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LaTeX needs replacing with something faster and more program-y, and that isn't just a python script. LateX's successor should be opinionated, safe, easy to bui
by mhh__ 4y ago
LaTeX needs replacing with something faster and more program-y, and that isn't just a python script.
LateX's successor should be opinionated, safe, easy to build in parallel, and also good at integrating with other tooling:
Let a CAS generate the next equation for you, for example.
Make sure that figure is never out of date (e.g. a build system rather than relying on a web of files and button clicks)
Etc.
This will likely never happen because latex is still very good at what people want it to do push comes to shove, but we could have a much better document format and publishing system around it.
- clircle 4y agoWhat is LuaLaTeX?
- mhh__ 4y agoGood idea. Doesn't go far enough / is only an incremental improvement. I've never truly immersed myself in it so maybe it's more powerfully elegant than I remember.
- dhosek 4y agoLuaLaTeX is a lot slower than pdfLaTeX or XeLaTeX and default settings give different output than the other two, e.g., around line breaks at – or —. I only recommend it if you need it. Most people don't.
- einpoklum 4y ago> something faster I don't know that this is the major pain point. The thing is, writing complex-structure/programmed documents is not something which needs immediate re-rendering with every character - just like you don't recompile your program with every character you change. This would, however, be very useful for syntax and compiler-detectable error. You would have an effectively-immediate indication of warnings and errors per line in your document, like an IDE. So it would be Java-like compilation speed rather than C++-like compilation speed... > safe LaTeX programming is basically sandboxed, or at least you have to work _very_ hard to do dangerous things. > latex is still very good at what people want it to do That's not it. It is actually usually pretty bad in doing what we want it to do (e.g. tables. Oh, the pain!) ... but what it has going for it is that you can do almost anything you want?: It will take effort and the "source code" will be ugly, but it'll work.
- Smithalicious 4y agoPlease no. Stop replacing useful tools with "opinionated" ones. Nothing makes me nope out of using a tool faster than hearing it described as "opinionated".
- ska 4y ago> Make sure that figure is never out of date For anyone with a software background, this is pretty straightforward - once you start thinking of the latex file(s) as source code rather than the document, it's a short jump to setting up a build environment...
- jasomill 4y agoYou can embed CAS-generated equations and computations in LaTeX[1]. This came in handy for undergraduate linear algebra homework that combined proofs (where I could use my existing LaTeX macros) and computations (where we were expected to use a CAS). Mathematica or Jupyter notebooks would also work, but I prefer Emacs over the notebook UI (and Jupyter didn't actually exist at the time). [1] See, e.g., https://github.com/tmolteno/SympyTeX/ https://github.com/tmolteno/SympyTeX/
- GiovanniP 4y ago> we could have a much better document format and publishing system around it. TeXmacs (http://www.texmacs.org/ http://www.texmacs.org/ and http://forum.texmacs.cn/ http://forum.texmacs.cn/), and it happens right now!