peters@cubsvax.UUCP (Peter S. Shenkin) (02/27/85)
Does anyone know of any processor similar to eqn or tbl that will draw chemical formulas (such as the ring structure for benzene) based on some input language? I'm a chemist, and often need to insert such formulas into troff'ed documents. I've thought about the problem, actually, and can't even imagine what the input language would look like -- unless it were standard IUPAC chemical nomenclature. Unfortunately, this would make life difficult even for adepts, since these complicated names are often hard to derive for non- trivial substances. The eqn philosophy -- an input language based on the graphical appearance, rather than the mathematical content of the text -- would be desirable. The variety of ways of representing compounds, and the two-dimensional nature of the illustrations, make this hard to envision. But maybe someone smarter than me has thought hard about it... If so, please reply to the net or by mail. Peter S. Shenkin, philabs!cubsvax!peters
ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) (03/05/85)
> Does anyone know of any processor similar to eqn or tbl that will draw > chemical formulas (such as the ring structure for benzene) based on some > input language? Pic ought to do it without too much work, although it's not really what you're asking for. -- Ed Gould mt Xinu, 739 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 USA {ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed +1 415 644 0146