TeXhax@cs.washington.edu (TeXhax Digest) (06/16/89)
TeXhax Digest Friday, May 19, 1989 Volume 89 : Issue 52
Moderators: Tiina Modisett and Pierre MacKay
%%% The TeXhax digest is brought to you as a service of the TeX Users Group %%%
%%% in cooperation with the UnixTeX distribution service at the %%%
%%% University of Washington %%%
Today's Topics:
Tenth Annual Meeting
Outputing ASCII formfeed via \immediate\write
Re: Suggestion: Submissions to TeXHax in TeX source code
Stephen Hawking is a TeX user
Re: TeXhax V89 #42 (centre the last line of a paragraph; \crcr)
Re: Problem with code
Re: Questions about LaTeX-environments
Tex for Ultrix
Re: PS and TeX
Re: PS and TeX
Graphics in TeX, Virtual memory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 May 89 09:25:42 PLT
From: Dean Guenther <GUENTHER%WSUVM1.BITNET@UWAVM.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Tenth Annual Meeting
Keywords: TeX, meeting
This year's annual TeX Users Group conference has the biggest program
yet. Don Knuth is our keynote speaker, presenting his paper
"The Errors of TeX". If you would like more information about
this year's meeting or would like a registration form, you may call
the TeX Users Group office at 401-751-7760 (Eastern Time)
or send an electronic note to TUG@MATH.AMS.COM.
TeX Users Group
Ten Years of TeX and METAFONT
Stanford University
August 20--23, 1989
Updated Program as of April 25, 1989
Sunday -- August 20
12:00 - 2:00pm Registration
Font Forum
1:00 - 1:30 Introduction to METAFONT -- Doug Henderson
1:30 - 2:00 From Character Set to Font -- Pierre MacKay
2:00 - 2:30 Opening Pandora's Box -- Neenie Billawala
2:30 - 3:00 Order into Chaos: Typesetting Factal Images -- Alan Hoenig
3:00 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 3:45 Design of Oriental Characters with METAFONT -- Don Hosek
3:45 - 4:15 Thai Languages and METAFONT -- Bob Batzinger (Thailand)
4:15 - 4:45 A METAFONT-like System with PostScript Output
-- John Hobby
4:45 - 5:15 Migration from Computer Modern Fonts to Times Fonts
-- Ralph Youngen, Daniel Latterner, and William Woolf
5:15 - 5:45 Fine Typesetting with TeX Using Native Autologic Fonts
-- Arvin Conrad
7:00 - 10:00pm Dinner at the Sino Restaurant*
Monday -- August 21
7:45 - 9:30am Registration
8:00 - 8:30 Introduction to TeX and TeX Systems
(for New Members) -- Bart Childs and Alan Hoenig
8:30 - 9:00 Introduction to TUG and TUG Officers and Staff
Keynote Address
9:00 - 11:30 The Errors of TeX -- Don Knuth
11:30 - 1:00pm Lunch**
1:00 - 2:30 Elections/Business Meeting
2:30 - 2:45 Break
2:45 - 3:00 Report from the Driver Standards Committee --
Robert McGaffey
3:00 - 5:00 Output device manufacturer/exhibitor presentations:***
ArborText, Inc.;
Blue Sky Research;
Computer Composition Corp.;
K-Talk Communications;
Kinch Computer Co.;
Micro Publishing Systems;
Personal TeX;
TeXnology, Inc.
Orientation
5:00 - 5:15 Things to do in and around Palo Alto -- Ginger Brower
5:15 - 5:30 Organization of the Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions
for Sites (DG, CMS, MVS, CDC, UNIX, VMS, etc.)
to be held during and after the Wine & Cheese
5:30 - ??? Wine & Cheese -- hosted by Personal TeX, Inc.
Tuesday -- August 22
TeX Training
8:30 - 9:00am Of the Computer Scientist, by the Computer Scientist,
for the Computer Scientist -- Michael Doob (Canada)
9:00 - 9:30 Mastering TeX with Templates -- Hope Hamilton
9:30 -10:00 TeX and its Versatility in Office Production
-- Jo Ann Rattey-Hicks
10:00 -10:30 TeX for the Word Processing Operator -- Robin Kubek
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 11:30 Site coordinators' status reports:****
VAX (VMS) -- David Kellerman;
UNIX -- Pierre MacKay;
Small Systems -- Lance Carnes;
IBM VM/CMS -- Dean Guenther;
IBM MVS -- Craig Platt;
Data General & Cray -- Bart Childs;
CDC Cyber -- Jim Fox.
11:30 - 1:00pm Lunch**
General Applications
1:00 - 1:30 TeX in Mexico -- Max Diaz (Mexico)
1:30 - 2:00 TeX for 30,000 -- James Haskell, Wally Deschene and
Alan Stolleis
2:00 - 2:30 TeX Enslaved -- Alan Wittbecker
Graphics Applications
2:30 - 3:00 Methodologies for Preparing and Integrating PostScript
Graphics -- Tom Renfrow
3:00 - 3:40 TeX pic -- Design and Implementation of a Picture Graphics
Language in TeX a la pic -- Rolf Olejniczak (West Germany)
3:40 - 4:00 Break and organization of Topical Birds-of-a-Feather
(Topics to be decided at this time.)
Database Applications
4:00 - 4:30 TeX at Mathematical Reviews -- William Woolf and
Daniel Latterner
4:30 - 5:00 Lexicography with TeX -- Jorgen Pind (Iceland)
5:00 - 5:40 Automated Database Publishing -- Two Case Studies --
Alex Warman, Alun Vaughan, and Tim Kelly (Australia)
5:40 - ??? Topical Birds-of-a-Feather sessions (LaTeX,
graphics, fonts, etc.)
6:30 - 8:00 10th Anniversary ``Mexican Fiesta'' Dinner --
sponsored by the TeX Users Group
8:00 - ??? Social Hour/Party Time -- hosted by ArborText
Wednesday -- August 23
Help Sessions
8:30 - 9:30am TeX Help Session -- Barbara Beeton
9:30 -10:15 WEB Help Session -- Wayne Sewell
10:15-10:30 Break
General Information
10:30 - 11:00 The State of TeX Users Groups in Europe --
Malcolm Clark (England)
11:00 - 11:30 Keeping an Archive Dust Free -- Peter Abbott (England)
11:30 - 1:00pm Lunch**
TeX Tools
1:00 - 1:30 TeX reation -- Playing Games with TeX's Mind --
Andrew Greene
1:30 - 2:00 Table Generation Techniques used in the Cellular Package
-- John Pittman
2:00 - 2:30 Indexing TeX's Commands -- Bill Cheswick
2:30 - 3:00 DVI File Processing Programs -- Stephan von Bechtolsheim
3:00 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 3:45 Using WordPerfect 5.0 to Create TeX and LaTeX Documents
-- Anita Hoover
3:45 - 4:15 TeX Macros for COBOL Syntax Diagrams -- Mary McClure
4:15 - 4:45 Coordinating a Procedural Language and Text Editor to
Create an Efficient and Workable PC Interface for TeX
-- Brad Halverson and Don Riley
4:45 - 5:00 General wrap-up and closing -- Bart Childs et al.
* Reservation required.
Formerly known as the China First Restaurant.
** Working lunch for the Board of Directors.
*** Tentative listing based on previous participation. Representatives
are scheduled to be available throughout the meeting. Exhibit rooms
will be open from 8:30 am Tuesday, until 5:00 pm Wednesday.
**** Tentative listing based on previous participation.
An IBM PC and Apple Macintosh will be available so that members
may exchange software.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 May 89 15:38:41 EDT
From: PORTER <mike@vax1.acs.udel.edu>
Subject: Outputing ASCII formfeed via \immediate\write
Keywords: ASCII, \immediate\write
How can I get \immediate\write to output the ASCII code for <FF>,
rather than what appears to be the token display format of ^^L?
I have changed the catcode of ASCII 12 to ``letter'', so I don't get
the run-away argument stuff (^^L is catcoded active, defined as
\par), but I still don't get ASCII 12. (\catcode`\^^L=11).
Mike Porter
mike@vax1.acs.udel.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 89 22:54:55 CDT
From: Don Hosek <U33297%UICVM.UIC.EDU@UWAVM.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Re: Suggestion: Submissions to TeXHax in TeX source code
Keywords: TeX, submissions
Yes, it would be nice, but it would require a lot of work on the part of
the moderators, and I don't think it would be fair to them to put this
extra load on them (I'm grateful enough that they've induced some
consistency into the Subject: lines and added meaningful keyword: headers.)
And then there' the question of whether or not people want to read TeXhax
as a TeX document or not. I suspect not. Back when I started TeXMaG, I
put out a survey to see whether people would prefer straight text or TeX
source. straight text was overwhelmingly preferred (I usually go through
TeXhax at home, and even if I wanted to, printing is not generally an
option. It's far easier to read straight text on my monitor screen then
to wade through TeX source (especially for weird listings and such).
And don't forget there are many people who have to PAY for their laser
printing (I've heard prices as high as $.20/page).
In short, while at the surface it's a nice idea, it has far too many
disadvantages to be worthwhile.
dh
Don Hosek | Internet: U33297@UICVM.UIC.EDU
3916 Elmwood | Bitnet: U33297@UICVM.BITNET
Stickney, IL 60402 | DHOSEK@YMIR.BITNET
Work: 312-996-2981 | UUNet: dhosek@jarthur.claremont.edu
ERASE * SCRIPT * | JANET: U33297%UICVM.UIC.EDU@UK.AC.EARN-RELAY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 17 May 89 11:15:00 CST
From: "DAVE CARGO" <dscargo@cim-vax.honeywell.com>
Subject: Stephen Hawking is a TeX user
Keywords: TeX, general
The British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking gave a public lecture in
Minneapolis on May 16th. One of the things he mentioned in his opening
remarks when he was discussing how he did his work was that he used TeX
to do his equation writing. His voice synthesis computer and its menu
interface are apparently well adapted to providing the character streams
appropriate for writing equations in TeX. They would probably be much
less adaptable for writing equations in symbolic form. This is just an
example of how TeX serves to enable a severely disabled but remarkable
man, much to our benefit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 MAY 89 18:07:57 BST
From: CHAA006%vaxb.rhbnc.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK
Reply-To: Royal Holloway and Bedford New College <"Philip Taylor"@vaxb.rhbnc.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: TeXhax V89 #42 (centre the last line of a paragraph; \crcr)
Keywords: TeX, paragraphs, \crcr
Anne Brueggemann-Klein's solution to the "center the last line of a paragraph"
problem is brilliant; I wish I'd thought of it ! Anne asks if there are any
real-world applications for negative shrink terms; I once used them in a
similar context, where I had a series of entries which after line-folding
would occupy one or two lines; the first line was to be set left-justified with
no hyphenation and no stretch/shrink; the second was to be set right-justified
with the same criteria. It's very similar to the problem posed, but I just
couldn't make the quantum leap necessary to derive Anne's solution.
Philip Taylor
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College
Incidentally, Stephan von B. has re-phrased his question "why do people
[e.g. Knuth] terminate the PREAMBLE of \halign s with \crcr ?", to which
I haven't yet seen any response. In a private communcation to S v. B,
I suggested that it might be because [Knuth] anticipated \cr being re-defined,
or perhaps even re-defined it himself; searching through PLAIN.TEX, I found
two such re-definitions: one in \m@ketabbox and one in \bordermatrix.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 89 23:04:20 CDT
From: Don Hosek <U33297%UICVM.UIC.EDU@UWAVM.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Re: Problem with code
Keywords: LaTeX
The problem is due to the way that LaTeX deals with optional arguments:
Essentially if LaTeX is parsing an optional argument it will define
a macro to read it with
\something[#1]
Since square brackets have no special meaning, LaTeX will interpret
the first square bracket that appears as the closing argument to
parameter number 1. (Reading the chapter on macros in the TeXbook may
elucidate somewhat better than I can at 11:04).
Anyway, the quick way to avoid the problem is to do something like
\section[{blah blah [1] blah}]{yuk yuk yuk}
Note the extra curly braces inside the square brackets.
dh
Don Hosek | Internet: U33297@UICVM.UIC.EDU
3916 Elmwood | Bitnet: U33297@UICVM.BITNET
Stickney, IL 60402 | DHOSEK@YMIR.BITNET
Work: 312-996-2981 | UUNet: dhosek@jarthur.claremont.edu
ERASE * SCRIPT * | JANET: U33297%UICVM.UIC.EDU@UK.AC.EARN-RELAY
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 89 10:37 N
From: "SCHOEPF@DMZNAT51.BITNET"
<SCHOEPF%VIPMZL.PHYSIK.UNI-MAINZ.DE%DMZRZU5P.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Re: Questions about LaTeX-environments
Keywords: LaTeX, environments
In TeXhax #35 Piet Tutelaers <uunet!eutrc4!rcpt@entropy.ms> asks:
>> a) Why does the following environment definition not work?
>>
>> 1:\documentstyle{article}
>> 2:\begin{document}
>> 3:\newenvironment{showinput}{\begin{quote}%
>> 4:\begin{verbatim}}{\end{verbatim}\end{quote}}
>> 5:
>> 6:\begin{showinput}
>> 7:\newenvironment{showinput}{\begin{quote}%
>> 8:\begin{verbatim}}{\end{verbatim}\end{quote}}
>> 9:\end{showinput}
>> 10:
>> 11:\end{document}
On p.168 the LaTeX book says: ``A verbatim or verbatim* environment
may not appear in the argument of any command.'' The reason behind
this lies in the way the verbatim environment reads the text in its
body. Actually it is looking for the STRING `\end{verbatim}'. Since
this string appears on line 8 of the above file the verbatim
environment ends there and closing brace is considered spurious.
I'm currently writing a style file that will allow to use verbatim and
verbatim* as indicated in this example.
>> b) Is it possible to create a generalized environment in which each line of
>> text can be processed by a macro? ...
Yes, it is. The basic idea is to make the end-of-line character
active and to define a macro whose only parameter is delimited by this
character, i.e. something like (don't take it too serious, I did not
test it):
{\obeylines
\def\oneline#1~~M{\addtocounter{line}{1}%
\makebox[1cm][r]{\arabic{line}}c#1\\}}
You then have to define an environment that automatically inserts this
macro before every line. I see several ways to do it but at the
moment I'm not sure which one is the best.
>> It is not difficult to think of other examples:
>> \newcommand{\donothing}[1]{}
>>
>> \begin{comment}
>> A large piece of
>> text
>> you
>> want to comment out
>> \end{comment}
>>
>> instead of:
>> \begin{comment}
>> \donothing{A large piece of}
>> \donothing{text}
>> \donothing{you}
>> \donothing{want to comment out}
>> \end{comment}
The style file I mentioned above will also implement such a comment
environment.
>> c) The LaTeX document, as far as I have seen, does not explicitly forbid
>> spaces between the arguments of the \newenvironment:
>> \newenvironment{nam}[args]{begdef}{enddef}
>> ~? ~? ~? ~?
>> Where are spaces allowed and where not, and why?
In most cases spaces TeX skips spaces before arguments. LaTeX usually
skips spaces also before optional arguments. For a detailed
discussion you should refer to chapter 20 of the TeXbook.
Rainer Sch\"opf
Inst. f. Physik
Univ. Mainz
<SCHOEPF@DMZNAT51.BITNET>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 89 16:31:49 EST
From: rhb%NBS.BITNET@UWAVM.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU
(Richard Beeler, R-E-WP5, ERL, Boulder, CO, 303-497-6841)
Subject: Tex for Ultrix
Keywords: TeX, Ultrix
Greetings. I am in the process of converting four MicroVaxes from
VMS to Unix. We are currently running Tex under VMS and wish to
continue running it under Ultrix. Do you know where we can get Tex
to run under Ultrix? I would appreciate any assistance you can give.
Please respond to me at RHB@NBS.BITNET
thanks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 May 89 12:01:39 +0200
From: hanche@imf.unit.no
Subject: Re: PS and TeX
Keywords: PostScript, TeX
In TeXhax 89 #42, Henry Crapo writes
Too bad that the definitions in Postscript aren`t kept
from one page to the next in a TeX document. It seems
that one cannot simply declare PS subroutines once
and for all at the beginning of an article, like one
does with TeX macros. Is this true? Does TeX issue
a save/restore bracketing each output page?
TeX does nothing of the sort. TeX has never heard of PostScript, save
and restore. But you friendly PS driver possibly does. I use Beebe's
dvialw, and it does issue a save/restore pair around each PS file
included via a \special command. Not around pages, though. Other PS
drivers may do it differently.
Is there any clever way around this problem?
Yes, what works for me is this, in the included PS file:
%% Escape from surrounding save/restore
restore
/mumble { foo bar } def
save
%% Now we're ready for that restore...
Of course, this is dirty and horrible and not only device dependent,
but device driver dependent which is worse. But it is effective.
Harald Hanche-Olsen Division of Mathematical Sciences
hanche@imf.unit.no The Norwegian Institute of Technology
hanche@norunit.bitnet N-7034 Trondheim-NTH NORWAY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 89 17:25:21 -0400
From: rjchen@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Raymond Juimong Chen)
Subject: Re: PS and TeX
Keywords: PostScript, TeX
Henry Crapo asks:
> Too bad that the definitions in Postscript aren`t kept
> from one page to the next in a TeX document. It seems
> that one cannot simply declare PS subroutines once
> and for all at the beginning of an article, like one
> does with TeX macros.
Part of the problem is that part of the behaviour is dictated by
the rules for Encapsulated Postscript. Separate pages must be
logically independent. You should be able to extract pieces out
of the Postscript, shuffle them around, duplicate some pages,
delete others, reverse the order, etc., and still get a Postscript
program that will run and produce the pages with the desired
transformations.
Hence, to have definitions on page one hang around and be used on page
two is a violation of EPS rules. For what if you used a page selector
to print only page two? Or a page reverser to print page two before
page one?
The official solution is to stick the definitions into the preamble.
I am not aware of a dvi to ps converter which lets you stick arbitrary
code into the preamble, but then again, what do I know?
rjchen@phoenix.princeton.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 89 20:20:03 EDT
From: "David F. Rogers" <dfr@cad.usna.mil>
Subject: Graphics in TeX, Virtual memory
Keywords: graphics, TeX
G'day,
In texhax89.42 Stephen v Bechtolshem says TeX was never intended to do
graphics.
TeX can be viewed in two ways: as a typesetter's language or as a
programming language. Viewed as a programming language, there is no
fundamental reason that TeX cannot do graphics. Saying TeX cannot or shoud
not do graphics is like saying that C cannot or should not do ..... or
Fortran cannot or should not do ..... etc.
There are implementation considerations (limited memory) that currently
restrict TeX's ability to adequately address the graphics questions. These
can be easily solved (well not exactly easily but ....) by going to a
virtual memory implementation. Kinch (TurboTeX) has shown this to be
feasible. True, there are performance penalties. However, initial tests
indicate that these penalties are not terribly significant. (I am not
currently going to give exact figures because the tests are not complete.)
To have the best of both worlds, I suggest the implementers consider a
command line option, e.g.
tex -v <file> -- invokes the virtual memory system
tex <file> -- without the virtual memory system
Using a ramdisk on a PC for the `virtual' memory, the extra penalty should
be minimal and basically be limited by the `speed' of the disk controller.
Dave Rogers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%%% The TeXhax digest is brought to you as a service of the TeX Users Group
%%% in cooperation with the UnixTeX distribution service at the
%%% University of Washington
%%%
%%% Concerning subscriptions, address changes, unsubscribing:
%%% BITNET: send a one-line mail message to LISTSERV@xxx
%%% where xxx is the nearest geographical site in the
%%% tree shown below
%%% SUBSCRIBE TEX-L <your name> % to subscribe
%%% or UNSUBSCRIBE TEX-L
%%% Here is the BITNET re-distribution tree as shown in a recent
%%% REVIEW (The geography is guessed at from the subscription list)
%%%
%%% CLVM TAMVM1 FINHUTC
%%% | | (Finland, UK, Scand, CERN)
%%% | | |
%%% TeXhax ----> UWAVM ----- MARIST ----- EB0UB011 ----- BNANDP11
%%% | (France,Italy,Spain) (Belgium)
%%% | |
%%% UBVM HEARN --- DEARN
%%% (Netherlands) (Germany)
%%%
%%% Internet: send a similar one line mail message to
%%% TeXhax-request@cs.washington.edu
%%% Please be sure you send a valid internet address!!
%%% in the form name@domain or name%routing@domain
%%% and use the style of the Bitnet one-line message, so that
%%% we can find your subscription request easily.
%%%
%%% All submissions to: TeXhax@cs.washington.edu
%%%
%%% Back issues available for FTPing as:
%%% machine: directory: filename:
%%% JUNE.CS.WASHINGTON.EDU TeXhax/TeXhaxyy.nn
%%% yy = last two digits of current year
%%% nn = issue number
%%%
%%% For further information about TeX Users Group services and publications
%%% contact Karen at KLB@SEED.AMS.COM or write to TUG at
%%% TeX Users Group
%%% P.O. Box 9506
%%% Providence, R.I. 02940-9506
%%% Telephone (401) 751-7760
%%%
%%% Current versions of the software now in general distribution:
%%% TeX 2.95 (2.98 coming) metafont 1.7
%%% plain.tex 2.94 plain.mf 1.7
%%% LaTeX 2.09 ( 8/10/88) cmbase.mf see cm85.bug
%%% SliTeX 2.09 gftodvi 1.7
%%% tangle 2.9 gftopk 1.4
%%% weave 2.9 gftype 2.2
%%% dvitype 2.9 pktype 2.2
%%% pltotf 2.3 pktogf 1.0
%%% tftopl 2.5 mft 0.3
%%% BibTeX 0.99c
%%% AmSTeX 1.1d
%%%\bye
%%%
End of TeXhax Digest
**************************
-------