[aragilar]

LaTeX maths or amsmath maths? TeX maths != LaTeX maths != amsmaths maths, and usually what I see described as "LaTeX maths" is TeX maths (or a subset, when someone claiming "LaTeX support" but not actually using LaTeX).

I'm not interested in a programming language (though naturally being able to write plugins would be useful ala luatex), but a textual macro system. I have things like (which is one of the simpler macros):

    \newcommand{\dt}[1]{\frac{∂#1}{∂t}}

so I can write things quickly and efficiently. That is the power of (La)TeX, and most examples I've seen of LaTeX alternatives seem to miss that use case, and instead focus on other things (e.g. HTML generation, alternate programming languages).

[josephg]

I'm not a latex expert. I don't know what the difference is between tex math, latex math and amsmath is. (And please don't explain it, I don't care.) Maybe there are some weird expressions out there that don't have a typst equivalent, if we really looked for them. But I haven't run into anything myself, despite writing a pretty math-heavy CS paper. (Or at least, the early drafts were math heavy.)

> I'm not interested in a programming language (though naturally being able to write plugins would be useful ala luatex), but a textual macro system.

Are you sure? Because latex macros like that are really horrible to read & write, and latex gives you notoriously hard to read error messages for your trouble. Here's the equivalent in typst:

    #let dt(x) = $(∂#x) / (∂t)$

In my opinion, this is way more readable. That code defines a lambda function (like arrow functions in javascript) that returns a "math mode" block ($this is a math block$). #x escapes the math block to evaluate x - which is just the function parameter we defined earlier.

And you'd use it simply:

    The result is $dt(y)$

Its not a macro system. Its just a function that you can call anywhere - including from other functions. And the function returns a block. I personally think its much nicer, and more familiar than the latex macro equivalent.

[aragilar]

I'm curious, how does typst work out that I want the function expanded or I want the literal string if there's no marker.

[lapinot]

There are 3 syntactic modes in typst: markup, code and math. In markup, everything is literal, unless you put a `#` sigil like `#expr` in which case `expr` is parsed in code mode. In code mode everything is an identifier, as usual in programming. In math its a bit of an ugly tradeoff but its ok: single-letter things are parsed as literals but multi-letter tokens are parsed as identifiers. Finally, in code you can enclose in `[...]` to parse in markup mode. So typically, your document will be mostly in markup mode and you will encounter stuff like `#something[An argument]`, which is a function call to which you pass one content-typed argument.

So above, `y` is parsed as literal, while `dt` is parsed as an identifier, hence function call.

[teo_zero]

> In markup, everything is literal, unless you put a `#` sigil

Unless it's a "=", then it begins a new section. And unless it's a "-" or a "+" or a "/", then it's a list item. And unless it's a "<", then it defines a label, or a "@", then it's a reference to one. And unless it's a "_" or "*" or "`", then it changes font or style.

[josephg]

Right. Markup mode supports markup features - including all of that stuff for headings, lists, bold, italics and so on. It’s clearly inspired by markdown and similar languages. Personally I prefer * to \em{xxx} since it’s easier to type and it makes the text easier to read while I’m editing. (Or maybe just more familiar since give written so much markdown at this point).

[aragilar]

I think I would have preferred a consistent sigil, but I guess with fast enough feedback you'd get used to the quirks.

I do wonder if this has over-optimised on short equations—to me heavy maths use implies multi-page equations with very specific formatting requirements (something amsmath has no issues with, which isn't surprising given who the authors are).