When I first started using TeX, I felt overwhelmed by the myriad of names — BibTeX, XeTeX, LaTeX, XeLaTeX, ConTeXt, LuaTeX, MacTeX, TeXLive — and more. I didn't know the packages from the programs from the distributions, or what begat what.
Since then I've learned, but once in a while I still come across names I don't recognize. I often wonder where I might find a “TeX Family Tree” showing how everything relates along a timeline. I've looked and looked, but have never found anything. So, I decided to bite the bullet and roll my own.
I'm looking for feedback:
- Are the relationships correct?
- Is anything major missing?
- What can be improved?
Clicking on the image leads to a PDF. I made two versions: Portrait and Landscape.
The chart spans 52 years — all the way back to 1962, when D.E.K. began writing TAOCP — and includes 17 versions of TeX, 12 versions of METAFONT, 17 derivatives of TeX (CommonTeX, Web2C, MLTeX, eTeX, TeX-XeT, TeX–XeT, eTeX, eLaTeX, encTeX, Omega, Aleph, XeTeX, XeLaTeX, ArabXeTeX, ConTeXt, LuaTeX, LuaLaTeX), 3 formats (Plain TeX, AMS-TeX, LaTeX), 7 tools (WEB, CWEB, dvips, pdftex, pdfetex, pdflatex, BibTeX), 8 distributions (PCTeX, DirectTeX, MiKTeX, proTeXit, teTeX, 4AllTeX, TeXLive, MacTeX), and 36 D.E.K. publications (TAOCP, Computers & Typesetting, Literate Programming, and so on). I learned a lot making this.
I included Knuth's writings because (a) I think they're integral to TeX's history and because (b) I find it fascinating how they fit into the overall timeline, epecially the gaps.
If anyone would like to experiment with modifications, please be my guest. The graphviz source is here.
Best Answer
I think you need a key, it wasn't always clear what the colours stand for, for example e-LaTeX/pdfe-LaTeX, Aleph appear to be marked as implementations like pdfTeX/Omega, but they are (more or less) just formats built over the relevant engines. Similarly I'd have expected to see context colored as a format like latex rather than an implementation (although it's always come with additional programs and scripts in addition to the TEXformat at its heart).
The most influential format precursor of LaTeX2e is omitted, namely the NFSS-LaTeX formats distributed in parallel to LaTeX2.09 in its later years.
Several influential implementations are omitted, early implementations on PC included ArborTeX and SBTeX (and most influential around the time of the LaTeX2e design, emTeX) The commercial Y&Y TeX and VTeX formats were notable for early support of scalable font formats.
Notable implementations on mac should include TeXtures, I think it was the only Mac implementation for a long time. The implementation timeline ought to start from the beginning, not from PCTeX, VMSTeX various mainframe TeXs, etc.
Sorry no dates in this comment, just some initial observations..