Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail
From: Peter Flynn <peter@silmaril.ie>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-11,comp.editors,comp.text.pdf,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Subject: Re: What is the best free software for creating & editing PDFs nowadays
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 22:32:26 +0000
Organization: Usenet Labs Bozon Detector Facility
Lines: 36
Message-ID: <m2pdbqFj0tlU1@mid.individual.net>
References: <vpt55o$2p5o$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <vpt865$3r2n0$5@dont-email.me> <vptifl$gqq$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <vptss4$3ud2o$3@dont-email.me> <vpu972$gvk$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <vpuame$14bh$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <vpuci9$m8g$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <vpvqbb$cd2j$2@dont-email.me> <vq0ilp$1lnp$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <m2mlrgF6iifU1@mid.individual.net> <vq5s5m$19ov$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Trace: individual.net PAXTfjRHT5+9j3kBLJ9mTwk5Quufv9SRLq7qpPe3Q30S8UHV3D
Cancel-Lock: sha1:IaN5VEgtHwUK8ROVGC3gBnOxsPM= sha256:rr7IMdWAB0vJ5B5O/8xdSHuzI/AwlmmWUvAwlntLQAc=
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Content-Language: en-US
In-Reply-To: <vq5s5m$19ov$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>
Xref: csiph.com alt.comp.os.windows-11:17597 comp.editors:106725 comp.text.pdf:2636 alt.comp.os.windows-10:182765

On 04/03/2025 03:31, Marion wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Mar 2025 21:38:56 +0000, Peter Flynn wrote :
[snip]
> Given LaTeX is the de facto standard for creating mathematical and
> scientific documents, I agree with you that it belongs as a line item.
[...]> Contrasting with those programming libraries (which require 
programming
> code), LaTeX is a markup language and typesetting system. We write the
> document's content and structure using LaTeX commands, and LaTeX handles
> the visual formatting to PDF.

There are two routes to PDF if you have XML documents (increasingly 
common; and both Word and Libre Office are XML inside). Both use 
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) but in different ways

But these may be well outside the scope of your list as they are 
two-stage processes.

  • XSL-FO uses XSL to describe the transformation to Formatting Objects
    (FO) and an FO processor converts that to PDF

  • XSLT uses XSL to describe the transformation to any text format,
    including LaTeX, which can then produce PDF.

XSL-FO is no longer being developed by the W3C; however both methods are 
in common use in publishing.

> So I won't include the programming libraries in that new line, for now. 
> Does that clarify the two lines better for 'creating' & 'generating' PDF?
> 
> [x] Add text to existing pdf (Irfanview or Paint.NET plugins + Ghostscript)
> [x] Generate complex PDF using markup language (LaTeX via pdfTeX or LuaTeX)

Yes, that looks fine, thanks.

Peter