The Heap

Summary:

This document is the May 1985 issue of "The Heap," the newsletter for the Languages and Tools Special Interest Group (SIG) of DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer Users Society).

The newsletter features the following key contributions:

• Editor's Notes: Highlights the upcoming New Orleans Symposium and discusses the proposed consolidation of SIG newsletters into a single publication—a move the editor strongly opposes, arguing it would decrease the quality and volume of information shared.
• Conference Preview: Details the sessions for the Languages & Tools SIG at the New Orleans DECUS Symposium, focusing on Software Documentation Tools, including talks on TeX, WEB, and new VAX software products.
• TeX and Metafont: An extensive technical overview of Donald Knuth's TeX typesetting system and the METAFONT font creation program, including its history, usage, technical structure (e.g., boxes, glue, and primitives), and how it is being adopted by organizations like the American Mathematical Society (AMS).
• FORTRAN Standards: Includes the "Fortran Information Bulletin" (FIB-1) describing proposed features for the new Fortran standard. It also contains the formal responses from DEC and IBM, both of which voted against the publication of the bulletin, expressing concerns about compatibility, implementation complexity, and efficiency.
• AI Bibliography: A detailed bibliography on Knowledge-Based Expert Systems (KBES) in engineering, including a project case study by Don Rosenthal regarding the application of AI to space telescope scheduling.
• Administrative Information: Includes forms for membership, subscription, and ordering TeX distribution tapes and manuals.