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authorHans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>2019-12-27 17:59:09 +0100
committerContext Git Mirror Bot <phg@phi-gamma.net>2019-12-27 17:59:09 +0100
commitede5a2aae42ff502be35d800e97271cf0bdc889b (patch)
tree47e50c111004bf97110d2ebdf6b92e3d2767a367 /doc/context/sources/general/manuals/luametatex/luametatex-introduction.tex
parentd40e81dea53da7bbc91df306814003f7720a167f (diff)
downloadcontext-ede5a2aae42ff502be35d800e97271cf0bdc889b.tar.gz
2019-12-27 16:45:00
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diff --git a/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/luametatex/luametatex-introduction.tex b/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/luametatex/luametatex-introduction.tex
index 24dd5c65a..56d5c7436 100644
--- a/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/luametatex/luametatex-introduction.tex
+++ b/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/luametatex/luametatex-introduction.tex
@@ -8,12 +8,13 @@
Around 2005 we started the \LUATEX\ projects and it took about a decade to reach
a state where we could consider the experiments to have reached a stable state.
-Already for a while one could use \LUATEX\ in production but some of the
-interfaces evolved. In 2018 the functionality was more or less frozen. Of course
-we might add some features in due time but nothing fundamental will change as we
-consider version 1.10 to be reasonable feature complete. Among the reasons is
-that this engine is now used outside \CONTEXT\ too which means that we cannot
-simply change much without affecting other macro packages.
+Pretty soon \LUATEX\ could be used in production, even if some of the interfaces
+evolved, but \CONTEXT\ was kept in sync so that was not really a problem. In 2018
+the functionality was more or less frozen. Of course we might add some features
+in due time but nothing fundamental will change as we consider version 1.10 to be
+reasonable feature complete. Among the reasons is that this engine is now used
+outside \CONTEXT\ too which means that we cannot simply change much without
+affecting other macro packages.
However, in reaching that state some decisions were delayed because they didn't
go well with a current stable version. This is why at the 2018 \CONTEXT\ meeting
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ those present agreed that we could move on with a follow up tagged \METATEX, a
name we already had in mind for a while, but as \LUA\ is an important component,
it got expanded to \LUAMETATEX. This follow up is a lightweight companion to
\LUATEX\ that will be maintained alongside. More about the reasons for this
-follow up as well as the philosophy behind it can be found on the document(s)
+follow up as well as the philosophy behind it can be found in the document(s)
describing the development. During \LUATEX\ development I kept track of what
happened in a series of documents, parts of which were published as articles in
user group journals, but all are in the \CONTEXT\ distribution. I did the same
@@ -42,19 +43,19 @@ consequences for the interface at the system level.
This manual currently has quite a bit of overlap with the \LUATEX\ manual but
some chapters are removed, others added and the rest has been (and will be
-further) adapted. We also discusses the (main) differences. Some of the new
+further) adapted. It also discusses the (main) differences. Some of the new
primitives or functions that show up in \LUAMETATEX\ might show up in \LUATEX\ at
some point, others might not, so don't take this manual as reference for \LUATEX
! For now it is an experimental engine in which we can change things at will but
with \CONTEXT\ in tandem so that this macro package will keep working.
-For \CONTEXT\ users the \LUAMETATEX\ engine will become the default. Because we
-can keep both \LUAMETATEX\ and \CONTEXT\ in sync. The \CONTEXT\ variant is tagged
-\LMTX. The pair can be used in production, just as with \LUATEX\ and \MKIV. In
-fact, most users will probably not really notice the difference. In some cases
-there will be a drop in performance, due to more work being delegated to \LUA,
-but on the average performance will be better, also due to some changes below the
-hood of the engine.
+For \CONTEXT\ users the \LUAMETATEX\ engine will become the default. The
+\CONTEXT\ variant for this engine is tagged \LMTX. The pair can be used in
+production, just as with \LUATEX\ and \MKIV. In fact, most users will probably
+not really notice the difference. In some cases there will be a drop in
+performance, due to more work being delegated to \LUA, but on the average
+performance will be better, also due to some changes below the hood of the
+engine.
As this follow up is closely related to \CONTEXT\ development, and because we
expect stock \LUATEX\ to be used outside the \CONTEXT\ proper, there will be no
@@ -107,6 +108,14 @@ Braslau, who love playing with the three languages involved. Testing is done by
\LUATEX, these will be applied in the experimental branch first, so that there is
no interference with the stable release.
+{\bf remark:} Most \CONTEXT\ users seem always willing to keep up with the latest
+versions which means that \LMTX\ is tested well. We can therefore safely claim
+that end of 2019 the code has become quite stable. There are no complaints about
+performance (on my laptop this manual compiles at 22.5 pps with \LMTX\ versus
+20.7 pps for the \LUATEX\ manual with \MKIV). Probably no one notices it, but
+memory consumption stepwise got reduced too. And \unknown\ the binary is still
+below 3~MegaBytes on all platforms.
+
\stopchapter
\stopcomponent
@@ -127,4 +136,6 @@ no interference with the stable release.
% the sake of showing that there's still some progress. So I decided to bump to
% 2.01.0 then. Just as a reminder for myself: it was the day when I watched
% Jacob Collier perform Lua (feat. MARO) live on YouTube (of course that is not
-% about the language at all, but still a nice coincidence).
+% about the language at all, but still a nice coincidence). Just for the fun of
+% it the number bumped a few more times, just to catch up, so end 2019 we're at
+% 2.03.5.