Product Description

A reference as well as a tutorial, this tome provides users with the information to programmatically create high-quality graphics with TeX and LaTeX software and the enhanced PSTricks graphic package as well as hundreds of examples with ready-to-run code for hardcopy or PDF output. From how to draw simple lines on curves to creating three-dimensional images, trees, knots, and charts and adding color gradients and shadows, this manual details how to create graphics via programming rather than interactive drawing. A survey of the realm of LaTeX graphic packages is also included, along with methods for incorporating high-quality graphics in LaTeX documents.

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Written in Russian, translation of the "The Textbook" by Donald E. Knuth ... Read more

Product Description
Why is TeX so hard to use? Because it is in essence a programming language and so it is best viewed from this perspective. In this book, the author presents a complete course in TeX which will be suitable for users of TeX who want to advance beyond the basics. The initial chapters introduce the essential workings of TeX, including a detailed discussion of boxes and glue. Later chapters cover a wide range of advanced topics such as: macros, conditionals, tokens, leaders, file I/O, the line- and page-break algorithms, and output routines. Throughout, numerous examples are given and exercises (with answers) provide a means for readers to test their understanding of the material. As a result, no serious user of TeX will want to be without this text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book for Learning TeX
I am a TeX guru. I bought this book to polish my knowledge on the subject and learn some more tricks. I love it! It is the only advanced level book in TeX that I am aware of. It is a must have for all package writers.

A very good book
I read the book and loved it, I am a regular Word User who is not happy with word... sure I can figure out right from the first session what to to with it, but when I get around to what I really wanna do, not just simplefunctions like changing fonts, I am lost for .... lets call it words. TeXhowever allows much more. But it suffers from the common plague of peopletrying to make it wordlike simple. These people do TeX a great disservice,because its true power lies in its complexity, and its flexibility, thisbook is distinguishibale in that it never takes anything for granted, andexplains the printing and formatting process from scratch, in fact its theone true good book of TeX or LaTeX I have seen in the entire long quest ofmine for that true book.

The one thing that is wrong with it... is thatits VERY VERY expensive, it is worth the price, but still I am under theopinion the author or the publisher, could have realised what a treasurethis book is an released it in a more affordable price or version... evenif it ment lesser quality paper.

But it is a GREAT BOOK! ... Read more

Product Description
Donald Knuth's influence in computer science ranges from the invention of literate programming to the development of the TeX programming language. One of the foremost figures in the field of mathematical sciences, Knuth has written papers which stand as milestones of development over a wide range of topics. In this collection, the second in the series, Knuth explores the relationship between computers and typography. The present volume, in the words of the author, is the legacy of all the work he has done on typography.When type designers, punch cutters, typographers, book historians, and scholars visited the University while Knuth was working in this field, it gave to Stanford what some consider to be its golden age of digital typography. By the author's own admission, the present work is one of the most difficult books that he has prepared. This is truly a work that only Knuth could have produced. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Enjoyable synopsis of Knuth's typesetting adventures
I got this book primarily to understand the word-wrapping algorithm in TeX,
and just that chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

Having said that... when explaining algorithms, I find Knuth concentrates so
much on the minutiae that the bigger picture is often lost; but that's just
his style and the exposition is always very clear. I've gone through parts
of TAOCP, so his style of teaching wasn't a complete surprise to me.
The word-wrapping chapter itself has a very leisurely style with a lot
of history and background, and it was a very enlightening and pleasant read.

The book itself is a selection of papers, articles, transcripts
of talks and working documents by Knuth on TeX and Metafont
(for the most part.)

Some chapters were not particularly interesting to me, they dealt with
specifics of tricky typesetting with TeX, which I feel has a clumsy
programming syntax.

Other chapters were great reading as they dealt with the historical
development of TeX and Metafont. For example, he writes about his collaboration
with Hermann Zapf on the AMS Euler typeface, which gives great insights
on how fonts were developed with Metafont. There are a couple of chapters talking
about his fascination with digital typography and his gradual descent (or is that
ascent!) into developing TeX and Metafont, and they were fun to read.

If you're a Knuth fan, you'll definitely want to get this book. The historical
material makes for nice, light reading, and if you get the urge, you can plunge
into the technical chapters and see some interesting gears within TeX
and Metafont.

Fascinating Background Material to Knuth's Typesetting Work
This book won't teach you TeX or Metafont. It might not even teach you all that much about particular algorithms (although Chapter 3 is one of the most detailed explanations of TeX's linebreaking algorithms published anywhere). Instead, this book offers a look behind the scenes.

Instead of beholding TeX and Metafont in their almost final versions, as published in _TeX: The Program_ and _Metafont: The Program_, respectively, you see them grow from the first design studies (when Knuth thought of TeX as a program for two grad students to write over a summer) to where they are today. You see how the collaboration between Knuth and Zapf on the Euler fonts worked, and you get another glance at many facets of Knuth's mind (And a beautiful mind it is indeed, even though it is entirely sane).

If you have any deeper interest in TeX and Metafont, this book is well worth the money.

MASTERFUL
EXCELLENT book.... I cannot rate this one high enough.... at firstI thought it might have been expensive but it is NOT... the price is well WORTH it for what you get, Knuth is a master!

The Art of Beautiful Print
This is a highly stimulating collection of essays about TeX, typography, the delectable art of programming, the joy of a beautifully constructed letter A, the world, the universe and everything. Knuth's style is, asalways, eminently readable and possessed of a fluidity unmatched intechnical writing this century.Definitely recommended.

A very stimulating bathroom read
This book collects numerous writings on TeX and typography from one of the greatest coumputer scientists of all time, Donald Knuth.Here you get to read fascinating inside information on Knuth's earliest development of TeX,how doggone hard he worked to get the letter "S" just right inhis computer modern fonts, how to typeset his wife's recipes, and otherbits of amazing minutiae.Knuth's style is breezy and funny in a wry-drykind of way.(He's the kind of down-to-earth genius you'd love to take outto dinner.), and I was amused to find out that he seems to be a film buff. (His journal from his early work on TeX shows that he went to see"Earthquake," for goshsakes, "to relax"!)

This is abrilliant book, a book to treasure, and with its relatively short essays, abook to keep handy for bathroom reading.But then again, you may getaddicted and just keep reading one chapterafter another!If you love TeX(or LaTeX or AMS-TeX) as much as I do, you'll have to have this book.It'sthat good, and you will not only be astounded by his genius, entertained bythe presentation, but you'll learn things too.Trust me on this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Beyond the inside jokes, the fake bits and the banter, "The Ticket: Full Disclosure" gives you the complete low-down on how "The Ticket" got started. From the boys at the back of the bus to one of the most imitated sports talk radio stations on the air today, get the full story as told by the guys you tune in to hear on 1310 AM every day. On the occasion of "The Ticket's" 15th anniversary, Ticketheads finally have a book revealing all the history and behind-the-scenes hi jinks of the Marconi-winning radio station. The ultimate bathroom book for every good, strong P1, this is the true, unvarnished "Ticket" story of how Mike Rhyner and the gang evolved from press-box yuk monkeys to forming the core of one of the nation's most popular radio stations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Pretty darn good
The writing didn't always flow but it was the dude's first book.Very insightful.A must for any P1.

Great Read for fans of the station
A great read for fans of The Ticket.Lots of background on the forming of the Ticket and the behind the scenes things you don't hear on the ticket.Also added some insight on Greg Williams leaving the Hardline.I wished they would have talked more about some of the great bits on The Ticket, but otherwise a great read.

Greatness
Great story about starting one of the most listened to Radio Stations in the country

Is this radio station a cultural window, a cultural mirror, or both?
Note: The review that follows is of the hardbound edition.

Opinions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area about radio station 1310 AM have been sharply divided among those who have been listening to it after it began broadcasting in 1994. There have been several owners of "The Ticket" and what seems like normal turnover of hosts and co-hosts of various segments during the years since its launch. Most of the alumni remain active in the DFW area and include Chris Arnold, Skip Bayless (an exception, now on two ESPN TV programs), Chuck Cooperstein, Mark ("Friedo") Friedman, Mark Followill, Dale Hansen, Richard Hunter, Curt Menefee (another exception, now current host of Fox NFL Sunday), John Rhadigan, Ben Rogers and Jeff ("Skin") Wade, Kevin Scott,and Greg Williams (one of the original hosts together with Bayless, Menefee, and Mike Rhyner). It was Rhyner's original "dream" that became The Ticket 15 years ago and he continues as a co-host of The Hardline with Corby Davidson. What we have in Scott Boyter's book is "the completely true story of the Marconi-winning Little Ticket (a.k.a. "The Station That Got Your Mom to Say `Stay Hard'").

The current weekday programs are The (Gentle) Musers co-hosted by George Dunham, Craig Miller, and Gordon Keith (5:30-10 AM); The Norm Hitzges Show (10-Noon); BaD Radio co-hosted by Bob Sturm, Dan McDowell, and Donovan Lewis (Noon-3 PM); The Hardline co-hosted by Rhyner and Davidson (3-7 PM); and The Dan Patrick Show (9-midnight). The Saturday programs include The Train Station/Fitness Show, The Tee Box, The Orphanage, Race Week; Mark Elfenbein has a program on Sunday mornings.

After examining the events that led up to the establishment of The Ticket in Section One, Boyter dedicates a separate chapter to Dunham, Miller, Keith, Hitzges, Sturm, McDowell, Lewis, Rhyner, and Davidson in Sections Two-Five before shifting his attention in Section Six ("Where Are They Now?") in which he discusses "alumni" Cooperstein, Menefee, Rocco Pendola, Chris Arnold, and Williams. In the final section (Chapter 21), he suggests what the future of The Ticket could be.

The sports talk radio public in the DFW area are familiar with those to whom Boyter devotes most of his attention in this book but, to his credit, he acknowledges -- and includes the acknowledgement by others - the important contributions made to The Ticket over the years, notably Geoff Dunbar, Spence Kendrick, David Vaughn, Mike Thompson (a.k.a. "The Wild Irish Laddy" or just "The Laddy"), Bruce Gilbert, and especially Dan Bennett and Jeff Catlin. It should be noted that Mark ("Friedo") Friedman's behind-the-scenes efforts and occasional on-air remarks while producing The Norm Hitzges Show also made substantial contributions to the show's success. What fascinated me while reading Boyter's "completely true story" of The Ticket's establishment and subsequent development is that its success occurred so quickly and unexpectedly. There are several major reasons. For example, "Mike Rhyner never envisioned The Ticket as a hardcore sports station, where conversation about the Cowboys' prevent defense ruled the day. He knew that if the station had tried that approach, it would have lasted about three months - if that long." Indeed, depending on which program is heard, the differences between and among the various co-hosts have guaranteed from the beginning that the station's on-air conversations throughout the day would offer something for everyone, ranging from members of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity at Faber College to George Will. Granted, during the first year, The Ticket acted (with mixed results) as if (in Dunbar's words) "we were a big time operation. I'm operating out of rented studios with one board, a production room I've got to share and no office space for the sales staff," he added. "I can't hire enough sales people because there aren't any benefits. It was like a monkey fucking a football."

However, sooner than later, The Ticket hit its stride and soon dominated the ratings, especially among the most coveted demographic in radio (i.e. men aged 25-54) and drive-time slots. The focus was always and remains on the personalities of the hosts. As Gilbert explains, "The Ticket was something completely different in the sense that its listeners didn't just like the station, they were ambassadors for - and fanatics of - the station. More importantly, of the talent. The Ticket as a business was a combination of the DNA of all the hosts." Gilbert"fired the incendiary Rocco Pendola (the subject of Chapter 18), replaced him with the venerable Norm Hitzges (Chapter 10), and hired Bob Sturm (Chapter 11) to take the noon-3 PM slot."

Any key reason for The Ticket's success is the extent to which all of its hosts work so hard to help promote the station, whether they are on or off the air. I know of no other station in the U.S. that schedules more remote broadcasts, not only at the locations of its major sponsors but also at restaurants that are most appealing to their "ambassadors," their evangelists, who are called P-1s.Also, let's not forget the Ticketchicks who also appear at the locations of most remote broadcasts. Throughout Boyter's narratives, managers as well as hosts cite the collective efforts to support promotions such as the ones scheduled for this book. One of my favorites is Chris Arnold who hosted the morning slot now held by another favorite of mine, Norm Hitzges. Arnold was perhaps the most popular and probably the hardest working host but eventually became worn out. "It was crazy. How I did it I don't know. Back then, I just had a lot of energy. I stayed in shape, worked out a lot, and basically didn't have any other life except sports." Boyter observes that "holding down three jobs at one time is crazy; four is insane." A compliment to Arnold from one of his friends, Michael Jordan, helped him to decide to leave The Ticket in order to focus on his association with the Dallas Mavericks and he continues with local radio station K104 FM. As recalls fondly, "The Ticket's a never-ending soap opera. And the listeners are in on it. That's the Ticket's big secret: you're in on the deal." Boyter adds, "Speaking of soap operas, here's the chapter you've been waiting for: The Ticket's most notorious ex-host, Greg Williams." He is the subject of Chapter 21 and, frankly, the details of Williams' association with The Ticket - and speculation about ended it -- are best revealed within the narrative, in context. Suffice to say now that no one at The Ticket flew higher and then fell further than Williams did. Now he has embarked on the process of rebuilding his career and, more to the point, rebuilding his life.

My guess (only a guess) is that this book will be of greatest interest to two different groups of people: Those who are interested in knowing more about the key people who have been involved with The Ticket since it began broadcasting in 1994, and, those who are interested in knowing what it requires to plan, fund, launch, and strengthen a radio station in one of the most competitive media markets in the United States.I happen to be a member of both groups and thank Scott Boyter on a lively as well as informative presentation of "the completely true story of the Marconi-winning Little Ticket."

Personal request: Include an index in the next edition. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (10)

Comprehensive book on fonts and encodings
I doubt I will ever read this book cover to cover.However, I am sure I will look things up in it on many occasions.And, there are a number of introductory sections I plan to read immediately.

politically correct fonts
On page 29 the author claims that ASCII was adopted "a few months after the assasination of President Kennedy" on June 17, 1963. I don't why the author would make such a careless and impertinant reference but it calls to question the proof readers at O'Reilly and the quality of the research that forms the basis for buying this book. Can I trust the information on Unicode if they can't bother to look up their facts? How many other things did they just make up and put in print?
The reader is repeatedly referred to as "her" as a sop to political correctness. This is a computer book and not the editorial page. These girls should have married a doctor.

A labor of love - authoritative book on subject
I've read and reread this book a number of times.It is now dogged eared, book marked, and tagged more than any other book in my library.It contains great anecdotal stories, unmatched technical information, and is clearly a work of true devotion.If you are a designer, typographer, or IT support for font intensive workflows, this book is required reading for mastery of the subject.Run to get this book.Another glowing example of the quality books released by O'Reilly.

Thick book, sometimes already outdated, not didactic
It's a good book, it's a thick book.

But it does not deserve 5 stars. Three main problems:

1) it is too thick and often goes in far too many details

2) some of the material is out-of-date: for instance how to create keyboard drivers under Mac OS.

3) It is not didactic, Yannis obviously wants to impress his colleagues and his readers, not necessarily be understood by the below-average geek like me. Where is a simple introduction to OpenType before going in all the gory details?

This being said the book is interesting and some chapters are fascinating.

Great book lots of errors though
This is a terrific book for the technically minded person either designing type or dealing with its use from a technology perspective. I read the English translation and found the writing good and informative. My problem is that there appear to be numerous typos particularly in the hundreds of code examples. This may only be in the translation since I have not seen the original French. I hope the publisher can give it a thorough proof reading! ... Read more