Description language used to define rastertype fonts
Metafont
Developer(s)
Donald Knuth
Stable release
2.71828182
/ January 2021; 3 years ago (2021-01)
Operating system
Cross-platform
Type
Computer language
License
Permissive
Metafont is a description language used to define raster fonts. It is also the name of the interpreter that executes Metafont code, generating the bitmap fonts that can be embedded into e.g. PostScript. Metafont was devised by Donald Knuth as a companion to his TeX typesetting system.
One of the characteristics of Metafont is that the points defining the shapes of the glyphs—for example top of a stem, or intersection of a stem and crossbar—are defined with geometrical equations; the intent that the three stems of an ‘m’ are equally spaced horizontally might be expressed as if points 1, 2, and 3 are at the bottom ends of the three stems, whereas the intent that they all end on the same vertical position would be .
Metafont is a macro language, where operations such as "draw a lower case top of stem serif at point 4" might appear as one macro instruction (with the point as argument) in the program for a letter. For describing shapes, Metafont has a rich set of path construction operations that mostly relieves the user of having to calculate control points.
Many families of Metafont fonts are set up so that the main source file for a font only defines a small number of design parameters (x-height, em width, slant, vertical stroke width, etc.), then calling a separate source file common for a whole range of fonts to actually draw the individual glyphs; this is the meta aspect of the system.
Metafont is a description language used to define raster fonts. It is also the name of the interpreter that executes Metafont code, generating the bitmap...
by the typesetting program TeX. It was created by Donald Knuth with his Metafont program, and was most recently updated in 1992. Computer Modern, or variants...
same results on all computers, at any point in time (together with the Metafont language for font description and the Computer Modern family of typefaces)...
Knuth is the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system, the related METAFONT font definition language and rendering system, and the Computer Modern...
Metafont Euler digitization project as his M.S. thesis in 1985. The AMS Euler typeface is named after Leonhard Euler. First implemented in METAFONT,...
Metafont language and interpreter. MetaPost produces vector graphic diagrams from a geometric/algebraic description. The language shares Metafont's declarative...
set of books by Donald Knuth published in 1986 describing the TeX and Metafont systems for digital typography. Knuth's computers and typesetting project...
JSTOR 2689499. Knuth, Donald (3 October 1990). "The Future of TeX and Metafont" (PDF). TeX Mag. 5 (1): 145. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 April...
"Proceedings of the Practical TEX 2005 Conference: The design of TEX and METAFONT: A retrospective" (PDF). TUGboat. 26 (1). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: University...
the TrueType specification and does not require a stroke-based approach. Metafont uses a different sort of glyph description. Like TrueType, it is a vector...
scientist Donald Knuth introduced an American-style road sign depiction in his Metafont and TeX systems, with a pair of adjacent signs indicating doubly dangerous...
Concrete Roman is a slab serif typeface designed by Donald Knuth using his METAFONT program. It was intended to accompany the Euler mathematical font which...
working on Plan 10 from Outer Space.: 32–33 Kenneth R. Beesley created a Metafont (and thus, LaTeX-compatible) font called desalph in 2002.: 37–38 All computers...
InfoWorld. p. 29. Retrieved 29 January 2015. Beebe, Nelson H. F. (2003). "25 Years of TEX and METAFONT: Looking Back and Looking Forward" (PDF). TUGboat: 10....
(Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz Marian Nowacki and Piotr Strzelczyk). Since Metafont cannot produce outline fonts (vector-based), a new tool was needed to help...
2024 Repository gitlab.com/lilypond/lilypond.git Written in C++, Scheme, Metafont, PostScript, Python Operating system Windows 2000 and later Mac OS X 10...
version number of Metafont asymptotically approaches Euler's number, e. As of February 2021, the version number is 2.71828182. Metafont was also devised...
are based on Samyak fonts. The Ethiopic range is based on the Ethiopic metafont project at the University of Hamburg. In the latest release of 2012-05-03...
first algorithmic description of fonts was made by Donald Knuth in his Metafont description language and interpreter. The TrueType font format introduced...
ISBN 0-596-10242-9, pp. 500–501 Karel Píška, Creating Type 1 Fonts from METAFONT Sources: Comparison of Tools, Techniques and Results in TeX, XML, and digital...
Global Information
