Differences and relationships between Tex, LaTex, pdflatex, xelatex, and xetex

TeX: A Macro language.

Plain Tex: one of the most basic macro sets in Tex is a format formed by the basic language of TeX.

LaTex: a macro set in Tex, which forms a format different from Plain TeX.

Tex program: a program that converts the Tex language to typographical. It is also called Tex. For the difference, this TeX program is called Knuth TeX.

Tex command: Compile command in the Tex program. The tex command uses Plain TeX format by default. That is to say, the default tex file followed by the tex command should be written in Plain Tex format.

Latex command: When the tex command is used with a certain option, it will be typeset in LaTeX format. That is to say, the tex file followed by this command should be written in LaTex format. For convenience, combine the tex command and the corresponding compilation options into a command called the latex command.

ε-TeX program: an extension of the Knuth TeX program. It is also a program and is generally written as eTeX. A few commands are added, but generally there is no much difference with the Knuth TeX program.

Implementation: in the text, it means "program. For example, the eTeX program and Knuth TeX are both an implementation of the TeX language (that is, the eTeX program and Knuth TeX both convert the TeX language into a typographical program. The program acts on the tex text file and compiles the tex file into a dvi file ).

PdfTeX program: Another implementation of the Tex language, that is, another program that converts the Tex language to typographical. It directly compiles the code written in TeX into a PDF file.

The vertex TeX command is a command in the vertex tex program to compile a TeX file written in Plain tex format.

Pdflatex: a command in the extends tex program to compile a tex file written in LaTeX format.

XeTeX program: A New Implementation of the TeX language, that is, a new program that converts the Tex language to typographical. Supports Unicode encoding and direct access to operating system fonts.

Xetex command: a command in the XeTeX program to compile a TeX file written in Plain tex format.

Xelatex: a command in the XeTeX program to compile a tex file written in LaTeX format.

The concept of "Implementation" is awkward. I don't know if it is a concept in a computer. People who are not a computer professional do not understand what "Implementation" means, I don't know what a "TeX implementation" means. If you write "an implementation of TeX language" as a program that converts TeX language to typographical, this program acts on the tex text file and compiles the tex file into some files, such as dvi, PDF file (for example, the Computex program compiles the tex file into a PDF file ). That's better understanding.

I do not know whether the above understanding is correct. If any errors occur, please give us some advice.

In addition, I think that when introducing concepts, we can use mathematical definition methods to list the definitions of each concept separately. The definition of each concept cannot contain concepts not previously defined. This will make people better understand. The summary I wrote above does this.

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