I'm playing with METAFONT lately and reading the source code to some Computer Modern glyphs. I learned that the start of the top stroke of lowercase pi is 1/π of the way below the x-height :)
June 8, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I'm playing with METAFONT lately and reading the source code to some Computer Modern glyphs. I learned that the start of the top stroke of lowercase pi is 1/π of the way below the x-height :)
inspirations: METAFONT, Iosevka, Hershey fonts, GeoGebra, Jelly (programming language)
September 2, 2026 at 11:01 PM
inspirations: METAFONT, Iosevka, Hershey fonts, GeoGebra, Jelly (programming language)
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt (from some Germans)...
"Ja, wir hätte gern LaTeX und Metafont, und auch naturlich gehen wir zum Schwarzwald und schlage uns selbst mit Gummiknüppel..."
"Ja, wir hätte gern LaTeX und Metafont, und auch naturlich gehen wir zum Schwarzwald und schlage uns selbst mit Gummiknüppel..."
March 21, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt (from some Germans)...
"Ja, wir hätte gern LaTeX und Metafont, und auch naturlich gehen wir zum Schwarzwald und schlage uns selbst mit Gummiknüppel..."
"Ja, wir hätte gern LaTeX und Metafont, und auch naturlich gehen wir zum Schwarzwald und schlage uns selbst mit Gummiknüppel..."
you think AI naming is bad, but..
![• throwaway890369 on Dec 7, 2020 | parent | context | favorite |
on: Rewriting LaTeX in Pure Rust
For those unfamiliar, Knuth's versioning scheme approaches pi and therefore never reaches 4.0 [0]
> In his seminal text layout system, TeX, and his equally brilliant typeface design system, METAFONT, Donald uses a versioning number system that asymptotically approaches perfection.
The version numbers of TeX approach n (the current version is 3.14159265) and the version numbers of METAFONT approach e.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ckaz32jwl6t2cno6fmuw2nhn/bafkreih6wazs7v46jckpwj2evgwuwa6idp3h4j64xyrwmtvaftpyeoioyq)
September 22, 2025 at 9:13 PM
you think AI naming is bad, but..
The converse is false, though. Not all typography nerds are Nazis. Some of us were just exposed to TeX and Metafont at an impressionable age.
December 10, 2025 at 8:33 AM
The converse is false, though. Not all typography nerds are Nazis. Some of us were just exposed to TeX and Metafont at an impressionable age.
Also Knuth's! TeX versions asymptotically approach pi, current version is 3.141592653. (And ditto for metafont which converges on e.)
February 17, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Also Knuth's! TeX versions asymptotically approach pi, current version is 3.141592653. (And ditto for metafont which converges on e.)
It all started with Metafont and Computer Modern. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compute...
Computer Modern - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
March 12, 2025 at 12:57 PM
It all started with Metafont and Computer Modern. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compute...
Why did I immediately remember METAFONT
If you think type design is boring, check out how much fun you can have when you let a symbol’s shape change with the weight. Cheers! 🍸 #adria
December 23, 2024 at 11:26 PM
Why did I immediately remember METAFONT
Just like how Donald Knuth uses π and e as the version numbers for TeX and Metafont, and adds a digit every time someone finds a bug. Brian can add a 0 for each bug release of Qud!
December 5, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Just like how Donald Knuth uses π and e as the version numbers for TeX and Metafont, and adds a digit every time someone finds a bug. Brian can add a 0 for each bug release of Qud!
Older systems like URW software (doing scan conversion from IKARUS format font masters) and METAFONT (the base outline format for TeX fonts) had their own very different methods of making the same corrections. All are interesting in their own right.
January 8, 2026 at 7:00 AM
Older systems like URW software (doing scan conversion from IKARUS format font masters) and METAFONT (the base outline format for TeX fonts) had their own very different methods of making the same corrections. All are interesting in their own right.
커누스 선생의 또다른 역작인 metafont(=TeX에서 씀)의 버전은 2.71828182 ... 로 갑니다. (자연로그의 밑인 e 값).
그리고 사후의 처리도 같습니다.....
그리고 사후의 처리도 같습니다.....
April 30, 2026 at 1:09 AM
커누스 선생의 또다른 역작인 metafont(=TeX에서 씀)의 버전은 2.71828182 ... 로 갑니다. (자연로그의 밑인 e 값).
그리고 사후의 처리도 같습니다.....
그리고 사후의 처리도 같습니다.....
that's a great way to put it, I'd always seen it that way. that was partly one of the things I noted about METAFONT because I was studying it around the same time as IKARUS and its circle primitives. my line of thought was: is METAFONT achieving something similar to that?
May 3, 2026 at 10:11 PM
that's a great way to put it, I'd always seen it that way. that was partly one of the things I noted about METAFONT because I was studying it around the same time as IKARUS and its circle primitives. my line of thought was: is METAFONT achieving something similar to that?
Extra alt.hostory, IIRC they REd it so they could make a chess font?
A great friend of mine, John Renner, made a Metafont called Cheq Pi and associated package TeXTile.
When he started at Adobe in the mid-late 80s, he turned into a PostScript font, and was responsible for the IPA font for Stone.
A great friend of mine, John Renner, made a Metafont called Cheq Pi and associated package TeXTile.
When he started at Adobe in the mid-late 80s, he turned into a PostScript font, and was responsible for the IPA font for Stone.
September 27, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Extra alt.hostory, IIRC they REd it so they could make a chess font?
A great friend of mine, John Renner, made a Metafont called Cheq Pi and associated package TeXTile.
When he started at Adobe in the mid-late 80s, he turned into a PostScript font, and was responsible for the IPA font for Stone.
A great friend of mine, John Renner, made a Metafont called Cheq Pi and associated package TeXTile.
When he started at Adobe in the mid-late 80s, he turned into a PostScript font, and was responsible for the IPA font for Stone.
He got two acknowledgements in my PhD thesis acknowledgements (for TeX/METAFONT and a random number algorithm I found in "Numerical Recipes")
October 1, 2025 at 5:18 PM
He got two acknowledgements in my PhD thesis acknowledgements (for TeX/METAFONT and a random number algorithm I found in "Numerical Recipes")
Criei a minha primeira fonte tipográfica feita na linguagem de programação baseada em METAFONT que escrevi. É a primeira fonte tipográfica escrita na minha linguagem. Ela tem 195 glifos para línguas latinas configuráveis com diferentes espessuras e inclinações, totalizando 4682 linhas de código.
March 28, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Criei a minha primeira fonte tipográfica feita na linguagem de programação baseada em METAFONT que escrevi. É a primeira fonte tipográfica escrita na minha linguagem. Ela tem 195 glifos para línguas latinas configuráveis com diferentes espessuras e inclinações, totalizando 4682 linhas de código.
More: tug.org/TUGboat/tb34...
"the author has been convinced for many years that John D. Hobby’s algorithm for connecting Bézier segments, implemented by Donald E. Knuth in METAFONT and later transferred by Hobby to METAPOST, based on the notion of a “mock curvature”, is a genuine pearl"
"the author has been convinced for many years that John D. Hobby’s algorithm for connecting Bézier segments, implemented by Donald E. Knuth in METAFONT and later transferred by Hobby to METAPOST, based on the notion of a “mock curvature”, is a genuine pearl"
tug.org
May 3, 2026 at 5:46 PM
More: tug.org/TUGboat/tb34...
"the author has been convinced for many years that John D. Hobby’s algorithm for connecting Bézier segments, implemented by Donald E. Knuth in METAFONT and later transferred by Hobby to METAPOST, based on the notion of a “mock curvature”, is a genuine pearl"
"the author has been convinced for many years that John D. Hobby’s algorithm for connecting Bézier segments, implemented by Donald E. Knuth in METAFONT and later transferred by Hobby to METAPOST, based on the notion of a “mock curvature”, is a genuine pearl"
TeX and METAFONT, which nobody uses any more*, were written in Standard Pascal with Professor Knuth's literate programming preprocessor to make it nicer (and to produce the final source code for the hardcover books).
June 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
TeX and METAFONT, which nobody uses any more*, were written in Standard Pascal with Professor Knuth's literate programming preprocessor to make it nicer (and to produce the final source code for the hardcover books).
For my PhD thesis, I built my own version of Plain TeX, PhDPlain, with initex. This was because I wanted various features not included in Plain TeX, mostly to use the 12-point Computer Modern maths symbols I built with METAFONT and UK English hyphenation patterns
October 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM
For my PhD thesis, I built my own version of Plain TeX, PhDPlain, with initex. This was because I wanted various features not included in Plain TeX, mostly to use the 12-point Computer Modern maths symbols I built with METAFONT and UK English hyphenation patterns
oh are people using metafont nowadays to do variable fonts?
October 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM
oh are people using metafont nowadays to do variable fonts?
No no I am absolutely talking about the beautiful mess that METAFONT is.
July 3, 2026 at 8:27 PM
No no I am absolutely talking about the beautiful mess that METAFONT is.
"Font compilation" has been a thing since METAFONT (1979) and earlier, though.
May 5, 2026 at 2:34 AM
"Font compilation" has been a thing since METAFONT (1979) and earlier, though.
Currently obsessed with METAFONT. It has its quirks but the underlying ideas are so elegant. I want to use it (or smth similar) to make a font entirely out of circular arcs and line segments, for efficient rendering as an SDF
February 28, 2026 at 11:40 PM
Currently obsessed with METAFONT. It has its quirks but the underlying ideas are so elegant. I want to use it (or smth similar) to make a font entirely out of circular arcs and line segments, for efficient rendering as an SDF
but anyone who wants to read more about TeX might also have some fun reading this:
gwern.net/doc/design/t...
...which serves both as a description of TeX's companion program for font-rendering, METAFONT, and also as a tech demo of its capabilities.
it is *amazing*.
gwern.net/doc/design/t...
...which serves both as a description of TeX's companion program for font-rendering, METAFONT, and also as a tech demo of its capabilities.
it is *amazing*.
gwern.net
July 3, 2026 at 7:38 PM
but anyone who wants to read more about TeX might also have some fun reading this:
gwern.net/doc/design/t...
...which serves both as a description of TeX's companion program for font-rendering, METAFONT, and also as a tech demo of its capabilities.
it is *amazing*.
gwern.net/doc/design/t...
...which serves both as a description of TeX's companion program for font-rendering, METAFONT, and also as a tech demo of its capabilities.
it is *amazing*.