TeX

TeX: /tekh/ n.  X An extremely powerful {macro}-based text formatter
written by
   Donald E. {Knuth}, very popular in the computer-science
   community (it is good enough to have displaced UNIX {{troff}}, the
   other favored formatter, even at many UNIX installations).  TeX
   fans insist on the correct (guttural) pronunciation, and the
   correct spelling (all caps, squished together, with the E depressed
   below the baseline; the mixed-case `TeX' is considered an
   acceptable kluge on ASCII-only devices).  Fans like to proliferate
   names from the word `TeX' -- such as TeXnician (TeX
   user), TeXhacker (TeX programmer), TeXmaster (competent
   TeX programmer), TeXhax, and TeXnique.  See also
   {CrApTeX}.

   Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining
   quality of the typesetting in volumes I--III of his monumental
   "Art of Computer Programming" (see {Knuth}, also
   {bible}).  In a manifestation of the typical hackish urge to
   solve the problem at hand once and for all, he began to design his
   own typesetting language.  He thought he would finish it on his
   sabbatical in 1978; he was wrong by only about 8 years.  The
   language was finally frozen around 1985, but volume IV of "The
   Art of Computer Programming" has yet to appear as of mid-1993.  The
   impact and influence of TeX's design has been such that nobody
   minds this very much.  Many grand hackish projects have started as
   a bit of {toolsmith}ing on the way to something else; Knuth's
   diversion was simply on a grander scale than most.

   TeX has also been a noteworthy example of free, shared, but
   high-quality software.  Knuth used to offer monetary awards to
   people who found and reported bugs in it; as the years wore on and
   the few remaining bugs were fixed (and new ones even harder to
   find), the bribe went up.  Though well-written, TeX is so large
   (and so full of cutting edge technique) that it is said to have
   unearthed at least one bug in every Pascal system it has been
   compiled with.