Re: the ConTeXt terminal

[Mojca M. <moj...@gm...>]

On 6/14/06, Daniel J Sebald wrote:
> Mojca Miklavec wrote:
> > On 6/14/06, Daniel J Sebald wrote:
> >
> >> Mojca,
> >>
> >> Is there a web page for ConTeXt somewhere?
> >
> >
> > http://wiki.contextgarden.net
>
> Ah, so it is similar to LaTeX in many ways with perhaps a slight variation in syntax and improved features.  Math formatting looks very similar to LaTeX.

Math formatting should not only be similar, but exactly the same
(unless perhaps in some multiline environments ...) since both LaTeX
and ConTeXt use (plain) TeX for doing math.

>
> What is the approach your are taking?  I see there is a means to import external graphics into ConTeXt.  The power of Xfig and gnuplot, in my mind, is the ability to have combined LaTeX and PostScript, i.e., the math format and font characteristics native to LaTeX typesetting intermixed with the far superior graphical elements of PostScript.  Is that what you are aiming for in ConTeXt as well?

I started thinking about PostScript after I realized how slow current
rendering indeed was, but the developer of ConTeXt is currently
reimplementing the whole mechanism for handling labels inside
graphics, so I expect drastic improvements in efficiency.

The current implementation does both graphics and labels in ConTeXt
(in MetaFun): I wouldn't call the PS terminal "far superior graphical
elements of PostScript", but rather "far more efficient". ConTeXt can
theoretically do just as good job as PostScript (it's indeed using
a-kind-of-postscript intermediate step), but it can't "write PS
procedures" just as PS terminal does and the intermediate files are
currently way too big. You could compare PostScript terminal vs.
ConTeXt graphic capabilities with (highly portable) assembler vs. C
for simple tasks on ancient machines. With C you can theoretically do
the same as with Assembler, but not as efficient and you need some
compiler first.

I'm thinking about adding an option to use PostScript instead of
"quasi-native" graphics for the background, but many other things have
higher priority for now. (I would probably need to rewrite parts of
PostScript terminal and to study undocumented PS code as well as
supporting that inclusion in ConTeXt, so it could take me some time
that I don't feel worth investing yet.)

Mojca