Every line on a typeset page is the result of hidden algorithms
A page looks innocent: the algorithms behind a typeset page
A well-set page looks effortless, but every line break, hyphen, and glyph position is the output of algorithms invented decades ago. The author walks through the layers of typesetting — page building with footnotes and floats, Knuth–Plass paragraph breaking, Liang's hyphenation patterns, and OpenType shaping via HarfBuzz — comparing how the speedata Publisher and the new Go library boxes and glue handle each level.
Footnotes look like the easiest thing on a page, but they are among the hardest.