# MAPS 38 (2009.1)

Complete edition: maps.pdf (2576kB, 65 pages)

Taco Hoekwater
Redactioneel (Dutch), MAPS 38, 2009, 1-2
01.pdf (22kB)
Ulrik Vieth
Do we need a `Cork' math font encoding? (English), MAPS 38, 2009, 3-11
abstract: The city of Cork has become widely known in the TeX community, ever since it gave name to an encoding developed at the European TeX conference of 1990. The `Cork' encoding, as it became known, was the first example of an 8-bit text font encoding that appeared after the release of TeX 3.0, and was later followed by a number of other encodings based on similar design principles.

As of today, the `Cork' encoding represents only one out of several possible choices of 8-bit subsets from a much larger repertoire of glyphs provided in fonts such as LatinModern or TeXGyre. Moreover, recent developments of new TeX engines are making it possible to take advantage of OpenType font technology directly, largely eliminating the need for 8-bit font encodings altogether.

During the entire time since 1990 math fonts have always been lagging behind the developments in text fonts. While the need for new math font encodings was recognized early on and while several encoding proposals have been discussed, none of them ever reached production quality or became widely used.

In this paper, we review the situation of math fonts as of 2008, especially in view of recent developments of Unicode and OpenType math fonts such as the STIX fonts or Cambria Math. In particular, we try to answer the question whether a `Cork' math font encoding is still needed or whether Unicode and OpenType might eliminate the need for TeX-specific math font encodings.
02.pdf (247kB)

Ulrik Vieth
OpenType Math Illuminated (English), MAPS 38, 2009, 12-21
abstract: In recent years, we have seen the development of new TeX engines, XeTeX and LuaTeX, adopting OpenType font technology for providing Unicode typesetting support. While there are already plenty of OpenType text fonts available for use, both from the TeX community and from commercial font suppliers, there is little support for OpenType math fonts so far. Ironically, it was left to Microsoft to develop a de facto standard for OpenType math font information and to provide the first reference implementation of a full-featured OpenType math font.

In order to develop the much-needed math support for LatinModern and TeXGyre fonts, it will be crucially important to develop a good understanding of the internals of OpenType math tables, much as it is necessary to develop a good understanding of Appendix G and TeX's \fontdimen parameters to develop math support for traditional TeX fonts. In this paper, we try to help improve the understanding of OpenType math internals, summarizing the parameters of OpenType math fonts as well as illustrating the similarities and differences between traditional TeX math fonts and OpenType math fonts.
03.pdf (699kB)

Taco Hoekwater
Math in LuaTeX 0.40 (English), MAPS 38, 2009, 22-31
abstract: The math machinery in LuaTeX has been completely overhauled in version 0.40. The handling of mathematics in LuaTeX has been extended quite a bit compared to how TeX82 (and therefore PDFTEX) handles math. First, LuaTeX adds primitives and extends some others so that Unicode input can be used easily. Second, all of TeX82's internal special values (for example for operator spacing) have been made accessible and changeable via control sequences. Third, there are extensions that make it easier to use OpenType math fonts. And finally, there are some extensions that have been proposed in the past that are now added to the engine.
04.pdf (182kB)
Hans Hagen
Unicode Math in ConTeXt (English), MAPS 38, 2009, 32-46
abstract: This article is complementary to Taco Hoekwater's article about the upgrade of the math subsystem in LuaTeX. In parallel (also because we needed a testbed) the math subsystem of ConTeXt has been upgraded. In this article I will describe how we deal with Unicode math using the regular Latin Modern and TeX Gyre fonts and how we were able to clean up some of the more nasty aspects of math.
05.pdf (269kB)
Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater, Hartmut Henkel
LuaTeX -- Halfway (English), MAPS 38, 2009, 47-50
06.pdf (109kB)
TeX Programming:
The past, the present, and the future
(English), MAPS 38, 2009, 51-56
keywords: ConTeXt, LuaTeX, TeX Programming
abstract: This article summarizes a recent thread on the ConTeXt mailing list regarding table typesetting. To make the article interesting, I have changed the question and correspondingly modified the solutions.
07.pdf (53kB)
Paweł Jackowski
TeX beauties and oddities (English), MAPS 38, 2009, 57-62
abstract: The BachoTeX 2009 conference continued the Pearls of TeX Programming open session introduced in 2005 during which volunteers present TeX-related tricks and shorties.
08.pdf (71kB)
Siep Kroonenberg
Doe-het-zelf presentaties (Dutch), MAPS 38, 2009, 63-65
keywords: Presentaties geometry wallpaper fancyhdr
abstract: This article shows how one can produce presentations in one's own style, without making use of dedicated presentation packagaes.
09.pdf (871kB)