我也是更偏爱 troff 的那类人之一。高德纳（Knuth）的五卷本《Computers and Typesetting》我从头到尾读了个遍，TeX 确实是件杰作。但在我心目中更理想的平行世界里，会有两件事不一样：乔·奥萨纳（Joe Ossanna）没有英年早逝，以及 AT&T 当时对…
I’m also one of those who prefers troff. I read all five volumes of Knuth’s Computers and Typesetting cover to cover, and TeX is a beautiful piece of work. But in my preferred alternate universe, two things would be different: Joe Ossanna would not have died young, and AT&T would have been more open with…
一个更好的呈现（虽然出版后没跟进 bug 修复）是《Computers & Typesetting》的 D 卷《Metafont: The Program》。它不仅是 weave 的输出（也就是链接里 mf.pdf 文件的内容），还包含了用于在代码各部分之间快速交叉引用的“迷你索引（mini-indexes）”。
另外我还想指出，虽然 TeX 主要是 Knuth 一人的成果，但 MF 更多是合作产物，合作者包括
An even better presentation (although lacking bug fixes after publication) is volume D of Computers & Typesetting, Metafont: The Program. It's not just the output of weave (which is what's in the linked mf.pdf file), but also includes "mini-indexes" for quick cross-referencing of parts of the code.
I'd also note that while TeX is primarily the work of Knuth, MF was more of a collaboration between
…别傻等着了。如果你想自己写一个更好的 TeX，那就先去啃高德纳在《Computers and Typesetting》A-E 卷里写的那些篇幅浩繁、堪称典范、打磨极致且细致入微的文档吧。看完那些资料后，你可能就会觉得，与其写个更好的 TeX，还不如去干点别的更有意义的事。别以为 TeX 和 HTML 是竞争关系：它们的设计初衷完全不同。
…don't hold your breath while waiting for it. If you want to write a better TeX yourself, then start with Knuth's voluminous, exemplary, polished, very finely detailed documentation in volumes A-E of 'Computers and Typesetting'. After reading that material, you may decide that you have better things to do than writing a better TeX. Don't think that TeX and HTML compete: They are designed for very different purposes.
.web 文件本来就不是拿来生啃源码的；你应该去读排版好的版本（http://texdoc.net/texmf-dist/doc/generic/knuth/mf/mf.pdf）。要是能直接读《Computers and Typesetting》系列的 C、D、E 卷就更棒了（https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/abcde.html）。具体到这里的话，就是 D 卷（METAFONT: The Program）——如果你想搞懂这个程序，每个对开页上的迷你索引非常实用，…
The .web files aren't meant to be read raw; you should instead read the typeset version (http://texdoc.net/texmf-dist/doc/generic/knuth/mf/mf.pdf) Even better to read from volumes C, D, E of the Computers and Typesetting series (https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/abcde.html). Specifically in this case, Volume D (METAFONT: The Program) — the mini-indices on each page spread are useful if you're trying to understand the program,…
…文化背景还是别的什么，我也说不准，但有些人觉得那些插画漫画挺有意思的，而且非常赞赏《The TeXbook》阐述概念时的清晰度。我很自豪地收了一整套全 6 卷的《Computers and Typesetting》（刚才说的那本就是 A 卷），而且啃完了相当大一部分。高德纳那本 680 页的《Digital Typography》专著我也读了大半。我当时还买过一本 LaTeX 的书…
…cultural background or whatnot, I don't know, but some people find those cartoons to be a nice touch, and they admire the clarity of exposition of The TeXbook. I'm the proud owner of the entire 6 vol Computers and Typesetting series (of which the former title is vol A), and have worked through sizable portions of those. I also read mot of the 680 pages of Knuth's Digital Typography monograph. I also owned one LaTeX book at…
我也是更偏爱 troff 的那类人之一。高德纳（Knuth）的五卷本《Computers and Typesetting》我从头到尾读了个遍，TeX 确实是件杰作。但在我心目中更理想的平行世界里，会有两件事不一样：乔·奥萨纳（Joe Ossanna）没有英年早逝，以及 AT&T 当时对…
I’m also one of those who prefers troff. I read all five volumes of Knuth’s Computers and Typesetting cover to cover, and TeX is a beautiful piece of work. But in my preferred alternate universe, two things would be different: Joe Ossanna would not have died young, and AT&T would have been more open with…
一个更好的呈现（虽然出版后没跟进 bug 修复）是《Computers & Typesetting》的 D 卷《Metafont: The Program》。它不仅是 weave 的输出（也就是链接里 mf.pdf 文件的内容），还包含了用于在代码各部分之间快速交叉引用的“迷你索引（mini-indexes）”。 另外我还想指出，虽然 TeX 主要是 Knuth 一人的成果，但 MF 更多是合作产物，合作者包括
An even better presentation (although lacking bug fixes after publication) is volume D of Computers & Typesetting, Metafont: The Program. It's not just the output of weave (which is what's in the linked mf.pdf file), but also includes "mini-indexes" for quick cross-referencing of parts of the code. I'd also note that while TeX is primarily the work of Knuth, MF was more of a collaboration between
…别傻等着了。如果你想自己写一个更好的 TeX，那就先去啃高德纳在《Computers and Typesetting》A-E 卷里写的那些篇幅浩繁、堪称典范、打磨极致且细致入微的文档吧。看完那些资料后，你可能就会觉得，与其写个更好的 TeX，还不如去干点别的更有意义的事。别以为 TeX 和 HTML 是竞争关系：它们的设计初衷完全不同。
…don't hold your breath while waiting for it. If you want to write a better TeX yourself, then start with Knuth's voluminous, exemplary, polished, very finely detailed documentation in volumes A-E of 'Computers and Typesetting'. After reading that material, you may decide that you have better things to do than writing a better TeX. Don't think that TeX and HTML compete: They are designed for very different purposes.
.web 文件本来就不是拿来生啃源码的；你应该去读排版好的版本（http://texdoc.net/texmf-dist/doc/generic/knuth/mf/mf.pdf）。要是能直接读《Computers and Typesetting》系列的 C、D、E 卷就更棒了（https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/abcde.html）。具体到这里的话，就是 D 卷（METAFONT: The Program）——如果你想搞懂这个程序，每个对开页上的迷你索引非常实用，…
The .web files aren't meant to be read raw; you should instead read the typeset version (http://texdoc.net/texmf-dist/doc/generic/knuth/mf/mf.pdf) Even better to read from volumes C, D, E of the Computers and Typesetting series (https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/abcde.html). Specifically in this case, Volume D (METAFONT: The Program) — the mini-indices on each page spread are useful if you're trying to understand the program,…
…文化背景还是别的什么，我也说不准，但有些人觉得那些插画漫画挺有意思的，而且非常赞赏《The TeXbook》阐述概念时的清晰度。我很自豪地收了一整套全 6 卷的《Computers and Typesetting》（刚才说的那本就是 A 卷），而且啃完了相当大一部分。高德纳那本 680 页的《Digital Typography》专著我也读了大半。我当时还买过一本 LaTeX 的书…
…cultural background or whatnot, I don't know, but some people find those cartoons to be a nice touch, and they admire the clarity of exposition of The TeXbook. I'm the proud owner of the entire 6 vol Computers and Typesetting series (of which the former title is vol A), and have worked through sizable portions of those. I also read mot of the 680 pages of Knuth's Digital Typography monograph. I also owned one LaTeX book at…
不如读读这个：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_and_Typesetting
Read this instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_and_Typesetting