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It appears that ConTeXt is more structured than LaTeX2e in terms of naming scheme, key-value naming, macros, etc. However I haven't seen any guide or so that explains how this structure works.

Where should I look? How do I start learning?

What does ! used in macros mean? E.g., \v!foo, \v!bar.
What does _ used in macros mean? (I suppose this is just to add clarity)
And @? And ??
What is the meaning of \unexpanded\def\foo…?
Where do all of those \setupfoo come from? I don't see where they are defined.
How are all of those key=value defined?

This is just what came to my mind after reading a few lines of a small .mkiv file. I don't need the answer to all of this, I'm just trying to understand conventions rather than explicit problems. That's just an example of what might come to your mind after reading a little bit about the core of ConTeXt… and I'm not sure the answer to that is easily reachable on the web.

Most important, is there a way to learn that? Is it written somewhere?

Manuel
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  • Perhaps try to focus the question a bit (just on conventions?). For example, I can answer one part but not the whole thing: \unexpanded in ConTeXt is the \protected primitive (which you can happily \show). – Joseph Wright Sep 03 '14 at 16:27
  • Yes, let's focus on conventions. However a big part of the question is about where to find out about this, is there anything going on to document this? – Manuel Sep 03 '14 at 16:29
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    Perhaps start with http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Inside_ConTeXt (although I usually just use a combination of \show and reading the source!). – Joseph Wright Sep 03 '14 at 16:38
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    Lots of questions: http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/110131/14066 -- http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/58659/14066 -- an underscore in identifier ist just part of the identifier -- an @ is a literal @ -- Btw. just start with the manual and ask on the mailing list, that’s the easiest way to answer your questions or make people answer. If in doubt, search the archives: http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.tex.context – Philipp Gesang Sep 03 '14 at 17:11
  • @phg That's it, I will close this question. By the way, how the hell does the search work? \s! doesn't search at all for anything like \s!… – Manuel Sep 03 '14 at 17:21
  • @Manuel The most convenient way to search the list is by downloading the archives at http://www.ntg.nl/pipermail/ntg-context/ and concatenating them into one big mailbox. Then use grep or your MUA at your convenience. – Philipp Gesang Sep 03 '14 at 20:01
  • @phg I meant (well, I tried :D) here in TeX.SX… it doesn't work as I would expect. – Manuel Sep 03 '14 at 22:43
  • @Manuel I don’t know; best ask on http://meta.tex.stackexchange.com/ – Philipp Gesang Sep 04 '14 at 04:12
  • @Manuel why are you going to close it? It is a good question, or so I think. – doed Sep 08 '14 at 01:52
  • @doed I had completely forgot about it. Isn't it a duplicate of the second link of phg? May be we could rewrite this question to cover other areas of the structure of ConTeXt or usual ways of doing things in ConTeXt. – Manuel Sep 08 '14 at 11:48
  • @Manuel yes. It is a duplicate. But I was just contesting the decision of closing it. Your question has votes. (Mine included). And was marked as favorite (not by me). So what you suggest about rewriting it, I agree with. The way I see is that In this forum, questions and answers about macros in ConTeXt, are not as varied or easily searchable, as say, those answers and questions in plain TeX or LaTeX. On the other hand, I have noticed a few members who would rather make the answer, a so called community wiki instead. Perhaps macros in ConTeXt do not draw the same attention as the rest. – doed Sep 09 '14 at 04:55
  • On the basis of the comments, I've closed as a dupe, though I'd be happy to re-open if someone can give a comprehensive answer (I can only do some of the parts, as noted). – Joseph Wright Dec 29 '15 at 09:48

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