Stephan v. Bechtolsheim - Böcker

TEX has always been regarded as the most elegant and powerful system for computer typesetting. However, its widespread use, beyond academia, was hampered by its complexity. Recently, fairly good TEX implementations have come out for PCs putting TEX on the desks of many people: writers, designers, desktop publishers, engineers, and consequently, the interest in TEX has surged. What is needed at this point is a book that teaches step-by-step how to use TEX, illustrating each step by meaningful examples. This is exactly what S. v. Bechtolsheim's book does. It is a tutorial and guide for the first-time users of TEX, as well as a reference for the most experienced "TEXpert. " TEX in Practice will appear as a four volume set, starting with volume 1 Basics, followed by volume 2 Paragraphs, Math and Fonts, volume 3 Tokens, Macros and volume 4 Output Routines, Tables. TEX in Practice will be an indispensable reference for the TEX community and a guide through the first steps for the TEX novice.

TEX has always been regarded as the most elegant and powerful system for computer typesetting. However, its widespread use beyond academia was hampered by its complexity. Recently, fairly good TEX implementations have come out for PC's putting TEX on the disks of many people including writers, designers, desktop publishers, and engineers. Consequently, interest in TEX has surged. What is needed at this point is a book that teaches step-by-step how to use TEX, illustrating each step with relevant examples. This is exactly what S. v. Bechtolsheim's book does. It is a tutorial and guide for the first-time user of TEX, as well as a reference for the more experienced "TEXpert." TEX in Practice will appear as a four volume set, starting with TEX in Practice, Volume 1: Basics; TEX in Practice, Volume 2: Paragraphs, Math and Fonts; TEX in Practice, Volume 3: Tokens, Macros; TEX in Practice, Volume 4: Output Routines, Tables. TEX in Practice will be an indispensable reference for the TEX community and a guide through the first step for the TEX novice.

TEX has always been regarded as the most elegant and powerful system for computer typesetting. However, its widespread use, beyond academia, was hampered by its complexity. Recently, fairly good TEX implementations have come out for PCs putting TEX on the desks of many people: writers, designers, desktop publishers, engineers, and consequently, the interest in TEX has surged. What is needed at this point is a book that teaches step-by-step how to use TEX, illustrating each step by meaningful examples. This is exactly what S.v. Bechtolsheim's book does. It is a tutorial and guide for the first-time users of TEX, as well as a reference for the most experienced "TEXpert." TEX in Practice will appear as a four volume set, starting with volume 1 Basics, followed by volume 2 Paragraphs, Math and Fonts, volume 3 Tokens, Macros and volume 4 Output Routines, Tables. TEX in Practice will be an indispensable reference for the TEX community and a guide through the first steps for the TEX novice.

You might well wonder why TFPC in Practice is a part of the Monographs in Visualization series. However, if you really think about typesetting, especially fine typesetting, you soon realize that in large part it is a visual art as well as a science. 'lEX's algorithms produce in almost all cases aesthetic results of the highest quality. On the other hand, occasionally one may want to insert some additional space before a subscript or superscript, or one may want to adjust the vertical spacing in a fraction. Fortunately Donald Knuth, the author of 'lEX, allows one to program such corrections easily where needed. The four volumes of Stephan von Bechtolsheim's long awaited TFPC in Prac­ tice present a comprehensive view of 'lEX. His thorough discussion of each aspect of 'lEX is liberally laced with cogent illustrative examples. Many of these exam­ ples represent complete, ready to use macros that enhance the capabilities of 'lEX. These examples are of particular interest to both the typesetter and the 'lEX programmer. The typesetter can often solve an immediate problem by ei­ ther using one of the examples directly or by making minor changes to adapt it to the problem at hand. The 'lEX programmer can use the examples, along with Stephan's detailed discussion, to increase both the depth and breadth of his or her knowledge of 'lEX. The value of the text is further enhanced by Stephan's concerted effort to explain the reasoning behind each topic or example.