context from the start used the pdftex engine and lua was a first class citizen. havent used it in a while but it's quite different from latex, it's much close

context from the start used the pdftex engine and lua was a first class citizen. havent used it in a while but it's quite different from latex, it's much closer to original tex. while latex needs plugins for many extra features from all kinds of sources, and these plugins sometimes fight between themselves, context is more like bsd or django: comes with batteries included and i found it a much nicer experience.