The TeX Hierachy

Novice:

• Uses LaTeX because his friends told him to
• Creates vertical space via \hfil\break\hfil\break\hfil\break\hfil\break
  or $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ [or the LaTeX equivalent]
• Lines up tables with \ \ \ \ \ \
• Uses... instead of \dots, \ldots and \cdots
• Types $log \, x$ instead of $\log x$
• Has heard of macros but has never seen one
• Uses grouping but doesn't understand why
• Responds to every TeX error with 'e'
• Isn't sure wether Leslie Lamport is a man or a woman
• Wonders why everybody thinks TeX is so cool

User:

• Likes LaTeX
• Religiously inserts ties everywhere Chapter 14 tells him to
• Frequently puts punctuation marks on the wrong side of the $ sign
• Leaves math mode to get math operators that aren't built in For example, $f \in$ Hom $(A, B)$
• Has written small style files that change parameters
• Writes a 'boldface' macro as \long\def\boldface#1{{\bf#1}}
• Wonders why \def\thing1{...} \def\thing2{...} \thing1 ) doesn't work.
• Immediately asks, "How can I make TeX larger?" every time he gets a 'TeX capacity exceeded' error
• Doesn't understand why \verb is so fragile
• Has heard of catcodes but has never seen one

Hacker:

• Has given up on LaTeX because it's too confining
• Has written his own macro packages, but they sometimes produce unwanted spaces in the output
• Writes a \boldface macro as
  \def\beginboldface{\bgroup\bf}
  \def\endboldface{\egroup}
• Understands catcodes but has trouble changing them
• Understands why \verb is so fragile, but doesn't know how to get around it
• Uses \futurelet, but sparingly
• Can produce tables, but has trouble with ruled tables
• Has read the single-dangerous bends in the TeXbook and tried to read the double-dangerous bends with mixed success
• Answers LaTeX questions by reading the LaTeX book

Wizard:

• Understands the \tabalign macros in plain.tex
• Uses \@ne and \tw@ instead of '1 ' and '2 ' in his macro packages
• Omits the '=' from assignment statements
• Uses \futurelet and \aftergroup without hesitation
• Writes macro packages where nearly half of the punctuation characters are \activey
• Writes macros that define macros
• Writes a 'boldface' macro via \def\boldface{\bgroup\bf\let\next}
• Can create ruled tables on the fly
• answers LaTeX questions by typing 'more latex.tex'
• Has corrected errors in the TeXbook
• Has studied the source code to TeX but doesn't understand it all

Guru:

• Has fixed bugs in TeX
• Debugs other people's macro packages
• Writes macro packages for plain text files, so that a simple
  \input macros
  \input file.txt
  produces nicely formatted output
• Understands the LaTeX font selection scheme
• Answers LaTeX questions before you ask them
• Is on a first-name basis with Don and Leslie (and Michael [Spivak]? Barbara [Beeton]?)