Re: The inners of Lout

[DervishD]

    Hello Jeff :)

>  > the diagrams in some situations) if I don't use any include file
>  > (that is, I only use it's primitives and operators, never include a
>  > package)? What things should I expect to render bad or far from
>  > perfect?
>There are some particular problems with bugs in the tables packages
>which can be worked around for the most part.  There are obscurities
>in the language design in the areas of macros and galleys which mostly
>don't trouble the users of the standard packages.  The input and output
>formats accepted/generated are quite limited, basically to things in
>the PostScript world.

    No problem then. Moreover, someone in the department suggested to
build a 'justificator' for PostScript, no more, no less. The head of
the deparment is aiming at TeX, and he has build a couple of macro
packages that do the work for us (I don't use TeX anyway in my
portion of the job), but really no ones likes TeX.

>The general question "Is it safe for me to move my enterprise
>application from the existing system to Lout?" is really not a fair
>one.  You have to try it and see.

    I'll try, but this is difficult. I must propose an alternative to
TeX that must work at least as good as TeX is doing now. I trust Lout
completely, but the TeX gurus at work says that Lout is not as
flexible and powerful as TeX (I don't think so). The problem is that
I'm not a Lout guru.

>My main suggestion is that you should used the standard packages
>even in your machine-generated Lout.

    This will be a weak point of Loiut in the decision. The TeX gurus
thinks that Lout is not capable of making even the simplest layout
without its packages. This is not true, of course, but makes me
present Lout as a powerful language *without the need for the
packages*.

    I know, it's stupid, but so is the enterprise where I work.
Imagine, the key point for using TeX is that no bugs have been
discovered in it in years, and that the author offers a reward if a
bug is discovered... Really the only thing I must ensure is that any
bug related to layout and that any .lout text rejected by Lout are
the fault of the composer, not Lout. Otherwise I see myself learning
TeX ;))))

    Thanks a lot for your answer, Jeff :) and thanks a lot for Lout,
which has made my work a lot easier and which may make the work of
all my partners easier as well.

    Raúl