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Date:         Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:25:07 +0000
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From: Joseph Wright <joseph.wright@MORNINGSTAR2.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: expl3 "token list" terminology
To: LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE
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Status: R

Andreas Matthias wrote:

> I disagree. I don't like it at all. Characters and tokens are
> distinct things in terms of TeX.
> 
> LaTeX3 is already far away from TeX. Maybe too far. Don't push
> it even farther away by reinventing terms and definitions.
> 
> "Token list pointer" might not be the most appropriate name but,
> please, don't call it characters.

I think the point here was that a toks is a list of tokens, and so is a
tlp, but they are not the same.  I think we are all happy with _toks for
what TeX calls a toks.  So the question is how to name/describe a macro
used to store tokens (which is currently a tlp).  I'd have called it a
string, but I can see that this causes the same problem as calling the
contents characters.  How about a "token macro" (= _tmac)? (I see that
l3toks describes a toks as a "token register".)  Perhaps this points up
the underlying structure better?
--
Joseph Wright