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Does TeX have a limit at all? I've seen in forums that besides rendering objects with pgfplots and tikz, to animating with animate, to interactive PDFs by embedding Javascript in TeX, actually nothing is impossible in TeX that you can imagine. How can this be possible? Is there a book or script that deals exclusively with TeX and the fundamental structures?

Edit: My question consists of two parts.

  1. How can Tex as a typesetting system provide deeper layers of meaning like animations and or interaction in a PDF? Also where is the limit of TeX. Can I program chess in LaTeX? Small MiniGames that can be played in PDFs?
  2. How can a wide understanding of TeX programming be achieved? This does not mean typesetting but TeX itself. Are there any books that deal with question 1, which then discuss TeX?
wipet
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LulaTeX
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    Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community Jun 07 '22 at 13:35
  • Not sure what answer you are looking for, exactly? LaTeX is, above all, typesetting / text processing software, used to create professional looking documents. That said, it is considered Turing-complete, and thus a full-blown programming language in its own right, even if rarely the first choice for tasks outside of its core are of competence. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2968411/ – Ingmar Jun 07 '22 at 13:56
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    While there are many things you can do with LaTeX, that doesn't mean you should do them. If it isn't typesetting, almost any other programming language would do a better job. – John Kormylo Jun 07 '22 at 14:05
  • @Ingmar That answers the first question. So with enough effort, any conceivable program is possible to implement with TeX. If I want to study TeX, not typesetting but truly with its structures as a programming language itself, what would be the best way to start? – LulaTeX Jun 07 '22 at 14:05
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    The TeXbok by Knuth is the best reference. After all, he created the TeX engine. – John Kormylo Jun 07 '22 at 14:07
  • @JohnKormylo Okay, but what programming language does a better job of embedding complex representations in PDF format than LaTeX? – LulaTeX Jun 07 '22 at 14:10
  • To a certain extent, PDF is a programming language (written in ASCII with lots of MIME like blocks). Besides, anything to do with PDF is typesetting. – John Kormylo Jun 07 '22 at 14:14
  • @LulaTeX Are you able to distinguish between LaTeX and TeX? They are different things but you are using these words in your text like they are equal. – wipet Jun 07 '22 at 14:31
  • @wipet More or less it doesn't matter in the usage here. Formally I agree with you but LaTeX is an extension of TeX and can do what TeX can do and more. – LulaTeX Jun 07 '22 at 14:45
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    @LulaTeX LaTeX isn't extension of TeX. LaTeX is (roughly speaking) a program written in the TeX macro language. – wipet Jun 07 '22 at 14:50
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    Dupe of tex general - What can't TeX do? - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange & package writing - Where do I start LaTeX programming? - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange – user202729 Jun 07 '22 at 14:54
  • @wipet Sounds like an extention to me – LulaTeX Jun 07 '22 at 15:00
  • Extension as in an interface layer. Also, consider \macro{replacement text} as diagnostic. Would that be equivalent to substitute() function in a spreadsheet? SAS macros produce SAS code, DCF and TeX produce "printing" (wide sense) instructions (i.e., commands + text). Not a language as such, more a system or method or process. – Cicada Jun 07 '22 at 15:00
  • It's a bit old now, not all the images show, and the links are probably dead, but there's always https://tex-talk.net/2012/10/i-tex-therefore-i-toast/ – Andrew Stacey Jun 07 '22 at 17:07
  • @LulaTeX You can certainly program games in TeX. One such example is reverxii, an implementation of the Reversi board game. It is most certainly possible to program a game of chess in TeX, it just depends how “smart” you want the computer to play against the user, and how much effort you are willing to put into that. – Phelype Oleinik Jun 08 '22 at 01:16

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