X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1384" "Wed" "21" "October" "1998" "20:17:02" "PST" "Donald Arseneau" "asnd@TRIUMF.CA" nil "33" "Re: Users dropping into TeX" "^Date:" nil nil "10" nil "Users dropping into TeX" nil nil nil] nil) X-POP3-Rcpt: schoepf@polly.zdv.Uni-Mainz.DE Received: from listserv.gmd.de (listserv.gmd.de [192.88.97.1]) by mail.Uni-Mainz.DE (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id FAA18129; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 05:28:23 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from lsv1.listserv.gmd.de (192.88.97.2) by listserv.gmd.de (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <0.3F6D60FD@listserv.gmd.de>; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 5:28:22 +0200 Received: from RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE by RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8b) with spool id 402526 for LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 05:28:15 +0200 Received: from REG.TRIUMF.CA (reg.Triumf.CA [142.90.100.2]) by relay.urz.uni-heidelberg.de (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id FAA14278 for ; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 05:28:12 +0200 (MET DST) Received: by triumf.ca (MX V4.0-1 VAX) id 13; Wed, 21 Oct 1998 20:17:09 PST Message-ID: <009CE0B8.3AA44DD4.13@triumf.ca> Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 20:17:02 PST From: Donald Arseneau Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L Subject: Re: Users dropping into TeX Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 2695 At 21:09 +0200 98/10/21, Martin Schroeder wrote: > >\newenvironment{foo}{start}{end} defines \foo{start} and \endfoo{end}. > >But this is an undocumented feature -- which you can use at your own >risk. Hans Aberg > So LaTeX defines \begin{list} and \end{list} as a part of the >list-environment interface, but \list and \endlist are part of the >implementation of the list environment. ... > ... \list and \endlist do not belong to the interface, All untrue! The command equivalent of an environment is "documented" on pages 25 and 34 of Lamport's Manual (1st ed; check the index for Environment > made from declaration). It's not *well* documented, (omitting mention of the \end form) but it is clearly intended to be part of the user interface. For the package or class writer, it is *preferred* to use the commands rather than the environments for two reasons: - less overhead and stack use (minor) - better syntax checking (important!) Let's say you use \begin{list} when defining a new environment {citation}, and a document has omitted \end{citation}. The error message you get is ! LaTeX Error: \begin{list} on input line xx ended by \end{document}. but if you use \list and \endlist you get the proper ! LaTeX Error: \begin{citation} on input line xx ended by \end{document}. Donald Arseneau asnd@triumf.ca