TeXhax@CS.WASHINGTON.EDU (TeXhax Digest) (03/30/91)
TeXhax Digest Friday, March 29, 1991 Volume 91 : Issue 015
Moderators: Tiina Modisett and Pierre MacKay
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Today's Topics:
No LaTeX bug
\topskip = 0pt produces bug in LaTeX
Re: Reversing authors' names with tib (TeXhax Digest V91 #010)
dvi2dvi
itemize labels
Atari ST/MEGA/TT (TOS): searching for dvi-driver with landscape option
French hyphenation and the \language command
help: modifying \tt
TeXhax Digest V91 #011
\input in LATEX
Re: lpr -d
Metafont 2.7/ plain.mf problems
Genealogical computing and TeX
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1991 12:06:40 PST
From: asnd@erich.triumf.ca (Donald Arseneau)
Subject: No LaTeX bug
Keywords: LaTeX, bug
In TeXhax V91 #012 Peter King asks
> Have I discovered a bug in LaTeX??
> ... _ characters are NOT protected by the \verb,
[in \put(15,10){\makebox(0,0){\verb+INFO_XFER_DCE_ERR+}} ]
> ... Why is a \verb not a valid argument for \makebox ??
Which answers the question before asking it ... It's not valid because
it doesn't work.
Moreover, the LaTeX manual says so at the top of p. 169:
"A \verb or \verb* command may not appear in the argument of any other
command."
Does it have to be this way? Almost definately.
As \verb is written, it treats characters as letters by calling them
letters as they are input (by setting all "catcodes"). If another command
has already read them in, though, they are stuck with their usual special
meanings. It is possible to rewrite some commands so they don't read
in their parameters before absolutely necessary (\mbox is better
defined as \leavevmode\hbox rather than \leavevmode\hbox{#1}), but this
can't be done for everything. It is possible to rewrite \verb so it
doesn't rely on \catcodes (at the expense of a lot more computation --
not a problem for short \verb's) but there is another, insurmountable
problem with that:
What about
Man with moustache: \verb":{)"
\makebox(0,0){Man with moustache: \verb":{)"}
which gives unbalanced braces when scanning the parameter of \makebox!
Or
\verb"100%" chance of failure
\makebox(0,0){\verb"100%" chance of failure}
where the % must still be read as a comment character when \makebox
is reading its parameter
So where does all this lead?
If all you need is underscores in \tt text, then check the answers
Steve Kelem gets for his question
[ one method: \catcode`\_=\active \def_{\ifmmode\sb\else\_\fi} ]
Then use \tt font instead of \verb.
If you have lots of nasty characters, then I can provide a verbatim
macro that doesn't need catcodes...but you still have to watch out
for nested braces and percent signs (etc.?).
Good luck!
Donald Arseneau asnd@reg.triumf.ca
asnd@triumfcl (.bitnet)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 11:57:17 -0800
From: "Arthur Ogawa" <ogawa@orion.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: \topskip = 0pt produces bug in LaTeX
Keywords: LaTeX, \topskip, bug
In LaTeX, the \clearpage command, when used twice in succession,
should not eject extra blank pages, thus, after the first \clearpage
has been processed, the second \clearpage should act as a no-op.
However, if you have naively set the \topskip to 0pt, this will not
work correctly: you have effectively prevented LaTeX's clever output
routine from functioning as designed.
There are numerous other places where you will get extraneous pages
for similar reasons.
The lesson is: Don't set \topskip = 0pt, rather
set it to, say, 0.01pt. Nobody will be the wiser but LaTeX.
Don't ask me how long I worked to figure this out, or on how
many separate occasions.
I know that there is a note in Leslie Lamport's bug list to
the effect that he is aware that something goes wrong when
the value of \topskip is zero:
| 111. Setting \topskip to 0pt does weird things. I haven't figured out
| why, but there's no reason to set \topskip to 0pt, so this is not
| considered a bug. (Discovered by Mabry Tyson.)
Considering that this is the case, LaTeX itself should probably check
that \topskip has not been set to zero, and issue an error message.
But until that day, please, if you are rewriting LaTeX .sty files,
puh-lease, don't set \topskip to 0pt.
PS
Leslie may have figured this out by now, but I do know the reason
"weird things" happen: in the code for \@doclearpage, LaTeX
does the following:
\setbox\@tempboxa\vsplit\@cclv to\z@
\unvbox\@tempboxa
\setbox\@tempboxa\box\@cclv
The effect of this is to throw away all of what is in \box255, except
for a bit of (zero-height) material at the beginning. At this juncture
the stuff that is being discarded is oftentimes a \vbox that LaTeX put
there automatically (preceded by \topskip glue), and the stuff that is
being reinserted into the vertical list is oftentimes a \mark and a \write-{}.
The purpose of sticking these objects into the vertical list is so that
LaTeX can force TeX into the output routine at will.
When the \topskip is set to 0, all the material is reinserted into the
vertical list. Then LaTeX thinks it has a non-trivial page, and you get
a blank page.
Hoping that this makes a difference,
Art
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 12:05:54 EST
From: "J. C. Alexander" <jca@anna.umd.edu>
Subject: Re: Reversing authors' names with tib (TeXhax Digest V91 #010)
Keywords: Tib
As set up, Tib assumes "Starnes, Jr., J. H." is correct. To coerce it
into doing it your way: 1. Cheap way: if names are always going to be
reversed, put the "Jr." after the initials in the database. 2. More
robust way: use one of the unused database fields for an "author
suffix," put the "Jr." there and make the necessary minor
modifications to the appropriate .ttx file.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 08:45:44 PST
From: Rex Shudde <0024P%NAVPGS@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: dvi2dvi
Keywords: dvi2dvi, dviware
Is anybody familiar with Peter Sawatzki's dvi2dvi routine? I have the
following observations and questions about its use and would appreciate
any available help:
I have recently obtained a copy of dvi2dvi from Jon Radel's catalog of
TeX related MSDOS programs. My primary problem is to make 5.5 x 8.5 inch
booklets on the U.S. standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper stock. I have set
\hsize=4.5truein, \vsize=7.0truein, \hoffset=-0.5truein and
\voffset=-0.5truein so that the margins will be 0.5 inches (the strange
\vsize was obtained by experimentation so that my \footline would be
reasonably placed on the page---but a little fine tuning is still in
order). I compile booklet.tex with the \magnification set to \magstep0 to
make the booklet.dvi file. Then I run a .bat file containing the two
lines:
dvi2dvi 4:-1,2(5.5in,0in) booklet zzz1
dvi2dvi 4:-3,0(5.5in,0in) booklet zzz2
When I print zzz1.dvi and zzz2.dvi in landscape mode, everything is just
as it should be---beautiful.
The problem arises when the *only* change I make is to replace \magstep0
by \magstep1. The new booklet.dvi file has margins which are identical to
the original .dvi file, so there is no problem there. But when I run
dvi2dvi (same .bat file as above), the left hand side of the page is
exactly as it should be, but the right hand side has been shifted
slightly more than one inch to the right and thus some information falls
off of the sheet. I don't understand why dvi2dvi should be \magstep#
sensitive when the booklet.dvi file was not.
Unfortunately I don't read German and so there maybe something in the
original instructions that I'm not using. The two lines from the .bat
file were found in Tom Rockiki's instructions for dvidvi and I just took
a chance that they would also be compatible with dvi2dvi and, at least at
\magstep0, they seem to be. Is there and English translation of the
original instructions? And perhaps someone could tell me what the proper
setup would be that works with both \magstep0 and \magstep1.
Many thanks,
Rex
Bitnet: 0024P@NAVPGS
Internet: 0024P@CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 09:12:10 MST
From: Alan R. Rogers <rogers@anthro.utah.edu>
Subject: itemize labels
Keywords: itemize labels
Neil Bhattacharyya asks:
>I would like to know if anyone out there is familiar with the method for
>changing the characters in the \itemize environment. For example, at the
>first level, the bullet character is used to mark each \item in the
>\itemize environment. I would like to change that to \rightarrow. How
>can I do this? Thanks a million.
You want to redefine the following, which I grabbed from article.doc:
% ITEMIZE
% Itemization is controlled by four commands: \labelitemi, \labelitemii,
% \labelitemiii, and \labelitemiv, which define the labels of the various
% itemization levels.
\def\labelitemi{$\bullet$}
\def\labelitemii{\bf --}
\def\labelitemiii{$\ast$}
\def\labelitemiv{$\cdot$}
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 16:02:58 N
From: pressler@namu06
Subject: Atari ST/MEGA/TT (TOS): searching for dvi-driver with landscape option
Keywords: Atari, dviware, landscape
Hallo,
Does anyone know where to get a dvi-driver for the Atari with the following
characteristics:
- output on a NEC P6 plus Pinwriter (24-dot-matrix, 360x360 dpi)
- the requested feature: the driver should be able to print in landscape
mode as well as portrait mode, and it should be possible to switch
between these modes with specials, so that one can use the portland.sty
(LaTeX). It would be even better if for example two DIN A5 pages could
be printed on a DIN A4 sheet of paper.
Is anything like this around on a ftp site somewhere or available in another
way (preferable as a binary (too) and for free)?
It's quite important for me.
Thanks a lot,
Lutz Pressler (Goettingen, Germany)
<pressler@namu01.gwdg.de>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 10:30 GMT
From: Peter Flynn UCC <CBTS8001%IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: French hyphenation and the \language command
Keywords: TeX, French hyphenation, \language
Where can I get a French HYPHEN.TEX, and how do we now go about
using \language?
///Peter
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 08:00:36 -0500
From: amgreene@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject: help: modifying \tt
Keywords: TeX, \tt
Your problems with _ and catcodes come from the fact that when TeX reads
in the arguments to a \section macro, the catcodes are frozen before
anyone has a chance to change them.
The solution that we have come up with here (which I think is useful
enough to send to TeXhax) is the following, at the beginning of the
file. (If I used LaTeX, it would be a .sty file, I guess :-)
\catcode`\_=13
\def_{\ifmmode\sb\else\_\fi}
What this does is make the underscore always active. When an underscore
is encountered, if we're in math mode we make it a subscript (which it
would normally be), but if we're setting text (or code) it places an
underscore in the text. This solution is impervious to the frozen
catcode problem, since we're never changing the catcode of the underscore
in the middle of a document.
I hope this helps!
- Andrew Marc Greene
<amgreene@athena.mit.edu>
Student Information Processing Board (SIPB)
MIT Project Athena Watchmaker
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 12:13:27 -0800
From: "Arthur Ogawa" <ogawa@orion.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: TeXhax Digest V91 #011
Keywords: fonts, bold typewriter, bold Italic
| Has anyone modified cmtt10.mf to get a bold typewriter and a bold italic
| typewriter fonts? What changes did you make?
I have created cmttssc10, cmttsslc10, and cmttssbc10 fonts. These are Computer
Modern-derived typewriter sansserif condensed fonts in three weights,
light, regular and bold. The source is not considered proprietary,
and is dreived from cmtt10. If there is sufficient interest, I will
be glad to post to some sort of server.
I made the changes by going
in steps. I first generated a condensed cmtt by changing only the horizontal
scale.
I then generated a cmttss font by noting the differences
between cmr and cmss fonts, and making similar sorts of changes to
cmttc:
cmttssc :: cmttc = cmss :: cmr
I then noted the difference between cmr and cmb to change the weight
of the font:
cmttssbc :: cmttssc = cmb :: cmr.
The light font was simlarly made, but "in the opposite direction".
I have not generated any sort of italic typewriter fonts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 10:54:34 MST
From: Joy Kelly <kelly@harrier.den.mmc.com>
Subject: \input in LATEX
Keywords: LaTeX, \input
I am using TEX version 2.9 and LATEX version 2.09. I have tried to set
up subdirectories containing eps files and and block diagram files
(created using the picture environment), to reduce the number of files
in my directory. To include the eps files into my LATEX document, I
used a tex file which sets up the appropriate header, along with the
command:
\special{ps: plotfile #1.eps}.
LATEX cannot find the file if #1 has a path along with the filename.
For the block diagrams, I used the \input command, with the path (subdirectory)
specified:
\input{diagrams/diag} for diag.tex file.
Neither of these worked. Is there a way to do this? I sure hope so.
Thanks for any insights you have for me. :)
Joy Kelly (7-4925)
Kelly@harrier.den.mmc.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 09:42 CDT
From: U2591AA@VMS.UCC.OKSTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: lpr -d
Keywords: lpr -d, printers
I was a little confused by your message. Are you saying lpr -d works, but
you can't find the filter?
In BSD unix systems the -d flag on lpr will NOT work unless the
/etc/printcap file is set up correctly. One of the options in /etc/printcap
tells lpd (line printer daemon) where the dvi filter is located.
If this filter exists on your system, and if it works with lpr -d, then
a full pathname will be present in the /etc/printcap file. If lpr -d doesn't
work, then 1) /etc/printcap isn't set up correctly or 2) you don't have
the filter (or both).
I assume from your return address that you have a SUN computer. SUN started
with BSD unix, but they may set up the line printer system differently than
does pure BSD unix. If so, my remarks don't apply to your system. Consult
your system manuals on the proper setup for printers.
Good luck.
Scott McCullough u2591aa@vms.ucc.okstate.edu
Dept. of Physics u2591aa@osuvms.bitnet
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-0444
405-744-5813
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 14:46:41 MET
From: Bo Thide' <bt@irfu.se>
Subject: Metafont 2.7/ plain.mf problems
Keywords: METAFONT, plain.mf
Operating System: HP-UX 7.03 A
Organization: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, S-755 91 Uppsala, Sweden
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
I am having trouble building the plain base file in mf2.7. Here's what
I get:
=============================================================================
This is METAFONT, C Version 2.7 (INIMF)
**plain
(/usr/local/lib/mf/macros/plain.mf
Preloading the plain base, version 2.0: preliminaries,
basic constants and mathematical macros,
macros for converting from device-independent units to pixels,
>> extra_setup
>> "grayfont black"
! Not implemented: (unknown numeric)&(string).
<to be read again>
;
l.301 ...ra_setup:=extra_setup & "grayfont black";
% with solid black pixels
=============================================================================
What's happening here? BTW, I have mf compiled with the HP-UX 7.40
"cc -O -W g,-All" on an HP9000/400 running HP-UX 7.03, if that matters.
TeX3.1 and friends compiled the same way seem to work OK.
Bo
^ Bo Thide'--------------------------------------------------------------
|I| Swedish Institute of Space Physics, S-755 91 Uppsala, Sweden
|R| Phone: (+46) 18-303671. Telex: 76036 (IRFUPP S). Fax: (+46) 18-403100
/|F|\ INTERNET: bt@irfu.se UUCP: ...!mcvax!sunic!irfu!bt
~~U~~ -----------------------------------------------------------------sm5dfw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 15:33:38 GMT
From: Paddy Waldron <paddyw%lbs.lon.ac.uk@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Genealogical computing and TeX
Keywords: TeX, genealogical computing
Some months ago in TeXhax, Dean Guenther put out a request for TeX
macros for genealogists. The response was minimal. However, as an avid
computer genealogist and TeXer, I had long intended to write an
interface to produce LaTeX source files from my genealogical database.
There are a number of such products on the market, and most now have
the capability to write out data in a standardised format called
GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunications) which can be read by the
others. The package which I use is the MSDOS version of Personal
Ancestral File (PAF) which is produced by the Mormon Church in Salt
Lake City on a non-commercial basis (i.e. they charge $35, a fraction
of the cost of similar products from the private sector).
I am now willing to make available my program, written in turbo Pascal,
and the associated TeX and documentation files, to anyone out there who
uses both PAF and TeX. The program produces descendants charts, giving all
the descendants within a specified number of generations of a specified
individual. It can also produce cascading descendants charts, i.e. one chart
for every ancestor within a specified number of generations of a specified
root individual. Cross-referencing means that no family appears more than once
in the output. I would like volunteers to act as beta-testers,
report bugs, and suggest improvements.
Having already offered this program on the ROOTS-L list,
I have been spending too much time sending out copies,
and wonder would any FTP site be willing to store it?
At the moment, I am only circulating source code, but if anyone without
access to a pascal compiler wants a .COM file, I will try to send out
a uuencoded version.
For further information, please e-mail me directly.
Paddy Waldron, Institute of Finance and Accounting, London Business School
paddyw@lbs.lon.ac.uk
waldron08@wharton.upenn.edu
Organisation: London Business School
Telephone: +44 71 262 5050 X419 (work) or +44 71 723 3963 (home)
Snail-Mail: 109 Gloucester Terrace, Flat 2, London W2 3HB, England.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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