arabtex.faq 17.11.1993 What ArabTeX is NOT =================== From some enquiries following the release of ArabTeX Version 1 we learned there are many possible misconceptions about what ArabTeX can and cannot do. ArabTeX is - NOT a convenient, simple text system for everyday use. As with TeX and LaTeX, it needs some practicing to work with it efficiently, and you have to understand what you are writing. - NOT a WYSIWYG system. You need some text editor to produce the ASCII input file it reads, and you have to format your document off-line in order to look at its final form. However, the input should be fairly readable, and you can make a good guess what the output it produces will look like. - NOT a preprocessor to produce input for TeX. It will directly extend your TeX system's capabilities IFF your TeX system can be extended by loading additional macros and fonts, AND is large enough not to overflow. - NOT a substitute for a calligrapher. A competent human will do a much better job, as also will a good printing shop. However, we found not all printing shops are good, and at least outside the arabic world a good calligrapher is hard to find. - NOT an automatic translator between Arabic and any other language. That possibility is probably still very far off. However, ArabTeX may help you by observing numerous schematic rules about writing, transliteration and transcription of Arabic text. - NOT using any Artificial Intelligence techniques. The rules it observes are frozen into its algorithm, and as there are many rules and special cases, it is complicated (and slow). - NOT depending on special hardware and/or a special keyboard. It will run on any PC or work station in conjunction with a TeX implementation that is easily extensible and large enough. - NOT perfect and not free of errors (alas!). We will consider any bug report and any suggestion for new features and other changes. However, we cannot promise to fix every bug as our resources (primarily time) are limited, and we reserve the right to use our own judgment concerning possible changes. - NOT particularly efficient up to now. We concentrated on getting it running correctly first, and tuning should (and will) come later. There is ample opportunity for improvements but they could take some time. - NOT terribly expensive. In fact, it is free for scientific and strictly private, noncommercial use. For commercial purposes you need a license agreement; inquire at the author's address. Prof. Klaus Lagally Institut fuer Informatik Universitaet Stuttgart Breitwiesenstrasse 20-22 D-70565 Stuttgart GERMANY lagally@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1990 - 1993, Klaus Lagally --------------------------------------------------------------------------