……http://www.metaflop.com/modulator 是一个参数化字体的例子，灵感来自高德纳（Knuth）的系统：你可以拖动滑块来调整各种字体参数，从而得到许多不同的字体。Knuth 发表在《Visible Language》上的文章《元字体的概念》（The Concept of a Meta-Font）[1]堪称经典。读这篇文章时，你会发现他一边描述一边用字体玩各种花样；读起来让人非常愉悦。（他的后续文章《从……中吸取的教训》
…http://www.metaflop.com/modulator for an example of parametric fonts, inspired by Knuth's system: you can drag the sliders to adjust various font parameters, and get many different fonts. Knuth's article The Concept of a Meta-Font [1], published in Visible Language, is a classic. As you read the article he plays various tricks with the fonts as he describes them; it's a delightful read. (His followup article "Lessons learned from…
Knuth's paper "The concept of a meta-font" (from 1981) has a nice example in which he typesets Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd ..."), changing the parameters of his font a little with every character. It's sans-serif at one end, serif at the…
…https://www.metaflop.com/modulator — play with the sliders, or click "flop it!" a few times. That's the best very-quick introduction today to the basic ideas behind Metafont I think, and the best less-short one is Knuth's “The Concept of a Meta-Font” (1982) — this 25-page paper (in large font so it's really not very long) is IMO not just a great read but a brilliant performance (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/...) BTW…
Those who enjoy this sort of thing might also enjoy reading Donald Knuth's “The Concept of a Meta-Font” (from 1982): http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/issue/61/article/748 — although the technology used is very different (it was designed for print after all), he plays a lot of lovely tricks with the font…
……能够成功创造出 Knuth 所设想的“真正”元字体的人少之又少。话虽如此，如果运用得当，它会让人非常满足，就像 Knuth 在那篇我只能用“表演”来形容的论文（《元字体的概念》，https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/...）里展现的那样。另见《朋克元字体》（A Punk Meta-Font，https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb09-2/tb21knut.pdf），他在里面描述了自己某天早晨醒来冒出一个想法……
…have successfully created “true” meta-fonts as Knuth intended is tiny. Nevertheless, when used with skill it can be very satisfying, as in Knuth's paper that I can only describe as a performance (The Concept of a Meta-Font, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/... ) See also A Punk Meta-Font (https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb09-2/tb21knut.pdf) where he describes waking up one morning with an idea to…
……http://www.metaflop.com/modulator 是一个参数化字体的例子，灵感来自高德纳（Knuth）的系统：你可以拖动滑块来调整各种字体参数，从而得到许多不同的字体。Knuth 发表在《Visible Language》上的文章《元字体的概念》（The Concept of a Meta-Font）[1]堪称经典。读这篇文章时，你会发现他一边描述一边用字体玩各种花样；读起来让人非常愉悦。（他的后续文章《从……中吸取的教训》
…http://www.metaflop.com/modulator for an example of parametric fonts, inspired by Knuth's system: you can drag the sliders to adjust various font parameters, and get many different fonts. Knuth's article The Concept of a Meta-Font [1], published in Visible Language, is a classic. As you read the article he plays various tricks with the fonts as he describes them; it's a delightful read. (His followup article "Lessons learned from…
Knuth 1981 年的论文《元字体的概念》里有一个很棒的例子：他排版了诗篇 23 篇（“耶和华是我的牧者……”），每排一个字符就稍微改动一下字体的参数。一头是无衬线体（sans-serif），另一头是衬线体（serif）……
Knuth's paper "The concept of a meta-font" (from 1981) has a nice example in which he typesets Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd ..."), changing the parameters of his font a little with every character. It's sans-serif at one end, serif at the…
……https://www.metaflop.com/modulator —— 拖拖滑块玩玩，或者点几下“flop it!”。我觉得这是目前了解 Metafont 背后基本理念最好的极简速成入门，而稍长一点的最好读物是 Knuth 的《元字体的概念》（1982）——这篇 25 页的论文（大号字体排版，所以其实一点也不长）在我看来不仅读起来很棒，而且是一场绝妙的表演（https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/...）顺便说一句……
…https://www.metaflop.com/modulator — play with the sliders, or click "flop it!" a few times. That's the best very-quick introduction today to the basic ideas behind Metafont I think, and the best less-short one is Knuth's “The Concept of a Meta-Font” (1982) — this 25-page paper (in large font so it's really not very long) is IMO not just a great read but a brilliant performance (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/...) BTW…
喜欢这类东西的人可能也会喜欢读唐纳德·高德纳（Donald Knuth）的《元字体的概念》（1982年）：http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/issue/61/article/748 —— 尽管使用的技术截然不同（毕竟它是为印刷设计的），但他用字体玩出了许多令人拍案叫绝的花样……
Those who enjoy this sort of thing might also enjoy reading Donald Knuth's “The Concept of a Meta-Font” (from 1982): http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/issue/61/article/748 — although the technology used is very different (it was designed for print after all), he plays a lot of lovely tricks with the font…
参见《元字体的概念》：https://gwern.net/doc/design/typography/1982-knuth.pdf
See “The Concept of a Meta-Font”: https://gwern.net/doc/design/typography/1982-knuth.pdf
……能够成功创造出 Knuth 所设想的“真正”元字体的人少之又少。话虽如此，如果运用得当，它会让人非常满足，就像 Knuth 在那篇我只能用“表演”来形容的论文（《元字体的概念》，https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/...）里展现的那样。另见《朋克元字体》（A Punk Meta-Font，https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb09-2/tb21knut.pdf），他在里面描述了自己某天早晨醒来冒出一个想法……
…have successfully created “true” meta-fonts as Knuth intended is tiny. Nevertheless, when used with skill it can be very satisfying, as in Knuth's paper that I can only describe as a performance (The Concept of a Meta-Font, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/visiblelanguage/pdf/16.1/... ) See also A Punk Meta-Font (https://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb09-2/tb21knut.pdf) where he describes waking up one morning with an idea to…