Storing lists of tokens
LaTeX3 separates out macros which do something (functions) from those used to store information. As has been pointed out to me, the later are lists of tokens not characters. TeX already provides us with toks (token registers), and so LaTeX3 calls macros that store token lists “token list pointers”. There’s been some discussion recently about this name, and Will Robertson has suggested just “token lists” would be better. I quite like the idea (pointers makes it sound like some low-level memory thing), but I’m not sure if the team will go for it.
Hi, I still have not been able to find any concrete information on an estimation of when LaTeX3 will come out. Do you have any idea, from a few months to a few years? thank you kindly, Jamie
Jamie
19 Dec 08 at 5:10 am
“Come out” is the problem here. The current programming stuff (expl3) looks nearly finished, although the team are planning another re-factor soon. I’d guess that the programming ideas will be fixed in 2009. However, there is no timetable on the bigger picture. There is as yet no true LaTeX3 kernel (you can’t do “tex &latex3 “), and any timetable there is is not public. I keep asking about this type of thing!
josephwright
20 Dec 08 at 7:18 pm