X-Git-Url: https://git.donarmstrong.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fuser%2Fpreface.itely;h=9ae124b8cf2b06ebe35015e07a4744b9712fea4a;hb=a23264aee8cab5acaa94cdc103f2497c3f042543;hp=7cbcc7da7b54da29a924de6f5bdecfd121bbec58;hpb=2050c94d7f75471ef8d1ef466453b2d266dfc8c5;p=lilypond.git diff --git a/Documentation/user/preface.itely b/Documentation/user/preface.itely index 7cbcc7da7b..9ae124b8cf 100644 --- a/Documentation/user/preface.itely +++ b/Documentation/user/preface.itely @@ -1,45 +1,69 @@ +@c -*- coding: latin-1; mode: texinfo; -*- @node Preface -@unnumberedchapter Preface +@unnumbered Preface It must have been during a rehearsal of the EJE (Eindhoven Youth -Orchestra), somewhere in 1995 that Jan, one of the cranked violists told -Han-Wen, one of the distorted french horn players, about the grand new -project he was working on. It was an automated system for printing -music (to be precise, it was MPP, a preprocessor for MusiXTeX). As it -happened, Han-Wen accidentally wanted to print out some parts from a -score, so he started looking at the software, and he quickly got hooked. -It was soon decided that MPP was a dead end. After lots of -philosophizing and heated e-mail exchanges Han-Wen started LilyPond in -1996. This time, Jan got sucked into Han-Wen's new project. The rest -is, as they say, history. - -[TODO some more here.] - -LilyPond would have been a far less useful program without the input -of incountable number of individuals. We would like to thank all users -that sent bugreports, gave suggestions or contributed code. We would -especially like to thank the following people: Jean-Baptiste Lamy for -providing Tablature support, Mats Bengtsson for the incountable newbie -questions that he answered on the mailing list. Chris Jackson for -various piano support code, Heikki Junes for taking care of the -Emacs-mode, Glen Prideaux for implementing lyric-phrasing. Juergen -Reuter for the ancient notation support, Rune Zedeler for many code -improvements All translators that helped translate the error messages. -Jeremie Lumbroso, - -@ignore - should mention many more people, these are from AUTHORS -@end ignore - -We always maintain that wrote this program to satisfy our curiosity, -to have fun together, to help people, but ultimately, LilyPond is a -way to express our deep love for music. May it help you create lots of -beautiful music! +Orchestra), somewhere in 1995 that Jan, one of the cranked violists +told Han-Wen, one of the distorted French horn players, about the +grand new project he was working on. It was an automated system for +printing music (to be precise, it was MPP, a preprocessor for +MusiXTeX). As it happened, Han-Wen accidentally wanted to print out +some parts from a score, so he started looking at the software, and he +quickly got hooked. It was decided that MPP was a dead end. After +lots of philosophizing and heated email exchanges Han-Wen started +LilyPond in 1996. This time, Jan got sucked into Han-Wen's new +project. + +In some ways, developing a computer program is like learning to play +an instrument. In the beginning, discovering how it works is fun, and +the things you cannot do are challenging. After the initial excitement, +you have to practice and practice. Scales and studies can be dull, and +if you are not motivated by others---teachers, conductors or +audience---it is very tempting to give up. You continue, and gradually +playing becomes a part of your life. Some days it comes naturally, and +it is wonderful, and on some days it just does not work, but you keep +playing, day after day. + +Like making music, working on LilyPond can be dull work, and on +some days it feels like plodding through a morass of bugs. +Nevertheless, it has become a part of our life, and we keep doing it. +Probably the most important motivation is that our program actually +does something useful for people. When we browse around the net we +find many people that use LilyPond, and produce impressive pieces of +sheet music. Seeing that feels unreal, but in a very pleasant way. + +Our users not only give us good vibes by using our program, many of +them also help us by giving suggestions and sending bug reports, so we +would like to thank all users that sent us bug reports, gave +suggestions or contributed in any other way to LilyPond. + +Playing and printing music is more than nice analogy. Programming +together is a lot of fun, and helping people is deeply satisfying, but +ultimately, working on LilyPond is a way to express our deep love for +music. May it help you create lots of beautiful music! Han-Wen and Jan Utrecht/Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 2002. +@menu +* Notes for version 2.4:: +@end menu + +@node Notes for version 2.4 +@unnumberedsec Notes for version 2.4 + +The most important developments in 2.4 are related. In LilyPond 2.4 +@TeX{} is no longer strictly necessary to engrave music. This is +because LilyPond can now also layout pages and determine page breaks. +Another notable feature is the syntax, which has been simplified even +further compared to previous versions. + + + + +Han-Wen and Jan +Utrecht/Eindhoven, The Netherlands, September 2004.