[NTG-context] new upload / more math

[Willi Egger]

Hi Hans,

congrats for this new society! — At this date it is specially hilarious :-)

Happy CMS!

Willi

> On 1 Apr 2022, at 16:30, jdh via ntg-context <ntg-context at ntg.nl> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong.  The imperial measurement system, may give Europeans a headache, but is NOT obsolete, by any means.  A good chunk of the world use the imperial measurment system and may be required in certain books, depending on a country's standards.    
> 
> dh
> 
> ---------
> 
> 
> Henning Hraban Ramm via ntg-context <ntg-context at ntg.nl> wrote:
> 
>> Oh, great work, thank you! (While I keep working with WebCMS and avoid
>> math...)
>> 
>> And I guess you forgot to mention that you discontinued the support
>> for non-metric measures like the obsolete inch, except Potrzebie, of
>> course.
>> 
>> Hraban
>> 
>> Am 01.04.22 um 10:02 schrieb Hans Hagen via ntg-context:
>>> Hi,
>>> As most of you know by now, Mikael and I are working on a math
>>> support upgrade. In order to let users keep up we uploaded a new
>>> version. We have been revisioning some of the more obscure
>>> constructs where we have   no clue of usage, like pmod, bmod,
>>> bordermatrix etc, commands that we   took (and reimplemented)
>>> decades ago from plain TeX or AMS TeX, assuming that these are
>>> standards.
>>> In this release, encouraged by the positive response we received
>>> from users regarding the new simplealignment construction, and in
>>> particular regarding the self-explaining sesac, we have decided to
>>> introduced some new constructs. First out is
>>> \startformula
>>> \startxıɹʇɐɯ
>>> \NC a_1 \NC b_1 \NC c_1 \NR
>>> \NC a_2 \NC b_2 \NC c_2 \NR
>>> \NC a_3 \NC b_3 \NC c_3 \NR
>>> \stopxıɹʇɐɯ
>>> \stopformula
>>> for rotation matrices. This was demanded for some advanced math
>>> courses that Mikael teaches. It might inspire users to come up with
>>> demands that suits their own obscure but nevertheless interesting
>>> math.
>>> At some point we realized that, with (also) scientific publishers
>>> (of math journals) moving to MS Word and Indesign, we operate in a
>>> rather peculiar niche and the fact that we use an upgraded and more
>>> granular math engine, made us wonder how to communicate all these
>>> new features and standards that we set. It is for that reason that
>>> from now on we will operate under the CMS umbrella. That
>>> abbreviation stands for ConTeXt Math Society. It has no funny swirly
>>> TeX logo which itself is a statement: in Unicode math script and
>>> calligraphic alphabets are so messed up that it is impossible to
>>> have a reliable and predictable rendering. We go for Dutch and
>>> Swedish simplicity in the spirit of W.N. Lansburgh: back to the
>>> times before TeX was written (1964). There will be no limits and
>>> boundaries set. (Talking math limits and boundaries: these can
>>> already go everywhere anyway, as can fences.)
>>> So, when we mention CMS, we mean serious math business, but
>>> kindergarten math is also embraced! There are no consequences for
>>> users: ConTeXt users with a proven math track record are
>>> automatically a member, but we are not too picky, everyone is
>>> welcome. We don't have honorary members but Taco (the first ConTeXt
>>> math user) and Aditya (the most experienced   one) might consider
>>> themselves as such. Mikael Sundqvist is the chairman, which is a
>>> livelong appointment. (A nice side effect is that with Arthur living
>>> in Sweden too, that gives us a very strong position in the TeX
>>> landscape there.)
>>> So, today's upload is sort of special: welcome CMS (ConTeXt Math 
>>> Shines), goodbye AMS (American Math Second). Of course we're open
>>> for suggestions and it being an open society all voices will be
>>> heard, but only proper (retro) math cf Lansburgh will be honored. Of
>>> course we only listen to ConTeXt users and, as that package is not
>>> supposed to be used for serious math, we don't bother about the few
>>> publishers left that still do math.
>>> Are we done? Not yet. We're in the middle of (colorful and graphic) 
>>> alignment ornaments and after that we're going to expand and improve
>>> multi-line display formulas and equation numbering.
>>> It will be no coincidence that the cover of Landburghs book about
>>> math typesetting has a prominent 'AWE' embedded in a logo with a
>>> lion on top: we hope all users are in awe about what the TeX lion
>>> can do.
>>> Mikael S & Hans H
>>> 
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