[metapost] generic TeX interface?

[Brian Elmegaard]

Stephan Hennig <mailing_list at arcor.de> writes:

> btex..etex, TEX or textext sequences.  It would be much more convenient
> to only pass the raw string "my text" to the macro and process that by
> TeX only in the macro.
>
> But how?  By calling btex..etex, TEX or textext?  Going this route
> required a unified interface from MetaPost to TeX.

If something drastic should done I think this is not the optimal
solution. Why not go for the complete integration of metapost features
to latex?

To me pgf seems to be close to this and it adds functionality that is
impossible in the current tex-metapost solution:
*Complete integration of tex features
*Connection between tex and pictures
*Integration of external images
*Onestep compilation (in most cases)

But it lacks a few of the features, maybe because of TeX not being
able to do it:
*Solution of (hopefully not only linear) equations
*Different variable types
*Floating point calculations. (quite good packages available)

And many that you probably know better than me.

So:
Wouldn't it be the perfect solution to have all metapost features
natively in (la)tex?
Is it impossible to extend (la)tex to have these?
What are the needed features in the tex-pgf combination to do the same
as tex-metapost?

regards,
-- 
Brian (remove the sport for mail)
http://www.et.web.mek.dtu.dk/Staff/be/be.html
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