From e2658addf306f729945c184e46f98df39dd7026c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hans Hagen Date: Wed, 29 May 2019 21:10:47 +0200 Subject: 2019-05-29 19:20:00 --- .../general/manuals/fonts/fonts-introduction.tex | 95 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 95 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/context/sources/general/manuals/fonts/fonts-introduction.tex (limited to 'doc/context/sources/general/manuals/fonts/fonts-introduction.tex') diff --git a/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/fonts/fonts-introduction.tex b/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/fonts/fonts-introduction.tex new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0ca91ee9f --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/context/sources/general/manuals/fonts/fonts-introduction.tex @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +% language=uk + +\startcomponent fonts-introduction + +\environment fonts-environment + +\startchapter[title=Introduction][color=darkgray] + +You sit in a cave and wonder how to keep track of your winter stock. While +playing with some burned wood you end up with vertical strokes on the wall +representing how much you have in store. + +You walk through the woods and wonder how to find your way back. Suddenly it +strikes you that you can put markers on trees. Years from that moment the whole +forest is marked with routes. Different symbols carry different meanings. + +The next thing you want to do is to carry around information and pass it onto +following generations. So, you turn those symbols into shapes that make up the +scripts that can be used to express your languages in. + +For ages scripts have evolved and the rendering of them on stone or wood and +later paper has resulted in a multitude of coherent collections of so called +glyphs. Manual labour turned into (semi) automated mass production and once that +took off, developments went fast. But the quality was still somewhat dubious, +especially when for instance specialized scripts like math had to be dealt with. + +Some 30 years ago Don Knuth wrote a book, and in the process invented the \TEX\ +typesetting system, the graphical language \METAFONT\ and a bunch of fonts. He +made it open and free of charge. He was well aware that the new ideas were built +on older ones that had evolved from common sense: how to keep track of things on +paper. + +It is no surprise that an active community formed around these goodies. First of +all the system has no strings attached: the licence is generous and there are no +patents involved. There is also a network of user groups that takes care of +coordinated updates to the whole machinery. Of course it helps that it all +relates to Don Knuth. + +Since \TEX\ showed up several open and closed source typesetting systems have +surfaced and only some of them survived. Also regular word processing has become +more clever and still become better. The \TEX\ typesetting system also moved on. +Some of its ideas have been used in other programs and some of the ideas of other +programs made their way into \TEX. However, its main property is still there: you +can tweak and tune it to your needs and are not hampered by too many limitations. + +Don Knuth had this chicken or egg problem: once you can typeset a source you need +fonts but you can only make fonts if you can use them in a typesetting program. +As a result \TEX\ came with its own fonts and it has special ways to deal with +them. Given the limitations of that time \TEX\ puts some limitations on fonts and +also expects them to have certain properties, something that is most noticeable +in math fonts. + +Rather soon from the start it has been possible to use third party fonts in \TEX, +for instance \TYPEONE. As \TEX\ only needs some information about the shapes, it +was the backend that integrated the font resources in the final document. One of +its descendants, \PDFTEX, had this backend built in and could do some more clever +things with fonts in the typesetting process, like protrusion and expansion. The +integration of front- and backend made live much easier. Another descendant, +\XETEX\ made it possible to move on to the often large \OPENTYPE\ fonts. On the +one hand this made live even more easy but at the other end it introduced users +to the characteristics of such fonts and making the right choices, i.e.\ not fall +in the trap of too fancy font usage. + +In this manual we will look at fonts from the perspective of yet another +descendant, \LUATEX. It inherits the font technology from traditional \TEX, but +also extends it so that we can deal with modern font technologies. Of course it +offers much more, but in practice much relates to fonts one way or the other. + +Of course this exploration will be from the perspective of the \CONTEXT\ macro +package but this is not a manual about how to use fonts in \CONTEXT\ as we have +another manual for that. Much of what we say here applies to the generic font +code as well, although some more advanced control is \CONTEXT\ specific. There is +nothing real new here, and it all evolved from common sense and dealing with +\TEX\ for many years. The perspective is mostly that of being a user myself so +don't complain too loudly if things look complicated and unclear. + +There is some overlap between the chapters. This is because each chapter is +written from another perspective and this document quite certainly will not be +read as a whole but more by looking at examples. + +\startnotabene + This document will probably have an \quote {still under construction} state + for a long time. The functionality discussed here will stay and more might + show up. Of course there are errors, and they're all mine. +\stopnotabene + +\startlines +Hans Hagen +PRAGMA ADE, Hasselt NL +Summer 2011 \endash\ Spring 2016 +\stoplines + +\stopchapter + +\stopcomponent -- cgit v1.2.3