ConTeXt

Function

ConTeXt is - in contrast to other large, older TeX macro package LaTeX - monolithic structured accordingly there are few additional modules. For example, TeX - based vector graphics by MetaFun, a successor of MetaPost, fully integrated in ConTeXt. ConTeXt puts an emphasis on the support of the PDF format and is able to create an interactive PDF file with high complexity as well as a paper version of the same document directly. All cross-references are automatically converted to hyperlinks. Such documents can be viewed and controlled using a PDF reader. ConTeXt can make all navigation elements are available, which can be activated without programming. Thus, the electronic versions of documents get a high value for educational purposes. In addition, ConTeXt contains some Perl helper scripts as TeXutil and TeXexec.

Development

The system was created in 1990 by Hans Hagen and Ton Otten by the Dutch company PRAGMA Advanced Document Engineering ( Pragma ADE). Since it is mainly developed by Hans Hagen.

Mkii and mkiv

There are currently (2010) two development branches:

  • ConTeXt mkii is considered stable, frozen version. It uses pdftex and xetex.
  • ConTeXt mkiv is in active development and is based on LuaTeX. Although the code of mkiv drastic changes includes, mkiv is backward compatible with mkii on many points.

Code example

Creating ConTeXt documents is simple: writing and compiling with file.tex texexec. Below is an example that leads to the mapped PDF document:

Markup language Document file format Hypertext Deutschsprachige Anwendervereinigung TeX
201121
de