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Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

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Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#111

Latex is "typesetting-complete". This language is not, so it's not a replacement. For instance * The syntax does not use escape sequences for functions/symbols, i.e. phi instead of \phi or floor instead of \floor. You will inevitably run into situations where, for instance, you want to write the letters phi, and have to resort to some ugly hack to write the natural language. This is not okay. * There is reasonable sy…

The first bullet point is incorrect. In normal text, you use # for functions and symbols, i.e. #sym.phi or #emph. In math blocks, you don't use # for stuff like phi or floor but that's because it interprets everything as a function or symbol, with an exception for single letters. If you want any plain text in a math block, whether it's a function name or not, you just put quotes around it. If you want implicit multip…

> If you want any plain text in a math block, whether it's a function name or not, you just put quotes around it.

Math fonts and plain text fonts should be different. If you put quotes around something, you get plain text font.

> If you want implicit multiplication, you need spaces between each letter.

Probably the first rule of any good typographical system is that it should not force the user to change how they normally write (barring special exceptions). Any syntax for typography should be additional to this, which is why escape syntax is so good. Forcing the user to put spaces between variables is a no go.

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#113

So, I'm a moderately-experienced LaTeX user. What is the argument for me switching to typst? I read the repository's README, and would be tempted to consider it as a complete newbie with limited needs, but I couldn't find the compelling argument for ditching (La)TeX in favor of this. Especially given the size of the LaTeX community and availability and accessibility of (sometimes hacky) LaTeX solutions for a zillion…

For me the biggest ones are:

1. Compilation is ridiculously fast. 2. The language is miles more intuitive, and doesn't require nearly as many hacks. In a handful of hours using typst I've written much more interesting things than I ever would've attempted using latex macros. This might be less important for you, but my latex usage is intermittent, so I've always forgotten it by the next document I write.

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#114
post #9

There's also Sile: https://sile-typesetter.org/ LaTeX (Well, LuaTeX) powers my E-ink newspaper ( https://imgur.com/a/NoTr8XX ), but I've been curious to use it as a vehicle to try out some of these alternatives and see if they can put together a non-trivial layout.

SILE also has an XML format. (That is, SILE can read arbitrary XML and format it according to document class rules, but also, separately, SILE itself has an XML format.) https://sile-typesetter.org/manual/sile-0.14.5.pdf#page=27 This theoretically makes it easier to use a GUI editor, or to output XML SILE documents from, say PHP (invoices from a webshop, for example).

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#115
post #39

I was looking for a way to procrastinate on my thesis writing, maybe I'll convert it all to typst! More seriously, I am really following this project closely, and now that it's open source I'd like to see if its possible to add the key libraries my field needs: mathpartir, and something like semantics? especially if typst can provide better syntax and errors!

Unfortunately Typst is completely incompatible with LaTeX and its packages, so you either have to go back to working on your thesis or procrastinate even more by reimplementing these yourself!

Yes that's what I meant, I'm curious if the Typst api would allow equivalents of those packages.

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#116
post #54

As a computer science researcher, I have hundreds of LaTeX macros, basically a DSL for my specific field of research, where I more or less write out natural language and it comes out as formulae with all the specific symbols and stuff. I think for people who write LaTeX in this kind of professional capacity, the macro language is the killer feature. But I could see fields light on formalism embracing something like t…

Typst supports macros/functions, more pleasantly than Latex too!

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#117
I really like the default choices (floor as a “function”, lots of latex heritage, …). The first example is a bit weird though: the word “The” is not left aligned as it would be in a typesetting system, taking perception into account, but merely bounding box aligned with the word below. In practice the beginning of the sentence looks slightly off to the right.

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first bullet point is incorrect. In normal text, you use # for functions and symbols, i.e. #sym.phi or #emph. In math blocks, you don't use # for stuff like phi or floor but that's because it interprets everything as a function or symbol, with an exception for single letters. If you want any plain text in a math block, whether it's a function name or not, you just put quotes around it. If you want implicit multip…

> If you want any plain text in a math block, whether it's a function name or not, you just put quotes around it. Math fonts and plain text fonts should be different. If you put quotes around something, you get plain text font. > If you want implicit multiplication, you need spaces between each letter. Probably the first rule of any good typographical system is that it should not force the user to change how they nor…

We had programming languages that didn't require spaces back in the 80s. It led to code like this:

    10 IFA=3ANDB=5THENPRINT"HELLO"

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#119
post #117

I really like the default choices (floor as a “function”, lots of latex heritage, …). The first example is a bit weird though: the word “The” is not left aligned as it would be in a typesetting system, taking perception into account, but merely bounding box aligned with the word below. In practice the beginning of the sentence looks slightly off to the right.

While we’re nitpicking, the space between the heading and the body in the example (ie. the line height of the heading) is too narrow and makes the first line look cramped.

Re: Typst, a new markup-based typesetting system, is now open source

#120

So, I'm a moderately-experienced LaTeX user. What is the argument for me switching to typst? I read the repository's README, and would be tempted to consider it as a complete newbie with limited needs, but I couldn't find the compelling argument for ditching (La)TeX in favor of this. Especially given the size of the LaTeX community and availability and accessibility of (sometimes hacky) LaTeX solutions for a zillion…

For me the biggest ones are: 1. Compilation is ridiculously fast. 2. The language is miles more intuitive, and doesn't require nearly as many hacks. In a handful of hours using typst I've written much more interesting things than I ever would've attempted using latex macros. This might be less important for you, but my latex usage is intermittent, so I've always forgotten it by the next document I write.

And do the intuitiveness and speed not come at the expense of some expressive power limitation?
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