CTAN update: expl3

just as massenet prepares werther to kill himself (on the radio), up pops the daemon and says: > The following information was provided by the package's contributor. > > Name of contribution: expl3 > Author's name: LaTeX Team > Location on CTAN: /macros/latex/contrib/expl3 > Summary description: Low-level LaTeX3 programming conventions > License type: lppl > > Announcement text given by the package's contributor: > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > The expl3 bundle: Low-level LaTeX3 programming conventions > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > The files of the expl3 bundle provide a low-level API for TeX > programmers with special syntax conventions, completely > separating it from document level syntax. Hence, the commands > provided are not intended for use at the document level nor for > use in describing design layouts in document class files. > > This API provides the foundation on which the LaTeX3 kernel > and other advanced extensions are built. Special care has been > taken so that they can be used within a LaTeX2e context as > regular packages. > > The TeX and eTeX primitives are all given a new name according > to these conventions. However, in the main direct use of the > primitives is not required or encouraged: the expl3 modules > define an independent low-level LaTeX3 programming language. > > At present, the expl3 modules are designed to be loaded on top > of LaTeX2e: > > \usepackage{expl3} > > In time, a LaTeX3 format will be produced based on this code. > This allows the code to be used in LaTeX2e packages now while a > stand-alone LaTeX3 is developed. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This release (SVN 1733) > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > Since SVN 1550, internal changes have been made to switch from > \cs_new:Nn to \cs_new:npn (and of forth) for performance > reasons. Some numerical code has switched from using "num" to > "int" storage. > > The messaging system (l3msg) now allows messages to use up to > four arguments. At the same time, the "recovery code" concept > has been removed from l3msg, which now focusses purely on > messages. These changes may therefore require changes to other code. > Kernel messages are now divided up into groups, so that they can > be named more freely. More details of these changes are included > in l3obsolete.txt > > In the l3keys module, there have been some improvements to > choices. An error is now issued if .generate_choices:n is given > before .choice_code:n has defined the necessary code. The value > \l_keys_choice_int is now indexed from 0, rather than from 1, > so that it is more easily used with \if_case:w and so on. > > New functions \chk_if_free_cs:c and \seq_if_in:NV(TF) have > been added. The \exp_args:x function has been removed from the > core of expl3, as it is only of significant benefit when using > LuaTeX. > > Documentation has been improved at various places. Some changes > have been made the font loading system, so that the use of > lmodern is documented, and details of using l3doc.cfg to change the > behaviour are provided. > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > The LaTeX3 Project > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > Users may view the package catalogue entry at > http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/expl3.html > or they may browse the package directory at > http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive//macros/latex/contrib/expl3 the catalogue entry will change overnight (though the difference will hardly be noticeable). Robin Fairbairns For the CTAN team