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----
-title: Things with "TeX" in the name
-category: background
-permalink: /FAQ-texthings
-date: 2018-05-26
----
-New TeX users are often baffled by the myriad terms with "TeX"
-in the name.  The goal of this answer is to clarify some of the more
-common such terms.
-TeX proper is a typesetting system based on a set of low-level
-control sequences that instruct TeX how to lay out text on the
-page.  For example, `\hskip` inserts a given amount of horizontal
-space into the document, and `\font` makes a given font available
-in a document.  TeX is fully programmable using an integrated macro
-scripting language that supports variables, scoping, conditional
-execution, control flow, and function (really, macro) definitions.
-See
-[what is TeX?](FAQ-whatTeX) for some background
-information on TeX and
-[some reference documents](FAQ-ref-doc) for pointers to
-descriptions of TeX control sequences, data types, and other key
-parts of TeX.
-Some of TeX's control sequences are tedious to use directly; they are
-intended primarily as building blocks for higher-level&nbsp;&mdash; and therefore
-more user-friendly&nbsp;&mdash;  abstractions.  For example, there is no way in
-base TeX to specify that a piece of text should be typeset in a
-larger font.  Instead, one must keep track of the current size and
-typeface, load a new font with the same typeface but a (specified)
-larger size, and tell TeX to use that new font until instructed
-otherwise.  Fortunately, because TeX is programmable, it is
-possible to write a macro that hides this complexity behind a simple,
-new control sequence.  (For example, it is possible to define
-`\larger{my text}` to typeset "my text" in
-at a font size next larger than the current one.)
-While some users write their own, perfectly customized set of
-macros&nbsp;&mdash; which they then typically reuse across many documents&nbsp;&mdash; it is
-far more common to rely upon a _macro package_, a collection of
-TeX macros written by experts.  For the user's convenience, these
-macro packages are often combined with the base TeX engine into a
-standalone executable.  The following are some of that macro packages
-that you are likely to encounter:
-  - Plain TeX (executable: `tex`)
-  See
-  [Books on TeX and Plain TeX](FAQ-tex-books),
-  [Online introductions: TeX](FAQ-man-tex),
-  [Should I use Plain TeX or LaTeX?](FAQ-plainvltx) and
-  [Freely available (La)TeX books](FAQ-ol-books).
-  Note that the Plain TeX executable is called `tex`; the
-  base TeX engine is generally provided by a separate executable
-  such as `initex` or as a `-ini` flag to
-  `tex`.
-  - LaTeX (executable: `latex`)
-  See
-  [Books on TeX and its relations](FAQ-latex-books),
-  [(La)TeX Tutorials, etc.](FAQ-tutorialsstar),
-  [Online introductions: LaTeX](FAQ-man-latex) and
-  [Specialized (La)TeX tutorials](FAQ-tutbitslatex).
-  Note that there have been two major versions of LaTeX: LaTeX2e
-  refers to the current version of LaTeX while LaTeX 2.09 is the
-  long-since-obsolete (since 1994) version (cf.&nbsp;
-  [What is LaTeX2e?](FAQ-latex2e) for more information).
-  - ConTeXt (executable: `context`)
-  See
-  [What is ConTeXt?](FAQ-ConTeXt).
-  - Texinfo (executables: `tex`, `makeinfo`)
-  See
-  [What is Texinfo?](FAQ-texinfo).  `makeinfo`
-  converts Texinfo documents to HTML, DocBook, Emacs info,
-  XML, and plain text.  `Tex` (or wrappers such as
-  `texi2dvi` and `texi2pdf`) produce one of TeX's
-  usual output formats such as DVI or PDF.  Because
-  `tex` loads the Plain TeX macros, not the Texinfo ones,
-  a Texinfo document must begin with
-    `\input texinfo`
-  explicitly load the Texinfo macro package.
-  - Eplain&nbsp;&mdash; Extended Plain TeX (executable: `eplain`)
-  See
-  [What is Eplain?](FAQ-eplain).
-The original `tex` executable was produced in the late 1970s
-(cf.&nbsp;[What is TeX?](FAQ-whatTeX)) and consequently
-lacked some features that users have come to expect from today's
-software.  The following programs address these issues by augmenting
-the TeX engine with some additional useful features:
-  - pdfTeX (executable: `pdftex`)
-  TeX, which pre-dates the PDF file format by a decade,
-  outputs files in a TeX-specific format called DVI
-  (cf.&nbsp;[What is a DVI file?](FAQ-dvi)).  In
-  contrast, pdfTeX can output both DVI _and_ PDF
-  files.  In PDF mode, it lets documents exploit various
-  PDF features such as hyperlinks, bookmarks, and annotations,
-  pdfTeX additionally supports two sophisticated micro-typographic
-  features: character protrusion and font expansion.  See
-  [What is pdfTeX?](FAQ-pdftex).
-  - XeTeX (executable: `xetex`)
-  XeTeX reads UTF-8 encoded Unicode input, and extends
-  TeX's font support to include "modern" formats such as
-  OpenType; these extensions to its capabilities make it
-  well-suited to multi-lingual texts covering different writing
-  systems.  See [What are XeTeX and LuaTeX?](FAQ-xetex-luatex).
-  - LuaTeX (executable: `luatex`)
-  TeX is programmed in its own arcane, integrated, macro-based
-  programming language.  LuaTeX adds a second programming engine
-  using a modern scripting language, Lua, which is "embedded" in a
-  TeX-alike engine; it too reads UTF-8 and uses
-  OpenType fonts.  See
-  [What are XeTeX and LuaTeX?](FAQ-xetex-luatex).
-  - &epsilon;-TeX (executable: `etex`)
-  &epsilon;-TeX is an extension of TeX's programming interface; as such
-  it's only indirectly useful to end users, but it can be valuable to
-  package developers; there is an increasing number of macro packages
-  that require the use of &epsilon;-TeX.  As well as existing in
-  `etex`, &epsilon;-TeX features are usually available in the
-  `pdftex` executables provided in the standard
-  distributions; XeTeX and LuaTeX also provide &epsilon;-TeX's
-  programming facilities.    See
-  [What is &epsilon;-TeX?](FAQ-etex).
-  (Note: &epsilon;-TeX, which enhances the TeX engine, is not to be
-  confused with Eplain, which enhances the Plain TeX macro
-  package.)
-Because each of the above derive from a base TeX engine, it is in
-principle possible to combine any of them with one of the TeX macro
-packages listed earlier to produce "extended" executables.  For
-example, the `pdflatex`, `xelatex` and
-`lualatex` executables each combine LaTeX with an enhanced
-TeX engine.  Indeed, all development of
-ConTeXt now uses LuaTeX.
-Some executables combine the features of multiple enhanced TeX
-engines: for example, `pdftex` now (in current distributions)
-offers both pdfTeX and &epsilon;-TeX extensions into a single executable
-This executable may be offered with a LaTeX format (as
-`latex` or `pdflatex`) or with a Plain TeX format
-(as `pdftex`).  (`tex` remains with an unadorned
-TeX executable using Plain TeX, for people such as Knuth himself,
-who want the certainty of the "original".)
-A _TeX distribution_ provides a structured collection of
-TeX-related software.  Generally, a TeX distribution includes a
-set of "core" TeX executables such as `tex` and
-`latex`; various fonts optimized for use with TeX; helper
-programs such as the BibTeX bibliographic-database formatter,
-editors, integrated development environments, file-format-conversion
-programs; numerous LaTeX packages; configuration tools; and any
-other goodies the distributor chooses to include.
-Commonly encountered TeX distributions include TeX&nbsp;Live,
-MiKTeX and MacTeX; older ones include ozTeX,
-CMacTeX and teTeX.  MiKTeX is also available as the
-basis of the ProTeXt bundle, distributed on the TeX&nbsp;Live
-DVD mailing, as well as being available online.
-Some TeX distributions target a specific operating system and/or
-processor architecture; others run on multiple platforms.  Many TeX
-distributions are free; a few require payment.  See
-[(La)TeX for different machines](FAQ-TeXsystems) for a
-list of free and shareware TeX distributions and
-[Commercial TeX implementations](FAQ-commercial) for a
-list of commercial TeX distributions.
-What does it all mean?&nbsp;&mdash; the simple lists of objects, alone, offer
-no help for the beginner.  The FAQ team expects this answer
-only to be of use for people who are seeking guidance elsewhere
-(possibly within these FAQs) and coming across an unexpected
-name like "blahTeX".
-The subject matter covered by this answer is also addressed in a page
-on the TUG site,
-"[the Levels of TeX](https://tug.org/levels.html)".