Why does Werner's famous source code throw so many errors in TeXworks?

Question

I tried typesetting Werner's famous code from What commands are there for horizontal spacing?, and I get many errors.

I'm running TeXworks Version 0.6.2 (travis-ci) [r.7ecce17, 2017.04.29 12:23] on Windows 10.

Flavour	Errors	Renders?
pdfLaTeX	16	Yes
LuaLaTeX	16	Yes
XeLaTeX	16	Yes

Obviously, there's a pattern at work, but what is happening?

Why does adding \usepackage{amsmath} correct many of these errors?

What software/settings does Werner use to get his file to typeset properly?

BTW, I think that Werner's answer is a beautiful summary of the commands.

Here are the contents of the log file:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.19 (TeX Live 2018/W32TeX (preloaded format=pdflatex 2018.9.7)  1 JUN 2021 19:39
entering extended mode
restricted \write18 enabled.
%&-line parsing enabled.
**werner_pdfLaTeX.tex
(./werner_pdfLaTeX.tex
LaTeX2e <2018-04-01> patch level 5
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo
File: size10.clo 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
)
\c@part=\count80
\c@section=\count81
\c@subsection=\count82
\c@subsubsection=\count83
\c@paragraph=\count84
\c@subparagraph=\count85
\c@figure=\count86
\c@table=\count87
\abovecaptionskip=\skip41
\belowcaptionskip=\skip42
\bibindent=\dimen102
)
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/latex/geometry/geometry.sty
Package: geometry 2018/04/16 v5.8 Page Geometry
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty
Package: keyval 2014/10/28 v1.15 key=value parser (DPC)
\KV@toks@=\toks14
)
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/generic/oberdiek/ifpdf.sty
Package: ifpdf 2017/03/15 v3.2 Provides the ifpdf switch
)
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/generic/oberdiek/ifvtex.sty
Package: ifvtex 2016/05/16 v1.6 Detect VTeX and its facilities (HO)
Package ifvtex Info: VTeX not detected.
)
(c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/generic/ifxetex/ifxetex.sty
Package: ifxetex 2010/09/12 v0.6 Provides ifxetex conditional
)
\Gm@cnth=\count88
\Gm@cntv=\count89
\c@Gm@tempcnt=\count90
\Gm@bindingoffset=\dimen103
\Gm@wd@mp=\dimen104
\Gm@odd@mp=\dimen105
\Gm@even@mp=\dimen106
\Gm@layoutwidth=\dimen107
\Gm@layoutheight=\dimen108
\Gm@layouthoffset=\dimen109
\Gm@layoutvoffset=\dimen110
\Gm@dimlist=\toks15
)
No file werner_pdfLaTeX.aux.
\openout1 = `werner_pdfLaTeX.aux'.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OML/cmm/m/it on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for T1/cmr/m/n on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OT1/cmr/m/n on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMS/cmsy/m/n on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMX/cmex/m/n on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for U/cmr/m/n on input line 6.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 6.
geometry driver: auto-detecting
geometry detected driver: pdftex
geometry verbose mode - [ preamble ] result:

driver: pdftex
paper: <default>
layout: <same size as paper>
layoutoffset:(h,v)=(0.0pt,0.0pt)
modes:
h-part:(L,W,R)=(72.26999pt, 469.75502pt, 72.26999pt)
v-part:(T,H,B)=(72.26999pt, 650.43001pt, 72.26999pt)
\paperwidth=614.295pt
\paperheight=794.96999pt
\textwidth=469.75502pt
\textheight=650.43001pt
\oddsidemargin=0.0pt
\evensidemargin=0.0pt
\topmargin=-37.0pt
\headheight=12.0pt
\headsep=25.0pt
\topskip=10.0pt
\footskip=30.0pt
\marginparwidth=65.0pt
\marginparsep=11.0pt
\columnsep=10.0pt
\skip\footins=9.0pt plus 4.0pt minus 2.0pt
\hoffset=0.0pt
\voffset=0.0pt
\mag=1000
@twocolumnfalse
@twosidefalse
@mparswitchfalse
@reversemarginfalse
(1in=72.27pt=25.4mm, 1cm=28.453pt)

LaTeX Font Info:    External font cmex10' loaded for size (Font) &lt;7&gt; on input line 10. LaTeX Font Info: External fontcmex10' loaded for size
(Font)              <5> on input line 10.
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.13   \verb|a!b|                     & a!
                                            b \quad $a!b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.13 ...!b|                     & a!b \quad $a!
                                                  b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.15   \verb|a:b|                     & a:
                                            b \quad $a:b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.15 ...:b|                     & a:b \quad $a:
                                                  b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.16   \verb|a&gt;b|                     & a&gt;
                                            b \quad $a&gt;b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.16 ...&gt;b|                     & a&gt;b \quad $a&gt;
                                                  b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.17 ...erb|a\medspace b|             & a\medspace
                                                   b \quad $a\medspace b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.17 ...          & a\medspace b \quad $a\medspace
                                                   b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.18 ...|a\negmedspace b|          & a\negmedspace
                                                   b \quad $a\negmedspace b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.18 ...    & a\negmedspace b \quad $a\negmedspace
                                                   b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.19   \verb|a;b|                     & a;
                                            b \quad $a;b$ \
?
! Missing $ inserted.
<inserted text>
                $
l.19 ...;b|                     & a;b \quad $a;
                                                  b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.20 ...b|a\thickspace b|           & a\thickspace
                                                   b \quad $a\thickspace b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.20 ...      & a\thickspace b \quad $a\thickspace
                                                   b$ \
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.21 ...\negthickspace b|        & a\negthickspace
                                                   b \quad $a\negthickspace ...
?
! Undefined control sequence.
l.21 ...& a\negthickspace b \quad $a\negthickspace
                                                   b$ \
?
[1
{c:/texlive/2018/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}]
(./werner_pdfLaTeX.aux) )
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
733 strings out of 492641
10020 string characters out of 6133132
83645 words of memory out of 5000000
4687 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
3808 words of font info for 15 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
1141 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
24i,13n,32p,178b,205s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,80000s
<c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfont
s/cm/cmmi10.pfb><c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr1
0.pfb><c:/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmtt10.pfb>
Output written on werner_pdfLaTeX.pdf (1 page, 39415 bytes).
PDF statistics:
20 PDF objects out of 1000 (max. 8388607)
13 compressed objects within 1 object stream
0 named destinations out of 1000 (max. 500000)
1 words of extra memory for PDF output out of 10000 (max. 10000000)

Hm... That answer is really basic LaTeX, unchanged for many years, to there isn't much mystery to it. It works for me. Can you show the log file please? — Phelype Oleinik, Jun 02 '21 at 00:47
Several "math spaces" aren't defined in basic LaTeX, but theyare defined by amsmath, so that would eliminate related errors. (I haven't checked the linked question, but I'm quite familiar with amsmath, so this is not a surprise.) — barbara beeton, Jun 02 '21 at 01:00
The software to process the referred code is TeX. The macro used by TeX before input the document source (and processed typically as TeX's format) is LaTeX. Nothing special settings were done. There are no errors when you are using TeX with LaTeX format. — wipet, Jun 02 '21 at 03:24
@PhelypeOleinik: I edited the question to include the log contents. — toxasma, Jun 02 '21 at 04:03
The example compiles without error for me with a current version of LaTeX. Looking at the revision history of the answer https://tex.stackexchange.com/posts/74354/revisions we find that there was a big change in 2020 for the October 2020 release of LaTeX when some spacing commands were moved from amsmath to the kernel (https://www.latex-project.org/news/latex2e-news/ltnews32.pdf). Your version of LaTeX is older, so you should probably refer to the revision of the answer before that (https://tex.stackexchange.com/revisions/74354/8), though loading amsmath may also help. — moewe, Jun 02 '21 at 05:25
@toxasma Ah, you have TeX Live 2018. See moewe's comment: you need to use an earlier version of the answer, because some commands had their syntax extended to also work in text mode. Either use the old version of the answer, or load amsmath and change, in the sixth row of the table, a\>b \quad $a\>b$ to $a\>b$ (in 2018 \> didn't work in text mode). — Phelype Oleinik, Jun 02 '21 at 11:58
@moewe: thank you, that seems to have answered my question. time for an update! — toxasma, Jun 02 '21 at 12:47
@PhelypeOleinik: thanks for following up. cheers! should i post an answer to this question compiled from the above comments? is that how this works? — toxasma, Jun 02 '21 at 13:02

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 02 '21 at 15:07

The example compiles without error for me with a current version of LaTeX. Looking at the revision history of the answer we find that there was a big change in 2020 for the October 2020 release of LaTeX when some spacing commands were moved from amsmath to the kernel (see also the announcement in the LaTeX news https://www.latex-project.org/news/latex2e-news/ltnews32.pdf, p. 5 and https://github.com/latex3/latex2e/issues/303 for background).

Your version of LaTeX is older, so you should probably refer to the revision of the answer before that (https://tex.stackexchange.com/revisions/74354/8), though loading amsmath may also help with most of the issues.

I updated to TeXLive version 2021 (and TeXworks version 0.6.6), and Werner's source typeset flawlessly. Thanks for the help everyone. I was surprised that these 'basic' commands had been updated so recently, and I assumed that there must be an actual problem somewhere. Cheers! — toxasma, Jun 02 '21 at 15:53

Why does Werner's famous source code throw so many errors in TeXworks?

1 Answers1