Proof of Concept: TeX-based ebook program in iPad

frabjous · 07-08-2010, 11:50 PM

See this video of a talk from the TUG (TeX User Group) 2010 Conference.

Apparently in just a week he wrote up a TeX-based eBook reading program for the iPad in his spare time. It looks like it's nowhere near "ready", but if he can get this far in a week, this bodes well for the possibility of similar techniques being a distinct possibility in the near future.

For those who aren't familiar, TeX is an advanced typesetting system which produces much higher quality typography than your typical ebook renderer, including end of line hyphenation, balanced whitespace distribution, pair kerning, ligatures, etc.

I have no interest in the iPad, but it would be great if we could see similar technologies on other devices.

That said, he think he could have done better with the sample. Why did he leave the margins so big?

(By the way, there are other videos from the conference which people here might be interested, such as Donald Knuth's (the inventor of TeX) hilarious discussion of the successor to TeX.)

LDBoblo · 07-09-2010, 01:23 AM

Yes, it could be very promising if a TeX-based ebook program were developed. I've long wondered why all the big companies have doddled as they have, leaving ebook readers in the typographical stone age. Was it simply processing overhead, or was it laziness on behalf of developers?

It'd be wonderful if this was carried forward to end-products. For devices that are supposed to be "specialized" for reading, software like this should be a no-brainer.

WillAdams · 07-09-2010, 08:46 AM

It was a neat presentation, but as I pointed out in the Q&A at the end, he's essentially recreated the Wired Magazine app since the pages are ``merely'' rendered as images (one each per portrait / landscape).

The Knuth & Plass H&J algorithm is in the public domain, the problem is it demands quite a bit more processing power than the brain-dead 1-line at a time, greedy algorithms currently in use. Given that I used to use TeX on a 25MHz 68040 NeXT Cube though, it really should be feasible.

William

07-08-2010, 11:50 PM	#1
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	Proof of Concept: TeX-based ebook program in iPad See this video of a talk from the TUG (TeX User Group) 2010 Conference. Apparently in just a week he wrote up a TeX-based eBook reading program for the iPad in his spare time. It looks like it's nowhere near "ready", but if he can get this far in a week, this bodes well for the possibility of similar techniques being a distinct possibility in the near future. For those who aren't familiar, TeX is an advanced typesetting system which produces much higher quality typography than your typical ebook renderer, including end of line hyphenation, balanced whitespace distribution, pair kerning, ligatures, etc. I have no interest in the iPad, but it would be great if we could see similar technologies on other devices. That said, he think he could have done better with the sample. Why did he leave the margins so big? (By the way, there are other videos from the conference which people here might be interested, such as Donald Knuth's (the inventor of TeX) hilarious discussion of the successor to TeX.)

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07-09-2010, 01:23 AM	#2
LDBoblo Wizard Posts: 1,385 Karma: 16056 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Asia Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Sony PRS-505	Yes, it could be very promising if a TeX-based ebook program were developed. I've long wondered why all the big companies have doddled as they have, leaving ebook readers in the typographical stone age. Was it simply processing overhead, or was it laziness on behalf of developers? It'd be wonderful if this was carried forward to end-products. For devices that are supposed to be "specialized" for reading, software like this should be a no-brainer.

07-09-2010, 08:46 AM	#3
WillAdams Wizard Posts: 1,234 Karma: 3350652 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (300ppi), Samsung Galaxy Book 12	It was a neat presentation, but as I pointed out in the Q&A at the end, he's essentially recreated the Wired Magazine app since the pages are ``merely'' rendered as images (one each per portrait / landscape). The Knuth & Plass H&J algorithm is in the public domain, the problem is it demands quite a bit more processing power than the brain-dead 1-line at a time, greedy algorithms currently in use. Given that I used to use TeX on a 25MHz 68040 NeXT Cube though, it really should be feasible. William

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