Classes, Styles, Conflicts: The Biological Realm of LaTeX
Type
Event
Date
Jun 28, 2010 — Jun 30, 2010
Location
Sir Francis Drake Hotel
San Francisco, California
Abstract
The LaTeX world is composed of thousands of software components, most
notably classes and styles. Classes and styles are born, evolve or die,
interact with each other, compete or cooperate, very much as living
organisms do at the cellular level. This paper attempts to draw an extended
analogy between the LaTeX biotope and cellular biology. By considering
LaTeX documents as living organisms and styles as viruses that infect
them, we are able to exhibit a set of behavioral patterns common to both
worlds. We analyze infection methods, types and cures, and we show how
LaTeX or cellular organisms are able to survive in a world of perpetual
war.