LATEX-L Archives

Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project

LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
David Carlisle <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:46:42 GMT
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (28 lines)
    1. It's possible, because you can implement lambda calculus in TeX's
  mouth, and everything computable can be implemented in lambda calculus.
    2. It's extremely unfeasible, since it will be grotesquely slow and use
  much too much memory.
  Letting some characters retain their catcodes can let you get by with a
  smaller automaton,

This is what xmltex does, whether or not that is a feasible system I'm
not sure.

Note that in xmltex macro files are read with more or less
normal catcodes, it's just the document itself where catcodes are set up
so that catcodes are fixed and \verb problems go away (to be replaced by
other problems:-) In xmltex of course the active characaters just have
to parse xml syntax, which is rather more regular than normal latex \
and { syntax. In (la)tex (as in SGML) you need knowledge of each
individual command to parse its argument syntax but you can parse XML
wthout knowing anything specific about the commands (which is why it is
such a verbose language)

David

_____________________________________________________________________
This message has been checked for all known viruses by Star Internet
delivered through the MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service. For further
information visit http://www.star.net.uk/stats.asp or alternatively call
Star Internet for details on the Virus Scanning Service.

ATOM RSS1 RSS2