Re: AUCTeX and "builtin latex mode" integration

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 10:10 AM
> From: "Stefan Monnier" <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
> To: "Tassilo Horn" <tsdh@gnu.org>
> Cc: "David Kastrup" <dak@gnu.org>, auctex-devel@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: AUCTeX and "builtin latex mode" integration
>
> > Maybe we could start by stating some goals:
> >
> > - AUCTeX should not set the `major-mode` to point to
> >   non-AUCTeX functions (even if/when it overrides those functions).
> >
> > - Cleanup the mode function names.  Currently, AUCTeX's LaTeX mode is
> >   variously called:
> >
> >     latex-mode
> >     TeX-latex-mode
> >     LaTeX-mode
> >
> >   AUCTeX should pick one and stick to it as much as possible (e.g. fix
> >   all the docs and have the auxiliary user-exposed variables be named
> >   accordingly to the base major mode name).
>
> Maybe other goals could be to reduce user-confusion by having only "one"
> mode, tho it's not clear what that would mean.  But I think we should
> come up with a long-term plan (which can include changes in Emacs's
> built-in `tex-mode.el`: co-evolution is more difficult, but if we can
> agree on a long term plan, we can then figure out how to get there
> incrementally).

I like the incremental long term plan on a topic that was initially thought
too convoluted to change.

Have seen that the built-in tex-mode and latex-mode have two powerful features:
1) the prettify-symbols-mode where things such as \alpha are displayed with
the corresponding greek glyph symbol; and 2) the ability to reposition the
height of superscripts and subscripts.

For the two features, I seem to remember than the rendering proves to be 
superior
in Auctex.  Could you see whether using the functionality from the Auctex
implementation be used.  This might then simplify things somehow, in that Auctex
could then focus on the other aspects not present in the built-in tex-mode and
latex-mode.

> PS: For the record, I'm one of the those Emacs users who doesn't use
> AUCTeX: I stopped using AUCTeX many years ago when I decided
> that since AUCTeX couldn't be part of Emacs, I should "dogfeed".
> Now that it's in GNU ELPA that reason doesn't really apply any more,
> but I keep using that mode out of habit.  I'd be just as happy with AUCTeX
> which I was using quite happily before.