• Get the Jag: from x-type to e-type

    Controlling expansion has been a key part of expl3 from day one. A basic expl3 function name such as \foo:nn shows how many unmodified braced arguments it takes: so called n-type arguments. We can then create variants, which can lead to expansion only once (o-type), to the value of a variable (V-type) or to the value retrieved by constructing the name of a variable and then finding the value (v-type). We can do the same with single-token (N-type) arguments, which are often themselves functions and can be given as a constructed name (c-type).
  • Uncertainties in siunitx

    Right from the first version, siunitx has supported uncertainty values in numbers. Uncertainties are a key piece of information about a lot of scientific values, and so it’s important to have a convenient way to present them.
  • Mapping to characters

    It is quite natural to think that separating a word up into individual characters is quite easy. It turns out that for the computer this isn’t really the case. If we look at a system that understands Unicode (like XeTeX or LuaTeX), most of the time one ‘character’ is stored as one codepoint. A codepoint is a single character entity for a Unicode programme. For example, if we take the input café, it is made up of four codepoints:
  • Math mode: $...$ vs \(...\)

    A topic that comes up for many LaTeX users is how best to mark up math mode in sentences: inline math mode. LaTeX offers three (!) official ways to do that
  • siunitx v3.1: complex values

    I mentioned recently that I’m working on features for siunitx v3.1. One area that I’ve now been able to commit is improvements to handling complex values.
  • siunitx v3.1 development

    I’ve now done 49 (!) minor releases of siunitx on the v3.0.x branch. These have addressed quite a few minor bugs: I expected to have to do a bit of work since the shift from v2 was quite major.
  • siunitx v3 successes

    The third major release of siunitx was out in May, after the TeX Live 2021 DVD. That means it’s been picked up primarily by more active users: people who install TeX between the ‘fixed’ DVD releases (or who use MiKTeX). It also didn’t initially appear on Overleaf, as they take a while to test TeX Live images before making them public.
  • A new theme

    I’ve been meaning for a little while to look properly at my Jeykll theme for the site and tidy it up: it was a bit basic. Prompted in part by Will Robertson, I decided that now is the moment.
  • Talking about units

    Usually, I keep my day job (as a university lecturer in chemistry) and my LaTeX work separate. Of course, I use LaTeX at work for things like lecture handouts, but most of the time the two areas don’t directly intersect.
  • Moving from siunitx v2 to v3

    With v3 of siunitx out, I am as expected getting quite a few questions about moving from v2. In the main, this is quite easy as there is a decent amount of compatibility code. Here, I’ll pick out a few cases where you might want some adjustments.

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