boubez@caip.rutgers.edu (Toufic Boubez) (03/14/90)
I apologise for the wide distribution, but I am looking for a program, and I didn't know to what distribution to restrict my postings. I finally decided, after years of trying, starting then abandoning in the middle, to organise my large collection of papers, articles, etc... I am looking for a referencing system with the following contraints: Works with Unix. Must be easy to use, no complicated syntax to master. Allows "collection" searches by keywords, subject, author, etc... Interactive data entry and searching. These are the main "features" that I'm looking for. I would be satisfied with very basic systems (I'm considering writing a simple awk-based system if I don't get any satisfactory replies), as long as it works reasonably well, eg an awk-based system with some kind of filter for data entry would fit the bill very nicely, but I'll take anything :-) Any comments, suggestions, public domain software :-) will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. toufic Toufic Boubez boubez@caip.rutgers.edu --I'll have a new .signature as soon as I think of one.
toms@ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (03/14/90)
In article <Mar.13.16.46.18.1990.9836@caip.rutgers.edu> boubez@caip.rutgers.edu (Toufic Boubez) writes: >I finally decided, after years of trying, starting then abandoning in the >middle, to organise my large collection of papers, articles, etc... >I am looking for a referencing system Check out BiBTeX, the referencing system associated with the LaTeX type setting system. It works under Unix. I enter references by making copies of similar entries and modifying them, using an editor. Searches are easy using an editor, but a program is available: >Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 20:13 PDT >From: Don Hosek <DHOSEK@HMCVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU> >Subject: ***Lookbibtex available from hmcvax.claremont.edu*** >Keywords: BibTeX, LookBibTeX, ftp > >Tom Conte's lookbibtex utility is available for anonymous FTP >from hmcvax.claremont.edu in the directory >TeX_ROOT:[UTILITIES.LOOKBIBTEX] > > dh Interactive data entry does not exist so far as I know, and wouldn't be worth it compared to a good editor (you'd be fighting the interactive entry most of the time) - but then a good program may be nice to have. BiBTeX is great because you can program the format of refereces, and because it integrates with the LaTeX type setting program, so one need never retype a list of references again. I have a program that will convert refer format to BiBTeX if you need it. (DON'T USE refer: it's getting out of date and BiBTeX is more powerful.) >Toufic Boubez >boubez@caip.rutgers.edu Tom Schneider National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Frederick, Maryland 21701-1013 toms@ncifcrf.gov
usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (03/14/90)
From article <1544@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>, by toms@ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider): > In article <Mar.13.16.46.18.1990.9836@caip.rutgers.edu> boubez@caip.rutgers.edu (Toufic Boubez) writes: > >>I finally decided, after years of trying, starting then abandoning in the >>middle, to organise my large collection of papers, articles, etc... > >>I am looking for a referencing system > there is another widely used alternative - ProCite, which is made by a company called Personal Bibliographic Software in Ann Arbor (PO Box 4250; Ann Arbor, MI 48106; 313-996-1580). ProCite is a database into which you can put bibliographic entries, then later do relatively sophisticated searches over the entries, and format any selected entries over many, many bibliographic styles. finally, the same company also has "linking software" avaiable to a number of commercial databases such that you can easily search the commerical database, then download selected items to your personal machine. ProCite works on a MAC, and there is also a PC version available. (i don't know what other platforms currently.) i have used ProCite now for going on three years, and have been very satisfied with it. ---jon--- ------------------------------------------------------------- Jon Sticklen Artificial Intelligence/Knowledge Based Systems Group Computer Science Department Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 517-353-3711 FAX: 517-336-1061 -------------------------------------------------------------
edwards@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Jane Edwards) (03/15/90)
In article <Mar.13.16.46.18.1990.9836@caip.rutgers.edu> boubez@caip.rutgers.edu (Toufic Boubez) writes: > >I finally decided, after years of trying, starting then abandoning in the >middle, to organise my large collection of papers, articles, etc... > >I am looking for a referencing system > Why not "refer"? It's my impression that at least part of it is standard UNIX. Also, I have seen several lists of references posted to the net in this format, making me think that it is widespread. The basic format of references looks like this: %A I. Abe %T How vocal pitch works %E L. R. Waugh & C. H. van Schooneveld %B The melody of language %D 1980 %C Baltimore %I University Park Press %A B. O. Baptista %T English stress and native speakers %J Language and Speech %D 1984 %V 27 %P 217-227 The program which prints the references as a bibliography (rather than endnotes or footnotes) is called "roffbib". By modifying the print macros used by roffbib you can get your references formatted in any style you wish (e.g., with date immediately after author names versus at the end of the reference), such as Amer. Psychol. Assoc., or Ling. Soc. of America, etc. At Berkeley, there are several additional utilities, which are part of BSD UNIX, but I'm not sure about non-BSD UNIX. These include the following: addbib - interactive data entry (the user is prompted one field at at time, and can correct errors while still within that shell); indxbib - builds inverted index to enable quick search through the bibliography lookbib - searches through the inverted index to find references having particular patterns in particular fields It reads keywords typed after the ``>'' prompt on the terminal, and retrieves records containing all these keywords. It is possible to search multiple databases, as long as they have a common index made by indxbib. In that case, only the sortbib - sort bibliographic database according to user-specified field or combination of fields (e.g., author only or author plus date etc.) It's true that these things can make a terrific difference in keeping track of, locating, and using reference citations. There are probably a lot of others out there besides this one, but I hope this helps. Jane Edwards (edwards@cogsci.berkeley.edu) UC Berkeley
toms@ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (03/16/90)
In article <34950@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> edwards@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Jane Edwards) writes: >In article <Mar.13.16.46.18.1990.9836@caip.rutgers.edu> boubez@caip.rutgers.edu (Toufic Boubez) writes: >>I am looking for a referencing system > >Why not "refer"? It's my impression that at least part of it is standard >UNIX. >Jane Edwards (edwards@cogsci.berkeley.edu) >UC Berkeley Refer was invented along with troff, which is indeed a UNIX tool. However, BiBTeX was designed later and has more power. One problem with refer is that the controls are on the command line, so your command line has to be part of the paper! It is somewhat arcane to use in comparison to BiBTeX, which interacts nicely with the modern LaTeX. So use refer if that's all you have available, but do realize that it is an old, out of date tool.
mckenney@sparkyfs.istc.sri.com (Paul Mckenney) (03/16/90)
In article <1544@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: >>Tom Conte's lookbibtex utility is available for anonymous FTP >>from hmcvax.claremont.edu in the directory >>TeX_ROOT:[UTILITIES.LOOKBIBTEX] I finally got this program, hmcvax must have been down for awhile. It is very nice and I heartily recommend it. However, it seems to have moved; it is now located in: SOFTWARE:[ANONYMOUS.TEX.BIBTEX.UTILITIES.LOOKBIBTEX] Thanx, Paul
boubez@caip.rutgers.edu (Toufic Boubez) (03/16/90)
I'd like to thank all the people who responded to my request. I tried sending individual messages, but tosme of them bounced. I finally decided to use Tib, as suggested by Rick Gray. Tib fits pretty much all the constraints I had, plus an additional one: it's free :-). It also produces TeX-oriented files, AND will take input databases from addbib. I just started playing with it today. Thanks again to everyone. toufic Toufic Boubez boubez@caip.rutgers.edu --I'll have a new .signature as soon as I think of one.