQ without a currently active network connection.


bye, Alexander

--
Alexander Lehmann,                                  |  "On the Internet,
alex AT hal DOT rhein-main DOT de  (plain, MIME, NeXT)         |   nobody knows
alexlehm AT rbg DOT informatik DOT th-darmstadt DOT de (plain)     |   you're a dog."
<URL:http://www.student.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/~alexlehm/>

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