Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 11/14/2016 04:47 AM, David Carlisle wrote: > On 14 November 2016 at 09:22, Apostolos Syropoulos > wrote: >>> >>> Changing the source isn't the issue, are you offering also to help >>> with user support to manage the change >>> and explain to people why it's not possible

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

> > No, not at all. There is a big difference between offering new >functionality > and offering existing functionality. when implementing existing tex >features. > Existing functionality is something that is already there but this discussion is on because this functionality is not included in

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 14 November 2016 at 09:22, Apostolos Syropoulos wrote: >> >> Changing the source isn't the issue, are you offering also to help >> with user support to manage the change >> and explain to people why it's not possible to re-create documents >> that they created before

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 13 November 2016 at 16:50, Apostolos Syropoulos wrote: > > OK please let me know how the pdftex thing is implemented and I will do the > thing with drand48. Then people can check the implementation, etc. > > A.S. > People using a fixed seed to get reproducible results

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

Dear Joseph, - \(pdf)uniformdeviate - \(pdf)normaldeviate - \(pdf)randomseed - \(pdf)setrandomseed (LuaTeX drops the 'pdf' part of the names.) H. Kitagawa, the author of eptex, has added \pdfuniformdeviate \pdfnormaldeviate \pdfrandomseed \pdfsetrandomseed in eptex and euptex (r42506 in TL).

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 13 November 2016 at 16:47, Apostolos Syropoulos wrote: >> >> That's true except that as pdftex and luatex have this already and have had >> for years, in this particular instance it's playing catchup that is >> being suggested. >> Not promoting novel functionality. >> >

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 13 November 2016 at 15:46, Apostolos Syropoulos wrote: > Let me say that I find this point of view far too conservative. OK METAFONT > lives in the previous century but luatex and xetex are products of this > century so they must utilize what is better. Also, the point

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

Of course. And while the harvest might be greater (not necessarily great as such), the workers are few…. > On Nov 13, 2016, at 11:28, Joseph Wright > wrote: > > On 13/11/2016 15:49, Karljürgen Feuerherm wrote: >> Well… does it have to be either/or, anyhow?

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 13/11/2016 15:49, Karljürgen Feuerherm wrote: > Well… does it have to be either/or, anyhow? Taking Apostolos’ last point, why > not have a switch? > > It makes sense to allow for cross-platform compatibility, but there’s no > reason to think that *nobody* would appreciate an improved

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

Well… does it have to be either/or, anyhow? Taking Apostolos’ last point, why not have a switch? It makes sense to allow for cross-platform compatibility, but there’s no reason to think that *nobody* would appreciate an improved algorithm…. K > On Nov 13, 2016, at 10:46, Apostolos Syropoulos

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

> > A major aim of the original request was to bring the functionality of > the xetex engine into line with pdftex and luatex to help in > developing cross engine macro code. So there are arguments for using > the same code here unless the existing code is really broken and >

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 13 November 2016 at 13:58, Apostolos Syropoulos wrote: > > > Thank you very much for your prompt response. I would say that > this feature makes the typesetting engine more independent and > this is definitely a good thing. Also, I think it should be > implemented using

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

On 13/11/2016 13:04, Apostolos Syropoulos wrote: >> to track the seed). The usefulness of pseudo-random numbers has come up >> a few times recently, and so we'd like to address this. (Expandable >> floating point evaluation is pretty handy as an end user!) > > > Can you please elaborate on the

Re: [XeTeX] Random number primitives

2016-11-12 22:45 GMT+01:00 Joseph Wright : > lower-level pseudo-random number generator (I assume from C: there is > very little actual code in the pdfTeX WEB source to implement these). IIRC it came from MetaPost. Best Martin

[XeTeX] Random number primitives

Hello all, As many people will know, the LaTeX team have developed an expandable FPU as part of expl3. That gets quite a bit of use, but one area we can't currently address is random numbers. The pgf bundle has a pseudo-random number generator, but that can't be expandable (you need to track the