[smartmic]

These 6 lines actually put me off. Probably I have to read more about Typst syntax but, same for me, consistent syntax which covers necessary complexity wins over bending a markup language for purposes for which it was never intended.

[josephg]

It’s best not to think of it as a markup language. It’s a programming language designed around the needs of outputting pdfs.

Structurally it’s like a modern, nice version of php, only it’s built for academic articles rather than emitting websites.

The code snippet there packs in about 8 typst concepts all at once. It’s like if someone showed off how “simple” c++ is by showing some template-heavy magic. It’s straightforward once you’ve spent time with the language, but it’s a pretty terrible place to start learning typst. (That example shows expression mode, block mode, function calling, tags, named arguments, and probably more. Whew!)

[gauge_field]

That is a great analogy. When I wrote my note/hws in latex, I had the urge to go look for a package more frequently. When I started converting those docs into typst, I was able to hack around more easily, it really did feel like a modern programming language that has great error messages and that I enjoyed writing in. It did not feel complex, especially with the help of compiler errors messages

[__mharrison__]

It's a little odd at first. I would recommend reading through the tutorial (which is quite good) and you might start to see some of the method to the madness.