
METAFONT (1984) - Tomte
http://tug.ctan.org/systems/knuth/dist/mf/mf.web
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Tomte
I've always admired METAFONT (and I've got my first Knuth cheque for a mistake
in the METAFONTbook).

And even though font designers moved closer to programming (writing Python
plugins for FontLab etc.) they never really explored this avenue (except for
the short multi-master episode).

Sure, METAFONT itself is archaic, spitting out only bitmap fonts. But the
general workflow, the programming, the elegant and intuitive way to specify
curves (Beziér curves are simply unfriendly), and the concept of pens made it
not only state of those days' art.

I'd argue it is still very much ahead of everything else, except for all
practical purposes. A bit like Haskell maybe. ;-)

