docs: update readme

README.md

@@ -6,3 +6,53 @@ where you do it.
 Please note, all of my work is licensed under [CC-BY-NC-ND
 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en) (that's the
 Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives 4.0 license).
+
+## Typst compilation infrastructure
+
+This repository contains a sophisticated system for reproducibly compiling
+Typst documents using Nix, the purely functional package manager. Typst is a
+modern typesetting system aiming to replace the venerable $\latex$ system.
+
+Within the [2024 directory](./2024), an ongoing experiment is taking place to
+create a monorepo organization structure for a large amount of Typst documents.
+Some custom Nix infrastructure has been created to provide a similar package
+interface to the familiar `nixpkgs` package repository. Instead of building
+programs, however, it builds documents. Review [the flake](./2024/flake.nix)
+for more information.
+
+You can test this local compilation yourself very easily! Simply run:
+
+```sh
+nix build 'git+https://code.youwen.dev/youwen5/alexandria?dir=2024#digression-linear-algebra'
+```
+
+This will create a `result` that points to the compiled PDF in the Nix store.
+Currently, the file is not marked as a PDF with a `.pdf` file extension, but
+one should be able to easily `cp` the file from the Nix store into another
+directory with a proper file name. Work is ongoing to make this as smooth as
+possible.
+
+## Goal of the experiment
+
+The end goal is to produce an easy-to-use infrastructure for creating personal
+repositories of Typst documents. LaTeX documents could feasibly be supported as
+well in the repository with some refactoring, but this is not a priority as the
+I am not currently using LaTeX.
+
+All of the work is sectioned into a `2024` directory for two reasons.
+
+Firstly, since all of the documents in the repository depend on the `nixpkgs`
+and `Typix` specified in the central `flake.nix`, breaking changes may require
+refactoring and maintenance of old documents. This is how `nixpkgs` works, but
+these repositories host _documents_, not software. Thus, I have opted to
+organize the tree in such way that each year should be its own standalone
+repository. This means that a year's worth of documents can be frozen in time
+at the end to ensure that all of the existing documents will be able to
+reproducible compile in the future without any maintenance, as the `nixpkgs`
+and `typst` versions will be frozen in time.
+
+Secondly, this will encourage further development each year to incrementally
+improve the infrastructure.
+
+Eventually, if the experiment is successful, I may decide to create a
+standardized library or repository template for people to use.