Rosetta Code

Category:PlainTeX: Difference between revisions

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Category:PlainTeX (view source)

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{{language|plainTeX}}
Donald Knuth's techne (from the greek τέχνη, which he abbreviated to [[TeX|{{TeX}}]]) is a set of primitive tokens which are complex to use on their own. Knuth wrote composite operations of these primitive tokens himself, called macros, to make document creation easier.
{{PlainTeX}} is the name used to refer to the default set of ''macros'' which are always present on all [[TeX|{{TeX}}]] systems
(and it is the default preloaded format for <tt>tex</tt> executable). They were written by Knuth himself, and provide the basic to start using [[TeX|{{TeX}}]] (since "raw" [[TeX|{{TeX}}]] is not ready-to-use for documents creation). Often when one says simply "{{TeX}} document", s/he means s/he is using the {{PlainTeX}} macros, even though nowadays the success of the complex feature-full [[LaTeX|{{LaTeX}}]] macros package creates a little bit of confusion and a lot of people, ignoring that {{LaTeX}} is just one of possible macro packages for {{TeX}}, think that {{LaTeX}} is {{TeX}} and viceversa.
 
The base techne and a set of macros together are called a format of techne. [[plainTeX|{{PlainTeX}}]] is the simplest format.
Extension to the {{PlainTeX}} exists, like eplain({{TeX}}).
 
Often when referencing [[TeX|{{TeX}}]], it is implied that [[plainTeX|{{PlainTeX}}]] is used.
Even though [[LaTeX|{{LaTeX}}]] is nowadays almost a typesetting "standard" when using a [[TeX|{{TeX}}]] system, {{PlainTeX}} is still usable and used.
 
Extensions to the [[plainTeX|{{PlainTeX}}]] format exist, such as eplain([[TeX|{{TeX}}]]) or [[LaTeX|{{LaTeX}}]].
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