TUGBOAT
Volume 29, Number 2 / 2008
General Delivery 231 From the president / Karl Berry 232 Editorial comments / Barbara Beeton TEX 3.1415926 is here, and other Knuthian references; Phyllis Winkler, RIP; New domain name for CervanTEX; Interactive typography courses by Jonathan Hoefler; A helpful CTAN feature: “get”; Recreating the Gutenberg press; Copy-editing the wayward apostrophe; A font game for your amusement 233 The TEX tuneup of 2008 / Donald Knuth 239 Hyphenation exception log / Barbara Beeton Typography 240 Typographers’ Inn / Peter Flynn 242 The Greek Font Society / Vassilios Tsagkalos 246 Designing and producing a reference book with LATEX: The Engineer’s Quick Reference Handbook / Claudio Beccari and Andrea Guadagni 255 Suggestions on how not to mishandle mathematical formulæ / Massimo Guiggiani and Lapo Mori Electronic Documents 264 Wikipublisher: A Web-based system to make online and print versions of the same content / John Rankin 270 Character encoding / Victor Eijkhout Fonts 278 lxfonts:LATEX slide fonts revived / Claudio Beccari 283 Reshaping Euler: A collaboration with Hermann Zapf / Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater and Volker RW Schaa Software & Tools 288 Asymptote: A vector graphics language / John Bowman and Andy Hammerlindl 295 The Luafication of TEX and ConTEXt / Hans Hagen 303 Porting TEX Live to OpenBSD / Edward Barrett LATEX 305 Good things come in little packages: An introduction to writing .ins and .dtx files / Scott Pakin ConTEXt 315 ConTEXt basics for users: Indentation / Aditya Mahajan Multilingual MetaPost 317 Kanji-Sudokus: Integrating Chinese and graphics / Denis Roegel Hints & Tricks 320 Interesting loops and iterations — second helping / Pawe lJackowski 324 Glisterings: More on paragraphs regular; LATEX’s defining triumvirate; TEX’s dictator / Peter Wilson 328 The treasure chest / Karl Berry Reviews 331 Book review: Fonts & Encodings by Yannis Haralambous / Ulrik Vieth 333 Software review: TEXCAD for Windows / Bernd Schroeder Warnings 334 \looseness on the loose / Frank Mittelbach Abstracts 335 MAPS: Contents of issue 35 (2007) 336 Die TEXnische Kom¨odie: Contents of issues 2007/2–2008/1 337 Eutypon: Contents of issues 16–20 (2007–2008) 338 ArsTEXnica: Contents of issue 4 (2007) 339 The PracTEX Journal: Contents of issues 2007-3–2008-1 TUG Business 343 TUG financial statements for 2007 / David Walden 344 TUG institutional members 345 TUG membership form News 346 Calendar 347 TUG 2008 announcement Advertisements 348 TEX consulting and production services TEX Users Group Board of Directors TUGboat (ISSN 0896-3207) is published by the Donald Knuth, Grand Wizard of TEX-arcana † ∗ TEX Users Group. Karl Berry, President Kaja Christiansen∗, Vice President Memberships and Subscriptions David Walden∗, Treasurer 2008 dues for individual members are as follows: Susan DeMeritt∗, Secretary Ordinary members: $85. Barbara Beeton Students/Seniors: $45. Jon Breitenbucher The discounted rate of $45 is also available to Steve Grathwohl citizens of countries with modest economies, as Jim Hefferon detailed on our web site. Klaus H¨oppner Membership in the TEX Users Group is for the Ross Moore calendar year, and includes all issues of TUGboat Arthur Ogawa for the year in which membership begins or is Steve Peter renewed, as well as software distributions and other Cheryl Ponchin benefits. Individual membership is open only to Samuel Rhoads named individuals, and carries with it such rights Philip Taylor and responsibilities as voting in TUG elections. For Raymond Goucher, Founding Executive Director † membership information, visit the TUG web site. Hermann Zapf, Wizard of Fonts † Also, (non-voting) TUGboat subscriptions are ∗member of executive committee available to organizations and others wishing to †honorary receive TUGboat in a name other than that of an See http://tug.org/board.html for past board individual. The subscription rate is $95 per year, members. including air mail delivery. Addresses Electronic Mail Institutional Membership General correspondence, (Internet) Institutional membership is a means of showing payments, etc. General correspondence, continuing interest in and support for both T X E TEX Users Group membership, subscriptions: and the TEX Users Group, as well as providing P. O. Box 2311 [email protected] a discounted group rate and other benefits. For Portland, OR 97208-2311 further information, contact the TUG office or see U.S.A. Submissions to TUGboat, our web site. Delivery services, letters to the Editor: parcels, visitors [email protected] TEX is a trademark of the American Mathematical TEX Users Group Society. 1466 NW Naito Parkway Technical support for Suite 3141 TEX users: Copyright c 2008 TEX Users Group. Portland, OR 97209-2820 [email protected] Copyright to individual articles within this publication U.S.A. remains with their authors, so the articles may not be Contact the Board reproduced, distributed or translated without the authors’ Telephone permission. of Directors: For the editorial and other material not ascribed to +1 503 223-9994 [email protected] a particular author, permission is granted to make and Fax distribute verbatim copies without royalty, in any medium, +1 206 203-3960 provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved. World Wide Web Permission is also granted to make, copy and distribute translations of such editorial material into another language, http://www.tug.org/ except that the TEX Users Group must approve translations http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/ of this permission notice itself. Lacking such approval, the original English permission notice must be included. Have a suggestion? Problems not resolved? TUG Printed in U.S.A. The Board wants to hear from you: Please email [email protected].
[printing date: June 2008] The Communications of the TEX Users Group
Volume 29, Number 2, 2008 TEX Users Group Board of Directors TUGboat (ISSN 0896-3207) is published by the Donald Knuth, Grand Wizard of TEX-arcana † TEX Users Group. Karl Berry, President ∗ Kaja Christiansen∗, Vice President Memberships and Subscriptions David Walden∗, Treasurer 2008 dues for individual members are as follows: Susan DeMeritt∗, Secretary Ordinary members: $85. Barbara Beeton Students/Seniors: $45. Jon Breitenbucher The discounted rate of $45 is also available to Steve Grathwohl citizens of countries with modest economies, as Jim Hefferon detailed on our web site. Klaus H¨oppner Membership in the TEX Users Group is for the Ross Moore calendar year, and includes all issues of TUGboat Arthur Ogawa for the year in which membership begins or is Steve Peter renewed, as well as software distributions and other Cheryl Ponchin benefits. Individual membership is open only to Samuel Rhoads named individuals, and carries with it such rights Philip Taylor and responsibilities as voting in TUG elections. For Raymond Goucher, Founding Executive Director † membership information, visit the TUG web site. Hermann Zapf, Wizard of Fonts † Also, (non-voting) TUGboat subscriptions are ∗member of executive committee available to organizations and others wishing to †honorary receive TUGboat in a name other than that of an See http://tug.org/board.html for past board individual. The subscription rate is $95 per year, members. including air mail delivery. Addresses Electronic Mail Institutional Membership General correspondence, (Internet) Institutional membership is a means of showing payments, etc. General correspondence, continuing interest in and support for both T X E TEX Users Group membership, subscriptions: and the TEX Users Group, as well as providing P. O. Box 2311 [email protected] a discounted group rate and other benefits. For Portland, OR 97208-2311 further information, contact the TUG office or see U.S.A. Submissions to TUGboat, our web site. Delivery services, letters to the Editor: parcels, visitors [email protected] TEX is a trademark of the American Mathematical TEX Users Group Society. 1466 NW Naito Parkway Technical support for Suite 3141 TEX users: Copyright c 2008 TEX Users Group. Portland, OR 97209-2820 [email protected] Copyright to individual articles within this publication U.S.A. remains with their authors, so the articles may not be Contact the Board reproduced, distributed or translated without the authors’ Telephone of Directors: permission. For the editorial and other material not ascribed to +1 503 223-9994 [email protected] a particular author, permission is granted to make and Fax distribute verbatim copies without royalty, in any medium, +1 206 203-3960 provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved. World Wide Web Permission is also granted to make, copy and distribute translations of such editorial material into another language, http://www.tug.org/ except that the TEX Users Group must approve translations http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/ of this permission notice itself. Lacking such approval, the original English permission notice must be included. Have a suggestion? Problems not resolved? The TUG Board wants to hear from you: Printed in U.S.A. Please email [email protected].
[printing date: June 2008] The problem is what interests all but beginners in typography. Its solution may be, and often is, moderately exciting; although if the problem is successfully solved no one perceives it has existed. Daniel Berkeley Updike Notes on the Merrymount Press (1934)
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE TEX USERS GROUP EDITOR BARBARA BEETON
VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2 • 2008 PORTLAND • OREGON • U.S.A. TUGboat TUGboat Editorial Board This regular issue (Vol. 29, No. 2) is the second Barbara Beeton, Editor-in-Chief issue of the 2008 volume year. No. 1 was a joint Karl Berry, Production Manager publication of the EuroBachoTEX 2007 conference, Christina Thiele, Associate Editor, and No. 3 will contain the TUG 2008 (Cork II) Topics in the Humanities proceedings. Production Team TUGboat is distributed as a benefit of member- William Adams, Barbara Beeton, ship to all current TUG members. It is also available Karl Berry (Manager), Kaja Christiansen, to non-members in printed form through the TUG Robin Fairbairns, Robin Laakso, Steve Peter, store (http://tug.org/store), and online at the Yuri Robbers, Michael Sofka, Christina Thiele TUGboat web site, http://tug.org/TUGboat. On- line publication to non-members is delayed up to one year after an issue’s print publication, to give Other TUG Publications members the benefit of early access. TUG is interested in considering additional man- Submissions to TUGboat are reviewed by vol- uscripts for publication. These might include unteers and checked by the Editor before publica- manuals, instructional materials, documentation, or tion. However, the authors are still assumed to be works on any other topic that might be useful to the experts. Questions regarding content or accu- the T X community in general. racy should therefore be directed to the authors, E If you have any such items or know of any with an information copy to the Editor. that you would like considered for publication, send the information to the attention of the Publications Submitting Items for Publication Committee at [email protected]. The deadline for receipt of the final papers for the upcoming proceedings issue is August 15, 2008. TUGboat Advertising Links, locations, and more information about this For information about advertising rates and options, and all conferences are available at including consultant listings, write or call the TUG http://tug.org/meetings.html. office, or see our web pages: The next regular issue will probably be in http://tug.org/TUGboat/advertising.html spring 2009. As always, suggestions and propos- http://tug.org/consultants.html als for TUGboat articles are gratefully accepted and processed as received. We encourage submit- Trademarks ting contributions by electronic mail to TUGboat@ tug.org. Many trademarked names appear in the pages of The TUGboat “style files”, for use with either TUGboat. If there is any question about whether plain TEX or LATEX, are available from CTAN and a name is or is not a trademark, prudence dictates the TUGboat web site. We also accept submissions that it should be treated as if it is. The following using ConTEXt. list of trademarks which appear in this issue should Effective with the 2005 volume year, submission not be considered complete. of a new manuscript implies permission to publish METAFONT is a trademark of Addison-Wesley Inc. the article, if accepted, on the TUGboat web site, PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. as well as in print. If you have any reservations TEX and -TEX are trademarks of the American about posting online, please notify the editors at MathematicalAMS Society. the time of submission. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 231
Peter Gordon is the editor at Addison Wesley General Delivery • for Donald Knuth’s books and the company’s (LA)TEX books. Jim Hefferon is one of the key maintainers of • From the President CTAN and a member of the TUG board. Ross Moore is a long-time TUG board member Karl Berry • and TEX contributor, especially in the areas of TUG at the 2008 Joint Mathematics Meeting mathematics and Unicode support. Oleg Katsitadze maintains Eplain and contrib- 2008 started with a bang, as we were generously • sponsored by the American Mathematical Society to utes to GNU Texinfo. Dick Koch is the creator and lead developer have a booth at the (huge) JMM in San Diego this • January. Robin Laakso, our always-hard-working of TeXShop, a popular front end for TeX on executive director, and I staffed the booth, with Mac OS X, as well as being a new TUG board TUG member Stephen Hartke joining us for some member. Rainer Sch¨opf was a co-founder of the LATEX 2ε of the time. It was inspiring to meet so many peo- • ple who happily use TEX every day in their work, and CTAN projects, and is still a key maintainer be able to answer a few questions, and even sign up of CTAN. new members. We have begun work on a printed volume of all the interviews, to be published by TUG perhaps by early Google Summer of Code 2008 2009. Another notable event in the first part of 2008 was TUG being chosen to participate in Google’s 2008 The PracTEX Journal Summer of Code. In this program, Google funds Issue 2008-1 of The PracTEX Journal was published full-time work by students over the summer on free in April. The theme of this issue is LATEXniques. software projects. TUG was selected by Google to All the articles and all the back issues (the journal be one of 175 “mentoring organizations”, providing started in 2005) are available on the journal web an infrastructure and pairing students with mentors. site, http://tug.org/pracjourn. As always, new We were given three slots, and chose the follow- articles and feedback of any kind is welcome. ing three projects from among the (generally excel- lent) applications: Conferences The TUG 2008 conference will take place in Cork, Better Unicode compliance for TEX extensions, • Ireland (for the second time!), from July 21–24 with by Arthur Reutenauer, mentored by Eric Muller. workshops on July 20, hosted by the University Overhaul of the texshow documentation system, • of Cork; Peter Flynn is the principal local orga- by Mojca Miklavec, mentored by Taco Hoekwa- nizer. For the schedule, registration and accommo- ter. dation information (inexpensive on-campus housing Improved JavaScript support in MathTran, by • is available), and more, visit the conference web site Christoph Hafemeister, mentored by Jonathan at http://tug.org/tug2008. Please join us and Fine. the excellent line-up of workshops and speakers. http://tug.org/gsoc has more details and links The second annual ConTEXt user conference about the proposals and the overall program. will take place from August 20–25, 2008, in Bo- hinj, Slovenia, around a lake in the Alps. Web site: Interview corner http://meeting.contextgarden.net/2008. The Interview Corner on the TUG web site (http: Looking ahead, TUG 2009 will take place at //tug.org/interviews) continues to grow. Recent the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indi- interviews come from a wide variety of areas in the ana, from July 27–31, 2009, sponsored by the Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, with Martha Kum- TEX world: merer being the principal local organizer. Susan DeMeritt and Cheryl Ponchin are both Hope to see you on both sides of the Atlantic! • members of the TUG board of directors (Sue is secretary of the board), give workshops on ⋄ Karl Berry LATEX, and use TEX daily in their technical typ- [email protected] ing work. 232 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Editorial comments cervantex.org was stolen, and held for ransom, which, as a small group, they are unable to pay. Barbara Beeton Although they would greatly prefer to have an .org TEX 3.1415926 is here, and other name, showing that they represent TEX for everyone Knuthian references who writes in Spanish, they have had to make an accommodation. Don Knuth has completed his periodic review of Their new site is http://www.cervantex.es. bug reports, and has released the new versions of They ask everyone who may have a link to the old all programs, fonts and macros. His summary of name to please update it. the changes made in this round appears later in this issue. Interactive typography courses by The period between reviews increases by a Jonathan Hoefler year with each round. The review just completed The Resources page at the Typophile web site (http: was actually begun in 2007, after a five year hia- //www.typophile.com/resources) always lists in- tus. The next review is scheduled for six years teresting material. Two items of particular interest from then — 2013. For the present, I will continue are “Typography 101” (Type Styles) and “Typogra- to act as Don’s “T X entomologist”. However, I E phy 110” (Typeface Design), interactive courses by may relinquish this post before the next cycle ends; Jonathan Hoefler. any change will be announced here, and posted The first course presents images of well-known on Don’s T X web page: http://www-cs-faculty. E typefaces, along with text placing each face in its ap- stanford.edu/ knuth/abcde.html. ~ propriate design category and historical environment. Ulrik Vieth noted, at the announcement of the Related faces are identified for further exploration. new release, that “we all silently missed the 30 year In the second course, the participant is asked to ex- anniversary of T X78 which started on March 10, E periment with irregular shapes that illustrate the 1978.” He also reminds us that the saga of T X E behavior of lettershapes (while not being themselves development and updates is chronicled in the file letters) in order to understand principles such as errorlog.tex, which “is still an interesting read for balance and typographic color; the shapes are then the historians”. Thanks, Ulrik. transformed to be styled like some of the typefaces Another note, from Nelson Beebe, points to an presented in the first course, paying attention to the interview with Don at http://www.informit.com/ design principles that characterize these faces. articles/article.aspx?p=1193856&rll=1. Quot- Another feature at Typophile is an extensive ing Nelson, “Don talks about T X, METAFONT, lit- E forum on Typographic Education. Look for http: erate programming, and the writing of his famous //typophile.com/forum/16. books, The Art of Computer Programming, and re- sponds to a number of questions about software de- A helpful CTAN feature: “get” velopment and tools, and the trend towards multicore Although it has most likely been there for quite a and multithreaded CPUs.” while, I just learned about the “get” feature of CTAN. And finally, Don appears in the comics: If you are reasonably certain of the location of files http://xkcd.com/163/ and xkcd.com/342/. you are looking for, the command www.ctan.org/ Phyllis Winkler, RIP get/ presents a nicely formatted directory list of the archive’s top level, and adding a directory name takes Phyllis Winkler, Don Knuth’s secretary for many you to that area directly, using an available mirror years, passed away on December 7, 2007. She was to spread the load. This is a convenient alternative much more than Don’s secretary. It was for her, to the search page. as well as for himself, that Don created T X. (We E Thanks to the CTAN crew whose efforts are announced her retirement in TUGboat 19, no. 4, always appreciated, if not acknowledged nearly often page 351.) Phyllis was kind, generous, and strikingly enough. competent. The TEX community has lost a good friend. Recreating the Gutenberg press BBC New domain name for CervanTEX In April, a documentary video was aired by the chronicling the invention of the Gutenberg Press. Late last year, the president of CervanT X, Juan E This description was posted by RIT Professor Emeri- Luis Varona, informed us that their domain name, tus Michael L. Kleper. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 233
Stephen Fry travels to France and Germany Editor’s note: The following note announced the on the trail of Johannes Gutenberg, and sets periodic update of TEX and friends on March 18, about reconstructing a replica of Gutenberg’s 2008. (In this presentation, some of the verbatim first press. This is a must-see program. Owing code lines have been re-broken or otherwise adjusted to contractual restrictions, it’s not available to fit the narrow columns.) Work is underway to in- outside of the UK. clude the new versions in the next release of TEX Live. For awhile, it was posted on YouTube, but pulled Unless you have experience in implementing the soft- in response to the BBC’s copyright claim. Watch ware, it’s advisable to wait for that release. Please for it — it may reappear, or be released elsewhere. refrain from posing questions or reporting problems, Before it disappeared, I managed to view most of it; to allow the implementors to pursue their work with- Prof. Kleper’s description is spot on! out interruptions. If you want to find out the details of the updates, those can be found on CTAN in the Copy-editing the wayward apostrophe area systems/knuth/errata/. Do you become exasperated reading signs in which words are (mis-)spelled in sometimes seemingly ran- dom ways, and apostrophes appear in places where they don’t belong, often changing the meaning of The TEX tuneup of 2008 what is being advertised? Donald Knuth Well, you’re not alone, and someone is doing something about it. I’ve written this note while going through the long, Jeff Deck, a Dartmouth College (New Hamp- long file of bug reports and suggestions that were shire, USA) graduate, is on a mission to correct submitted during the years 2003–2007. You know typographical errors in public places. You can read that I am committed to keeping TEX and META- about his quest at FONT as stable as possible, while also correcting http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/BusinessTravel/ serious blunders that are likely to be harmful if left story?id=4593597&page=1. as is. It is certainly not always obvious where to He also writes a blog (http://www.jeffdeck. draw the line; I intend to keep drawing it as close com/teal/blog/) where he ruminates on the activi- to the existing implementations as I can, without ties of the Typo Eradication Advancement League feeling extremely guilty. (TEAL). The index to Digital Typography lists eleven Join the hunt. pages where the importance of stability is stressed, and I urge all maintainers of TEX and METAFONT A font game for your amusement to read them again every few years. Any object of At http://fontgame.ilovetypography.com, one nontrivial complexity is non-optimum, in the sense finds a page entitled “the rather difficult Font Game”. that it can be improved in some way (while still Below this heading appears a small font sample — remaining non-optimum); therefore there’s always a word, a date, or other string of glyphs from a font — a reason to change anything that isn’t trivial. But with four font names; choose the one you think the one of TEX’s principal advantages is the fact that sample came from. it does not change — except for serious flaws whose The game consists of 34 such samples, and it correction is unlikely to affect more than a very tiny keeps score. When you have identified all 34, you number of archival documents. can look at the correct answers, check the scores of Let me give two examples. First, David Kas- other testees (the average score is reported to be 23 trup observes that TEX doesn’t do the best possi- out of 34 points), or start again with new samples. ble rounding when it converts units. One inch is The game was created by Kari P¨atil¨aof Jout- exactly 72.27 points, which is exactly 4736286.72 seno, Finland. It can be played on an ordinary scaled points. When you say ‘1in’, TEX converts it browser or on an iPhone. to 4736286sp; when you say ‘72.27pt’, TEX converts it to 4736287sp, which is about 23.6 Angstrom˚ units ⋄ Barbara Beeton closer to the truth. With a simple change to TEX American Mathematical Society §458, namely to add ‘denom div 2’ before dividing 201 Charles Street by ‘denom’, the rounding would be slightly better. Providence, RI 02904 USA tugboat (at) tug dot org But that would invalidate the line-break and page- break decisions of an enormous number of documents. It’s unthinkable to change TEX in such a way today. 234 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
But of course the authors of other systems should Please type another %s file name (or quit): adopt superior methods when they want to. and then if the user’s response is ‘quit’ we do the METAPOST Second, I recently installed version equivalent of control-C. If the response is null, let’s 0.993, which corrected a bug in the calculation of the give a help message. META bounding box of its outputs. I’m a user of - This modification should be handled by change POST , not a developer; but I’m sort of glad that the files, keeping the master files tex.web and mf.web developers had fixed this bug. On the other hand and whatever.web as they are. I never have intended it was a tremendous headache for me, because it to control the aspects of user interaction on particular affected nearly 200 of the illustrations for The Art of systems. Computer Programming, and caused severe changes Maybe also introduce a finite loop, with to the layouts of more than a dozen pages, even ‘(or quit)’ replaced by ‘(or I’ll quit)’ the third though the individual corrections to the box sizes or fourth time. I agree that infinite loops are evil, were typically 2pt or less! I spent three days going and I’m sorry that prompt_file_name is invoked over everything so that I could once again typeset the only within infinite loops in my own programs. If volumes of my main life’s work. I couldn’t reasonably I had thought of this idea earlier, I’d have added METAPOST insist that the developers retain such a global variable like max_prompt_repeats, and ini- a serious bug as a “feature”. With TEX, on the tialized it to 3 or 4 just before those infinite loops; other hand, it’s a different story, because people’s then prompt_file_name would decrement it, or give accumulated investment in TEX documents is more up if it’s zero. than a million times the total current investment in Another possibility is ‘(or quit or retry)’, METAPOST documents. If a comparable bug had except the last time. That wording is a bit more not showed up in TEX, I would have changed it. suited to computer geeks, who have ideas about fixing Let me also observe that I never intended TEX things by repairing file permissions, etc.; if the user to be immune to vicious “cracker attacks”; I only responds with either ‘retry’ or null, the intention is wish it to be robust under reasonable use by people clearly to try again because of some reason to hope for who are trying to get productive work done. Almost success. Still, I prefer the non-geek version, because every limit can be abused in extreme cases, and I it reaches more people and enables the null-for-help don’t think it useful to go to extreme pain to pre- option. Let the geeks type a few more keystrokes — vent such things. Computers have general protection they get satisfaction in other ways. mechanisms to keep buggy software from inflicting serious damage; TEX and METAFONT are far less TEX buggy than the software for which such mechanisms TEX version 3.1415926 corrects a few minor bugs, were designed. For instances of the philosophy that following major studies by David Fuchs. A summary I had while writing these programs, see for instance of the noteworthy changes to the Pascal code in MF TEX §9 and §9, which say that I expected the pro- tex.web can be found near the end of the (long) file grams to be run with arithmetic overflow interrupt errata/tex82.bug. Here are the most significant turned on; also TEX §104: “TEX does not check for ones, in decreasing order of importance: overflow when dimensions are added or subtracted . . . the chance of overflow is so remote that such tests 1. Leaders with \mskip glue never worked prop- do not seem worthwhile”; MF §369 says that the erly; this feature has now been disallowed. total weight in a picture “will be less than 231 unless 2. Error recovery was incorrect when an extra the edge structure has more than 174,762 edges”; right brace appeared within a macro parameter. MF § 558, “we shall assume that the coordinates are 3. TEX’s inner loop now runs a bit faster. sufficiently non-extreme”; MF §930, “users aren’t 4. The size of insert boxes is now displayed more supposed to be monkeying around with really big accurately by \showlists. values.” 5. A restriction on TFM files enforced by TFtoPL A proposal re file errors (namely that there must be at least one entry in each I think the following change would be nice for the of the width, height, depth, and italic correction next versions of TEX, METAFONT, etc.: In place of tables) is now enforced also by TEX, since noncom- the current message pliance could cause a mess. Please type another %s file name: 6. TEX used to leak four words of memory if arithmetic overflow occurred when \multiply or produced by prompt_file_name, let’s substitute \divide was applied to glue or muglue. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 235
7. The old iniTeX could leak four words of vrule, plus 1pt of lineskip, plus 7.5pt for the height memory in another way (but at most four total), if of ‘Some text.’, plus 12pt to separate the text from “last_glue” pointed to a glue specification when the its first footnote.) The vsplit algorithm discovers format file was created. two ways to break the footnote: One has height There’s an undocumented feature, which 8.5pt (the height of ‘* A bigbreak follows. . . ’), depth is inconvenient to explain anywhere in The 1.94444pt, and penalty −200 (at the bigbreak); the TEXbook: \pagedepth is cleared to zero when other has natural height 32.5pt, depth 3.5pt (which the current page disappears into \box255; but comes from a strut placed by plain TEX), and penalty \pagetotal, \pagestretch, \pagefilstretch, −10000 (the force-out penalty at the very bottom of \pagefillstretch, \pagefilllstretch, and the footnote). This latter break is considered viable \pageshrink are zeroed later, when the cur- because 4pt of glue shrinkage is available to bring the rent page becomes nonempty. (That’s the time height down to 30.089pt. Naturally vsplit chooses \pagegoal is set, and recorded in the log file with a the latter alternative. %% line if you’re tracing pages.) I don’t recall why Then TEX does something dumb. It records the there is a discrepancy, but I certainly don’t want to result of the split in the list of contributions to the diddle with any of that logic at this late date. current page, in such a way that the first part of Here are some other things that I don’t want to the split will be included on the page only if there’s touch: room for its natural height+depth, namely 36pt in this case. (And in this case, the “first part of the i. David Kastrup found a glitch in plain TEX’s split” actually turns out to be the whole footnote.) footnote-splitting mechanism. Everything works ac- Therefore, when T X next finds a legal breakpoint, The T Xbook E cording to the documentation in E and I the current page limit has been exceeded, and the can’t possibly make a change to such a sensitive part line with its footnote is deemed not to be permissible. of TEX’s logic at this late date. But his example is The previous break, which leaves an underfull vbox, quite interesting, and I’d like to discuss it here for is chosen instead of “overfilling” the page — even the benefit of people planning other systems. though there is really enough shrinkability to bring Here’s his construction (to be used with plain the page back to size. TEX): As I said, it’s too late now to correct my age-old \def\testpage#1{\dimen0=#1 faulty reasoning. If I’d known about the problem \vrule height .5\dimen0 depth .5\dimen0 twenty years ago, I may well have decided to make \quad #1\par the change that seems most appropriate to me today, Some text.\footnote*{A bigbreak follows... \bigbreak which is this: A bigbreak preceded.} @x module 974 \par\vfill\supereject} best_height_plus_depth:=cur_height+prev_dp; \testpage{8.17in} @y \testpage{8.23in} best_height_plus_depth:=cur_height+prev_dp; \testpage{8.2in} if (best_height_plus_depth>h+prev_dp) The first test page is an example where the entire and (b
My logic was faulty, because the “blacker” setting mf/trap.typ % torture test output of GFtype was intended to compensate for differences in the mf/trap.pl % torture test output of TFtoPL device that make its apparent pen width too small, cm/calu.mf % master source file for calligraphic thereby making the actual appearance after printing capital letters only as black as it would have been on an ideal cm/greekl.mf % master source file for lowercase device; increasing “blacker” by 1 shouldn’t make me greek letters reposition any strokes. Yet I do actually reposition cm/symbol.mf % master source file for special them, on the lowercase a, by roughly 2 pixels per symbols unit of blacker! And the bulb on c is positioned to errata/errata.ten % changes to Volumes be like that of a. Still, the repositioned bulbs look ABCDE before 2001 OK, and I’m happy to continue forever with this errata/errata.eleven % changes to Volumes wart in the design. ABCDE in 2001 errata/errata.tex % changes to Volumes TEXware ABCDE since the 2001 boxed set TFtoPL version 3.2 is identical to version 3.1 except errata/tex82.bug % changes to tex.web since that a (missing) newline character now appears after the beginning one of the warning messages. errata/mf84.bug % changes to mf.web since the beginning Computers & Typesetting errata/cm85.bug % changes to Computer Dozens of corrections were made to Volumes A, B, Modern metafont sources since 1985 C, D, and E of the books Computers & Typeset- These files are available in directory pub/tex/dist ting, bringing everything up to date with respect of the ftp server cs.stanford.edu, which accepts to the latest sources. (This includes The TEXbook, “anonymous” as a login name. They are a subset which is a paperback Volume A, and The META- of the files in pub/tex/dist/tex08.tar.gz, which FONTbook, which is a paperback Volume C.) Copies you can compare to pub/tex/dist/tex03.tar.gz if of the corrected books won’t be available for sale un- you like. Hopefully they will be easy to incorporate til the publisher’s stock of already-printed volumes into the major distributions of TEX, and they will is depleted; but I’ve prepared detailed errata from presumably soon be available on CTAN. which you can make hardcopy inserts to paste into In general the changes can be characterized as the books you have. a general cleanup, especially to the documentation. The new versions don’t affect old documents, except Summary when the existing behavior was seriously incorrect. All of the results of my changes appear in the (And except for the fact that TEX will often run a following files: bit faster now.) tex/texbook.tex % source file for The TEXbook To do this revision I waded through more than tex/tex.web % complete master file for TEX in 600 K bytes of text files, not counting the binary .pdf Pascal and .png files that were also submitted. Barbara tex/trip.fot % torture test terminal output Beeton faithfully compiled all of this material during tex/tripin.log % torture test first log file the years 2003–2007, and organized it so that my task tex/trip.log % torture test second log file wasn’t hopeless. She had many volunteers helping tex/trip.typ % torture test output of DVItype to separate wheat from chaff; needless to say, I’m texware/tftopl.web % complete master file for extremely grateful for all of this assistance. TFtoPL in Pascal The total number of independent topics about mf/mfbook.tex % source file for The which I had to make a decision, after they had come METAFONTbook through the filtering process, was approximately 335. mf/mf.web % complete master file for Some of these needed several days of thought and METAFONT in Pascal careful study; some of them needed only a few sec- mf/trap* % (namely trap.fot, trapin.log, onds. More than a hundred of them were nontrivial, trap.log, trap.typ, trap.pl) and I did my best. mf/trap.fot % torture test terminal output So now I send best wishes to the whole TEX mf/trapin.log % torture test first log file community, as I leave for vacation to the land of mf/trap.log % torture test second log file TAOCP — until 31 December 2013. Au revoir! TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 239
Hyphenation Exception Log The reference used to check these hyphenations is Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Barbara Beeton Unabridged. This is the periodic update of the list of words that TEX fails to hyphenate properly. The full list Hyphenation for languages last appeared in TUGboat 16, no. 1, starting on other than English page 12, with updates in TUGboat 22, no. 1/2, Patterns now exist for many languages other pages 31–32, 23, no. 3/4, pages 247–248, and 26, than English, including languages using accented no. 1, pages 5-6. alphabets. CTAN holds an extensive collection of In the list below, the first column gives results patterns; see http://mirror.ctan.org/language/ from TEX’s \showhyphens{...}; entries in the hyphenation and its subdirectories. second column are suitable for inclusion in a \hyphenation{...} list. The list — English words In most instances, inflected forms are not shown for nouns and verbs; note that all forms must be acupunc-ture(ist) acu-punc-ture(-ist) aneurysm an-eu-rysm specified in a \hyphenation{...} list if they occur aneurys-mal an-eu-rys-mal in your document. The full list of exceptions, as a com-putab(le,ility) com-put-ab(le,il-ity) TEX-readable file, appears at http://mirror.ctan copy-rightable copy-right-able .org/info/digests/tugboat/ushyphex.tex. (It’s deal-lo-cate(s,d) de-allo-cate(s,d) created by Werner Lemberg’s scripts, available in deal-lo-ca-tion de-allo-ca-tion der-i-va-tion der-i-va-tion the subdirectory hyphenex.) deriva-tional der-i-va-tion-al Like the full list, this update has been subdi- essence es-sence vided into two parts: English words, and names and fig-urine figu-rine non-English words (including transliterations from home-o-static ho-meo-stat-ic Cyrillic and other non-Latin scripts) that occur in home-osta-sis ho-meo-sta-sis iso-ge-o-met-ric iso-geo-met-ric English texts. isother-mal iso-ther-mal Thanks to all who have submitted entries to makein-dex make-in-dex the list. Here is a short reminder of the relevant mnemonic mne-mon-ic idiosyncracies of TEX’s hyphenation. Hyphens will monoph-thong mon-oph-thong not be inserted before the number of letters specified monospace mono-space names-pace name-space by \lefthyphenmin, nor after the number of letters om-nipresent(ce) om-ni-pres-ent(ce) specified by \righthyphenmin. For U.S. English, phe-nolph-thalein phe-nol-phthalein \lefthyphenmin=2 and \righthyphenmin=3; thus ph-tha-la-mic phtha-lam-ic no word shorter than five letters will be hyphenated. ph-tha-late phthal-ate (For the details, see The T Xbook, page 454.) This ph-thi-sis phthi-sis E polyandry(ous) poly-an-dry(ous) particular rule is violated in some of the words poly-dactyl(lic) poly-dac-tyl(-lic) listed; however, if a word is hyphenated correctly by polyg-yny(ous) po-lyg-y-ny(ous) TEX except for “missing” hyphens at the beginning polyp(s) pol-yp or end, it has not been included here. poly-phonic poly-phon-ic Some other permissible hyphens have been presently pres-ent-ly re-al-lo-cate(s,d) re-allo-cate(s,d) omitted for reasons of style or clarity. While this is re-ar-range(s,d) re-arrange(s,d) at least partly a matter of personal taste, an author sergeant ser-geant should think of the reader when deciding whether ser-vome-chan-i-cal ser-vo-me-chan-i-cal or not to permit just one more break-point in some ser-vomech-a-nism ser-vo-mech-a-nism obscure or confusing word. There really are times tex-theight \text-height textlength \text-length when a bit of rewriting is preferable. tex-twidth \text-width One other warning: Some words can be more tribesman tribes-man than one part of speech, depending on context, and have different hyphenations; for example, ‘analyses’ Names and non-English words can be either a verb or a plural noun. If such a word used in English text appears in this list, hyphens are shown only for the Malay-alam Ma-la-ya-lam portions of the word that would be hyphenated the Mon-treal Mont-real same regardless of usage. Pres-by-te-rian Pres-by-terian Vi-eth Vieth 240 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
I’ve now updated it and documented it, and Typography it’s ready to test, although the platform is very re- stricted: it’s a bash (1) shell script for TEX Live on Ubuntu Gutsy, installing typefaces from the Bit- Typographers’ Inn stream 500–font CD. If you have all this, feel free Peter Flynn to download it from http://latex.silmaril.ie/ fonts/cdvf (too early for CTAN). 1 METAFONT fonts So what on earth am I doing? In the face of Alan A Although the majority of the typefaces installed with Jeffrey’s (and others’) fontinst, which uses LTEX a standard TEX distribution are available in Post- itself to install fonts, and Jonathan Kew’s wonderful script Type 1 format, there are still several very use- X TE EX, which ferrets out and lets you use every font ful ones available only in METAFONT format. These on your hard disk, isn’t installing Type 1 fonts a bit, include the specialist fonts in the bookhands bun- well, retro? Yes and no: while a lot of people are moving to dle, such as ❘✉ ✐❝ or ❯♥❝✐❛❧, the BB Dingbats, OpenType and other post-PostScript formats, there the cartographic symbols (Karta), Ogham, and many is still a vast supply of Type 1 fonts around, and still others. a lot of people who want to install them (to judge METAFONT is a font outline language, but by by the posts on the topic to comp.text.tex). The default T X systems use the bitmap output from E problem with installing them isn’t the making of the such fonts (a .pk font file). It is possible that these .tfm files, it’s making them play nicely with LAT X, will never be rewritten as PostScript fonts, so using E and that’s what cdvf does. them will continue to require a T X system, with a E It takes a typeface from a standard distribution little help from The LAT X Companion [2]. E mapfile (currently just bitstrea.map) — for exam- The Adobe Acrobat Reader notoriously used to ple a font family name like bun; Bitstream’s version make a complete hames of bitmapped fonts on screen, of Univers which they call ZurichBT —and creates all blurring them into unreadability while printing them the .tfm and .vf files, moves them (and the .pfb perfectly, but this has been improved significantly and .afm files) to the right places, writes a .sty in recent versions. It is very fashionable in certain (package) file and the relevant .fd (font definition) quarters to decry the use of bitmapped fonts on and .map files, and finally runs updmap and texhash purely technical grounds, disregarding the fact that to leave you with an immediately usable entire type- they do actually provide a useful — and in some cases face and a report on what was installed. Figure 1 essential — instantiation of a specific design. shows the result of typing the command: There are some problems: a few of the fonts available (Ogham is one example) produce microscop- $ cdvf bitstream univers ZurichBT s ically tiny glyphs by default, requiring a correction to the METAFONT code; and not all of them can yet be It’s by no means perfect, but it seems to work, and needs testing. The next stages are: used directly in LATEX via a standard package. But they are all worth investigating, not just for special generalize it for all Unix-like platforms; • effects, but because they are a useful contribution to add support for other CDs/DVDs of typeface the range of typefaces available to us. • collections (currently working on FontSite); add support for other encodings (currently it ❚❨ ❖●❘❆ ❍■❆ • only does T1); ❆❘❙ ❆❘❚■❯▼ ❖▼◆■❯▼ clean up series and shape detection; ❈❖◆❙❊❘❱❆❚❘■❳ • add isolated-font classification detection, so that • arbitrary .pfb/.afm pairs can be installed with- out the need for a .map file to pre-exist; eventually rewrite it in something platform-in- 2 Type 1 (PostScript) fonts • dependent, with a GUI front-end. Better late than never: I finally managed to rescue my Type 1 virtual font installation script from the Type 1 font files notoriously lack full information ravages of a damaged disk drive. I’ve been using this about themselves (it’s often impossible to machine- for a decade or more, and I documented what it did detect a sans-serif typeface, for example, hence the in ‘Formatting Information’[1, §8.3.2], but I never final parameter on the command given above). But released it into the wild, as it was very specific to it still ought to be easier to install Type 1 fonts for my own system. LATEX and have them ‘just work’. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 241
Table 1: Fonts installed Family Series Shape For those of you who haven’t discovered it yet, bun l n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog the typography mailing list TYPO-L is at http:// bun l sc The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun l it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog listserv.heanet.ie/typo-l.html where you can bun m n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun m sc The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog join or leave, or browse the archives. bun m it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun b n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog Strange that there is no global Usenet newsgroup bun b sc The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun b it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog on typography. bun c n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun c sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG bun c it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog 4 2008 TUG meeting in Cork bun mx n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun mx sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG The Call for Papers went out in February and we bun bx n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun bx sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG already have some good abstracts submitted. If bun cx n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun cx sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG you’re doing something interesting with TEX-and- bun ux n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun ux sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG friends (or with type, or in a related field), then you bun lc n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun lc sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG should let everyone know — and the best way to do bun lc it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun mc n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog that is to write it up and submit it (or send it to bun mc sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG TUGboat bun mc it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog ). bun bc n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog Registration is now open on the web site at bun bc sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG bun bc it The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog http://tug.org/tug2008/, so sign up and book bun lq n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun lq sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG early. We look forward to seeing you all here! bun mq n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun mq sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG bun bq n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog Afterthought bun bq sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG bun x n The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog bun x sc THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG Thanks to Michael Everson for pointing this out in TYPO-L (quoted with permission from David Fried- Table 2: File locations man’s Ironic Sans blog, http://www.ironicsans. File Location Font definition /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex/psnfss/t1bun.fd com/2008/02/): Style (package) file /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex/psnfss/univers.sty Font map file /usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/config/bun.map keming. (kěm′-˘ıng). n. The result of improper Font map reference /home/peter/.texmf-config/updmap.d/10local.cfg Adobe Font Metrics /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/afm/bitstrea/univers kerning. Postscript Font Binaries /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/type1/bitstrea/univers TEX Font Metrics /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/tfm/bitstrea/univers Virtual Fonts /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/vf/bitstrea/univers References [1] Peter Flynn. Formatting Information. TUGboat, 3 23(2):115–250, 2002. Figure 1: Part of the report output of the cdvf font [2] Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens, Johannes installation script Braams, David Carlisle, and Chris Rowley. The LATEX Companion. Addison-Wesley/Pearson Ed- ucation, Boston, MA, 2nd edition, 2004. 3 New forum, old forum John Coffey has started a new forum for technical ⋄ Peter Flynn questions and answers related to typesetting at http: Textual Therapy Division, Silmaril //typesetterforum.com. This is in bulletin-board Consultants, Cork, Ireland format rather than a mailing list like TYPO-L, and Phone: +353 86 824 5333 has lots of interesting posts from users of all the peter (at) silmaril dot ie http://blogs.silmaril.ie/peter popular systems (Quark, InDesign, 3B2-as-was, and others, as well as LATEX). 242 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
The Greek Font Society finally make them available to the public. Its type- faces provide support for the “extended” Greek block Vassilios Tsagkalos of Unicode, while older typefaces include the original Abstract ligatures and abbreviated forms — end result: as far as possible, each typeface is intended as a complete The Greek Font Society is a part of Greece standing tool for the user and a historical sample to every new against a predominantly easy-going culture. type designer who may wish to learn the history of Background and goals his/her art before attempting to design. Although polytonic Greek is technically sup- The text that follows is a translation of a text that ported, this does not mean that GFS’s statutory originally appeared in Greek in Εὔτυπον (Eutypon), goals include reversion to the polytonic system. (As the newsletter of the Greek T X Friends Group (see E of 1982, the official grammar of the Greek state is http://www.eutypon.gr). The text has been trans- monotonic Modern Greek.) GFS is not a literary or lated into English by the original author. linguistic union that can take a collective position A non-profit organization committed to study- on issues outside its area of expertise. Its goal is ing meticulously, creating superbly and offering open- to reinforce and promote Greek typography in our ly: the Greek Font Society (GFS) was founded in globalized milieu, that is, it stretches out to reach 1992 with the express aim of contributing to the users not necessarily located in Greece but every research of Greek typography and supporting Greek user of the Greek language around the world. Since typefaces in a digital environment. Its Board of the Greek script has evolved through several forms Directors consists of Mikhail V. Sakellariou (Pres- during the millennia, different scholars should be ident), Lili Macrakis (Vice-President), Dimitris G. offered the technical prospect of using it in their Portolos (Secretary), Lena G. Savidis (Treasurer), own ways: be it Greek or non-Greek researchers Giorgos E. Agouridis and Eleftheria Giakoumakis. of Homer, annotators of Papadiamantis, historians GFS’s type design program began through the collab- studying Thucydides or critics of El Greco’s work, oration of the then Vice-President Mikhail Macrakis all need to use Greek typefaces for the special needs and its artistic director, the painter-engraver Takis of their sectors. Katsoulidis, with the type designer and typogra- phy researcher George D. Matthiopoulos and the Typefaces philologist Eleni Tsialta. The current working group The public is therefore offered a continuously widen- consists of George Matthiopoulos (artistic director) ing choice of Greek OpenType fonts freely distributed and type designers Mikhail Semoglou and Natasha under the SIL Open Font License, including impor- Raissaki. GFS operates on limited resources which tant historical samples and new designs which respect leave no space for promotional campaigns; it will the typographic tradition and avoid the insensitive continue to function as long as this is manageable. and ignorant copying of Latin-based standards. As Operational costs are usually covered by subventions, GFS survives on donations, it offers its cultural work grants and financial support from various state and for free, only to remind those who tend to forget that non-state bodies. there is an alternative way of living apart from profit- The Greek Font Society was established to fill making and also in its attempt to make a positive the observed gap in systematic research of the impor- step towards the others, even to the disadvantage of tance of Greek typeface design for visual communi- one’s personal gain. cation as well as to emphasize the specific weight of In opposition to the argument made by many history, the reverberation and consolidation of visual that the Greek alphabet is in risk of extinction, be- forms in an area of artistically illiterate publishers cause its letters become more and more similar to with low typographic expectations within Greece. It the glyphs of Latin script fonts, GFS states that seeks to offer a solution today to a problem which the main enemy is not the Latin script itself but initially should have been addressed systematically rather an aversion to the knowledge of the past and as long ago as the late 19th century, in order to enjoy its teachings, the statements of our present leaders its fruits today. which lulls our vigilance, the spiritual sybaritism GFS’s work is well-described by its impressive typical of contemporary Greeks along with the poor motto: always study and continuously train your quality of most Greek libraries and the taking of eyes! That’s why they investigate the past of Greek minimum pains for every effort. Now, ‘effort’ is one typography, study the design rules that formed it, keyword for the Greek Font Society, along with the digitize and preserve historical Greek typefaces, and second keyword of ‘offer’: five majuscule typefaces TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 243
are offered, together with GFS Complutum Classic GFS is also preparing an anthology of Greek (with new capital letters) from the 16th century, typography, presenting books which have impacted three typefaces from the 18th century, another three the typography of Greek publications from the era from the 19th century and seven typefaces from the of earliest typography to mid-20th century, as well 20th/21st century — all free of charge! Naturally we as historical information on the publishers and ty- can only expect more free GFS fonts. pographers who created them. The anthology will As for our present (LA)TEX, GFS offers five free aim at making Greek typographic history accessible fonts: GFSDidotTeX, GFSBodoniTeX, GFSPorsonTeX, to all and enabling Greek graphic designers to come GFSNeoHellenicTeX and GFSArtemisiaTeX. That is, into contact with the history of their art by offering we do provide specific fonts and a web page dedi- images and data kept hidden on library shelves. cated to TEX, combined with a presentation of the Department of Mathematics at the University of the Interview: George Matthiopoulos Aegean and the Laboratory of Digital Typography Mr George Matthiopoulos works as a type designer and Mathematical Applications. All this is thanks for the Greek Font Society. He kindly agreed to to a collaboration of the GFS with a member of our answer the questions which Εὔτυπον put to him. Greek TEX Friends group, Antonis Tsolomitis. Need- less to say, all OpenType fonts can be used directly Q: What makes Greek typographic history worth A attention and study? with X TE EX/X E LTEX. A: The history of every aspect of the art and tech- Publishing niques which shaped the course of modern Greek The Greek Font Society is also productive in pub- culture is, in my view, self-evidently worthy; add to lishing, since it has translated and designed Robert this that a better understanding of the typographic Bringhurst’s renowned book “The Elements of Ty- tradition aids the creative assimilation of the global- pographic Style,”, Crete University Press, Iraklion, ized visual communication by new generation graphic 2001, with a grant by the Stavros Niarchos Founda- designers. tion. For the occasion of the 2004 Olympic Games Q: Would you say that the Greek script receives its in Athens, GFS designed and published, also with value through the ages on the simple grounds of being the kind support of the Stavros Niarchos Founda- the carrier of the Greek language and civilization or tion, a set of seven bilingual not-for-sale publications does it have its own value due to some important (English, French, German, Modern Greek, Italian, people that have served it? Russian, and Spanish) of the 14 Olympic Odes of Pin- A: Letters are primarily communication symbols of dar using historical Greek typefaces from the 15th to a language, but in the course of time they develop the 20th century for the ancient Greek text. The An- a timeless aesthetic connection with language. The cient Greek text was typeset in seven digital redesigns Greek alphabet originated without many modifica- (one for each language) of the most celebrated Greek tions from the Phoenician alphabet and the Latin typefaces elaborated in several European countries. alphabet was derived from the Greek. [According to This publication was aimed at asserting that the the American scholar Barry B. Powel, the alphabet Olympic Games, far from becoming used up as an is a Greek invention: see Homer and the Origin of instance of immoderate commercialization, ought to the Greek Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, be generating a cultural dialogue uniting all nations. 1991.] So, any couplings between language and aes- The set was offered as a gift to all of the participating thetics are not metaphysical and immovable ideas Olympic Committees in the Games and sent to a (in the Platonic sense), but are rather shaped by range of libraries in Greece and abroad. the historical process: historical changes, such as the In 1995 the GFS organised an International Con- transition from majuscule to miniscule script (around ference, “Greek Letters: From Tablets to Pixels” at the 9th century) or the simplification of the typo- the Institute Fran¸cais d’Ath`enes in 1995, with Greek graphic case by removal of the Byzantine ligatures and foreign participants who presented their research (in the mid-18th century) were not undertaken by on the history, aesthetics and technological future individual persons but resulted from already existing of the Greek typefaces. The proceedings of the Con- changes in everyday practice. ference are downloadable in Greek from the GFS’s website, and their English translation by Mikhail S. Q: In an age of abundant impressive technological Macrakis (ed.), “Greek Letters: From Tablets to Pix- means, with many technical issues resolved, do you els”, was published by Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, think that the artistic component of typography is Delaware, 1996. served or oppressed by technological advancements? 244 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
A: Like the tools of every form of art, computers and be long-lived. Greece is unfortunately not the place their software may prove to be means of emancipating to make easy predictions. those who realize the capabilities and the limitations Q: Given that young people use text editing in their of these means, but for their lazy-minded users they computers from a very young age, do you think only foster their shallow minds. Now, shallowness that there are proposals to introduce typographic flourishes around us. education in at least the secondary education level Q: Can you highlight the reasons why typographic by providing stimuli and asking for speculation on culture is absent in the Greek society today? Could it the aesthetics of our texts? be a matter of culture in general and of the utilitarian A: That would definitely be very good indeed, but I notion of knowledge? am afraid that Greek secondary education has other A: Yes, I think the answer is there. How can there be more important issues to address first. typographic education when education in general is Q: Are you bothered by the completely unaccented becoming an even more distant dream for the major- Greek appearing often on the TV, mainly on the ity? I mean here real Culture, not the industrialized news broadcast? [News captions, headlines and tran- product of our grade-aholic educational system we scriptions on Greek TV news is almost always typed have all come to accept. Aesthetical culture is even without even a tonos (the monotonic accent symbol) more demanding than the general education and this on vowels.] is a field in which modern Greece is still held back. A: No, not personally. I am rather bothered aesthet- Add to this the loss of the popular elegant taste ically by the monotonic Modern Greek. The GFS which sprang spontaneously from the people until does not claim the role of a philological leader. In just a few years ago. The “mincing machine” called a sense we are “accent neutral”, if I may use this television has ground everything from one end to neologism. As a Society, we offer the maximum range the other into a colorless and tasteless mass. You in our products, that is, polytonic Greek fonts, so see, the increased money we have made in the recent that anyone can use them in any way they see fit. decades is not enough in itself. Q: How do you explain the contradiction of a down- graded visual appearance of our texts in our age Q: Would you like to share your experience from where image aesthetics and visual representations contemporary typographic culture in other European keep the leading role? countries? Are there any immediate initiatives that A: I think I referred to this before. Those who can be taken? deal in visual communication in Greece today rarely A: The states that have always had a tradition of ty- possess any aesthetical culture which presupposes pography continue to support typographical practice knowledge of the historical tradition. Most standards and bring new ideas. Even non-central European are imported to Greece and remain unassimilated. countries like Spain and Portugal have already orga- nized the education of type design. Indeed, they all Q: Let me ask you a reasonable question: Have any have the privilege of drawing upon the centuries-long of those who are par excellence interested in the research and background of Latin script typography, diachronic Greek language and advocate it so far from which we can benefit only indirectly. The issue embraced, promoted or supported your work? I refer of typographic education is big and difficult to deal to philologists, historians, archaeologists, theologians, with in a general way. There has been more progress Universities, the Church, etc. [The Eastern Orthodox lately compared to what was happening a decade Church has never adopted monotonic Modern Greek ago, but there is a long way to go. The Greek Font and still uses the polytonic grammar in its services Society tries to lay the foundations, in order for all and most of its communication.] who become sensitive to the issue to be able to refer A: Not to the extent that one would actually expect, to sources. The Union of Greek Graphic Designers but then again what else has been institutionally has also recently demonstrated an actual interest embraced by them? Nothing, so this does not leave and we will continue to work with them. Both the us out either. Nevertheless, individual entities from School of Graphic Arts at the Athens Technolog- all of the above have individually expressed their ical Educational Institute and the Athens School solidarity with our work. of Fine Arts currently promote the teaching of ty- Q: Your website includes a special page devoted to pographic art more dynamically, as well as private TEX and offers TEX-compatible fonts. How do you educational centers and other schools. Still, I am appreciate this interest of people from exact science? not sure whether this is a momentary interest by A: I am a type designer myself, but through my certain individuals today or something that might father’s love for Mathematics I have developed an TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 245
intimate and warm relation with Science — although Q: The verbal poverty of Modern Greeks inevitably I do not particularly succeed in it. Furthermore, the affects the separate professional sectors too, who nor- late Mikhail Macrakis, the actual founder of GFS, mally turn to the adoption of predominantly English was a physicist. This bidirectional relationship be- terms in spite of the richness of Greek terminological tween the GFS and people from exact science came variants. Since “the start of wisdom is in the study as no surprise to me, but, if we need to be objective of the names” according to Antisthenes, does the about this, that is still a welcome mystery. Obvi- Greek Font Society intend to compile an integral ously, typography has indeed touched an unknown, dictionary of typographic terminology? until recently, sensitive string of the more “practical A: You are right. Terminology in our field is des- minds”, as the clich´egoes. I suppose we all ought to perately poor, but the technology of graphic arts be grateful to Dr Donald Knuth who identified this changes at such a fast rate that it is no longer pos- sensitive string and to Dr Antonis Tsolomitis, De- sible to catch up with the tide. Mikhail Macrakis partment of Mathematics, University of the Aegean, had also wished a glossary of typographic terms, so Samos, Greece, who makes such a remarkable effort we started an early effort during the translation and to keep this bridge open in the geographical region design of Robert Bringhurst’s book “The Elements to the east of Greece. Our reference to TEX would of Typographic Style” (Crete University Press, Irak- have been impossible without his initiative and con- lion, 2001), which included a relevant Appendix. I tribution and I would like to take this opportunity have collected much material since then, but haven’t to thank him warmly. [Naturally, with the advent managed to get the time to organize it. In any case, of X TE EX it is now possible to use any OpenType or I believe that apart from the descriptive and explana- TrueType font directly, something that has greatly tory definition of lemmas, the very onomatopoeia of simplified the job of many people.] terms is beyond my knowledge. Q: You support the Open Source “movement — free Q: Finally, on the occasion of our communication, software for all. Can you explain why to us? please allow me to congratulate you on behalf of all A: As long as the Greek Font Society manages to of the members of the Greek Font Society for the survive on grants, we have to return the trust demon- work you offer us and above all for the high quality strated to us by offering our work to those who ask level and the sensitivity it shows. I thank you for for it. The need to spread the knowledge about Greek your time! typography is too big to be hindered by our making A: I thank you in my turn for the opportunity you economic demands on those who seek this knowledge. gave us to present the Greek Font Society. “You can’t receive anything from someone who hasn’t got anything” and “share with others what others ⋄ Vassilios Tsagkalos have offered you”: that is our idea on the issue. Dip TransIoL, Voula, Attica Greece wassily (at) ath forthnet dot gr http://www.greekfontsociety.gr 246 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
A Designing and producing a reference 2 LTEX in the nineties book with LATEX: The Engineer’s Quick First of all it may be useful to mention some ques- Reference Handbook tions concerning computers and programming that Claudio Beccari and Andrea Guadagni today are obsolete, but at the time were a real prob- lem; mentioning these problems is of general interest Abstract in every cooperative work when many authors are in- This article describes the process of designing an volved. Moreover, even if advances in the computer Italian reference book, namely Il prontuario dell’in- world have eradicated several incompatibilites, often gegnere. As a reference work it shares the char- new ones arise, producing new problems. It is advis- acteristics of any other such book; it also uses a able that authors who want to produce a coopera- large amount of mathematics and contains a large tive document be aware of these problems and know number of graphics insertions. Moreover, the pub- how to overcome the difficulties that they might en- lisher wanted to distribute the work both as a reg- counter along their path. ular bound book and as a computer file to be read One of the problems was the fact that CB, AG directly on the computer screen. and the various collaborators used different plat- forms. CB was still working with a DOS PC; Win- 1 Introduction dows 95 had just appeared but it was not so wide- In the first half of the nineties, Andrea Guadagni spread on existing PCs. Windows 3.1 was still too (AG) asked Claudio Beccari (CB) to collaborate on rudimentary for this kind of work, for one thing be- the production of a ‘Quick Reference’ handbook, in a cause its graphic interface used most of the memory thinner and more comfortable format than the his- available to those PCs. Moreover, CB was still work- A torical and bulky landmark volume for engineers, ing with LTEX 2.09, although by the end of the work A the Manuale dell’ingegnere (The Engineer’s Hand- LTEX 2ε was available; as usual at that time he was A book) by Colombo1 [2]. This Quick Reference hand- using a plain ASCII editor and ran the various LTEX book was planned to be published at the publishing connected applications with suitable command lines. company Hoepli, well-known in Italy for its collec- On the other hand, AG was working with a tion of handbooks in every possible discipline. The Macintosh, whose operating system was very differ- general idea was that the Quick Reference should ent from the simple DOS from many points of view, be a collection of records, each one on a particular not least that paths were described in a very differ- subject, with a minimum of mathematics, prefer- ent way. Obviously it had a beautiful graphic inter- ably self-contained and without reference to other face, but this was more or less irrelevant for the goal records. of the production of this work. Concerning the TEX As the editor of the huge “Manuale”, AG had system, AG was using Textures; this was (and still all the necessary experience for finding the experts, is) a commercial product by BlueSky Research and for organising the material to be published, and for it worked both as an editor and as a synchronous managing the whole publishing process. Eventually previewer, that is, it employs two windows open si- he also took care of the source file editing. multaneously, in one of which the usual .tex source On the other side, CB already had some experi- is edited while the other synchronously displays the ence with LATEX design and layout, but the produc- result of typesetting at the same rate that text is tion of the “Quick Reference” was a new challenge input in the editor window. that required a very close interaction between AG Today, everything is simpler; plain DOS is al- and CB. most forgotten; although the command window al- lows one to use a more modern DOS incarnation, most users appear to ignore its existence. Apple has recently changed the operating system of its Macin- Editor’s note: This is a translation of the article “La pro- gettazione di un’opera di consultazione: l’edizione del Pron- toshes, passing to Mac OS X, a Unix-based operating tuario dell’ingegnere con LATEX”, which first appeared in system with the typical Macintosh beautiful graphic ArsTEXnica issue #4 (October 2007), pp. 16–24. Reprinted interface. with permission. Translation by the author. On the T X system side, the T X Users Group 1 Professor Colombo’s first name was Giuseppe, but the E E handbook was and still is simply named “Il manuale del and most other TEX user groups distribute the free Colombo” (Colombo’s handbook) or “il Colombo” by every TEX system through the TEX Collection CDs and engineer, no matter the specialization. DVDs; TEX Live is available for all platforms and TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 247 the differences between the various operating sys- % tems are managed in a unified way, so that the macro % Recursive macro that erases the slashes collections and the packages are more and more plat- % and sets the colons. form independent. % But in the nineties it was necessary to fight \def\Mac@rename#1/#2\relax{% against the various ways of indicating absolute and \def\@tempA{#2}% \ifx\@tempA\empty relative paths: DOS and Unix used the slash / while \def\figurefilename{#1}% Macintosh used the colon :, and in different posi- \else tions from those where DOS and Unix would use /. \def\@tempA{#1:#2}% This was relevant for the production of the Quick \expandafter\remove@slash Reference handbook, because the subpaths where it \@tempA\relax was handy to keep the pictures and other included \expandafter\Mac@rename material had to be accessed on both systems. Just \figurefilename/\relax to give an idea of the code that had to be imple- \fi} mented, here are the macros that would automati- % cally change the explicit path of a file containing a % Recursive macro that erases the colons figure. % and sets the slashes. % \newif\if@path \@pathfalse \def\UNIX@rename#1:#2\relax{% % These macros were adapted from Knuth’s \def\@tempA{#2}% % TeXbook (pag. 375) \ifx\@tempA\empty \def\check@figurefilepath#1{% \def\figurefilename{#1}\else \@@chkfpM#1:\@@chkfpM\@% \def\@tempA{#1/#2}% \if@path\else\@@chkfpU#1/\@@chkfpU\@\fi} \expandafter\remove@colon % \@tempA\relax \def\@@chkfpM#1:#2#3\@{% \expandafter\UNIX@rename \ifx\@@chkfpM#2\@pathfalse\else \figurefilename:\relax \@pathtrue\fi} \fi} \def\@@chkfpU#1/#2#3\@{% % \ifx\@@chkfpU#2\@pathfalse\else % These macros erase the final slash \@pathtrue\fi} % or colon. % % % This is the macro that possibly prepends \def\remove@slash#1/\relax{% % the path specification to the file name \def\figurefilename{#1}} % of a figure, then it checks if the \def\remove@colon#1:\relax{% % folder or directory separators agree \def\figurefilename{#1}} % with the operating system; eventually it % passes this generated full specification 3 The layout of the book % to the macro that includes the figure. For the typeset book AG and CB agreed on a layout % where each record would be a freestanding section \parse@figure@filename#1{% to be introduced with \section. Furthermore, each \def\figurefilename{#1}% record should consist of a single spread: in the ‘pa- \ifx\def@ultpath\empty\else \expandafter\check@figurefilepath per’ version of the book, where pages are turned \expandafter{\figurefilename}% from right to left, it was necessary that the writ- \if@path\else ten part be typeset on an odd page (the recto page) \edef\figurefilename{% on the right side of the spread, while the graphic \def@ultpath\ifMacintosh:% contents of the record would appear on the verso \else/\fi\figurefilename}% of the previous sheet, an even page, i.e. on the left \fi part of the spread. The sections were collected in \fi chapters, and the latter in parts. Each part dealt \ifMacintosh with a particular branch of engineering, for example \expandafter\Mac@rename the part “Edilizia” (Building) would be divided in \figurefilename/\relax the chapters dealing with such chapters as “Founda- \else \expandafter\UNIX@rename tions”, “Pillars”, “Roofs”, and the like; each chapter \figurefilename:\relax contained a few records concerning the details, with \fi} formulas, tables, drawings, descriptions, costs, etc. 248 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
The publishing house wanted also an “e-book” and drawings are interchanged with regard to ‘left’ version of this reference book; in this electronic ver- and ‘right’ sides. There is just one header and one sion, where pages scroll from bottom to top, but footer, the contents of which are flush to the external reading goes from left to right, the record should margins. The rest is identical to the printed version. occupy a single screen, with the written part on the While the printed version had pages of size A5 left and the graphic part on the right. that form a spread in a landscape A4, the electronic Both versions have thumbnails on the side of version has one screen shot in landscape with a page the page. In the paper version traditionally it would size (needed for the PDF output) of a landscape A4 have been necessary to make a semicircular cut in sheet. The typesetting information for LATEX had to the pages, as sometimes seen in large Holy Books, or be completely automatic, depending on the version in large dictionaries or encyclopedias. However, the to be output. If a screen shot had to be printed, high cost of this operation suggested we use a sim- either the landscape orientation must be compati- pler method, namely to let the thumbnail shadow ble with the printer, or the latter should be capa- be visible on the external margin cut, by typeset- ble of scaling the printed area to the paper width. ting such thumbnails across the trimming area. This was a necessary warning at that time; today all The electronic version had all the necessary in- printers are capable of printing in landscape mode. ternal links, but for consistency with the printed A version it also contained various icons (thumbnails) 5 LTEX commands for inputting records on the left side. The LATEX input of this Quick Reference handbook Headers, footers, part titles, records, the table obviously requires specific commands in order to of contents and the index required a particular lay- cope with the specific requirements of the layout. out, partly because each page, each contents entry, For example, the drawings of each record must and each chapter required the name of the individual be separately assembled, possibly with recourse to author or the name of the chapter coordinator. a graphics editor so as to produce a single graphic The source files for both the printed and the object to be included in the output file. At those electronic version had to be identical and the output times it was absolutely necessary to run LATEX and format chosen with a single option in the main file. produce output in DVI format, then passed through dvips in order to get the PostScript format, and fi- 4 Page layout and fonts nally to get the PDF format by running the ps2pdf The trimmed page size was a standard ISO-A5, that program. Today it would be possible to get the same is, 148 mm by 210 mm. The main text box, without result with one pass through pdflatex. Nevertheless, headers and footers, was 116 mm by 175 mm. With once suitable macros were made available, it was such a compact text box, we decided to typeset the easy to get the desired result for both the editor book with fonts of size 9/10 pt; we left the decision and the individual authors. on the font collection to a later time, after attentive The macros for starting a new spread or a new examination of the typesetting results with different chapter required only the specification of the perti- typefaces. We eventually chose the Times fonts, be- nent title and the name of the author or editor. cause with Textures (at that time) they were easier The macros that started a new part had to pro- to configure and use. vide the pointer to the specific thumbnail and to its Figure 1 shows a spread of the printed version: typesetting on the proper margin in each version. the left page contains the drawings relative to the The option draf had to be modified so that dur- record or section, while the right page displays the ing the preliminary work the authors and the editor text and the other relevant information. The thumb- could save a lot of black ink by omitting printing the nail icon that characterizes the part [in the example: thumbnail, but leaving the explicit part title in the “Edilizia” (Building)] is on the right page. The part relevant margin. title is repeated on the left header, while the chapter The babel package at that time did not have the title is only in the right header. The section title is functionality it has today; in addition many Italian centered above the text. The record is subdivided LATEX users did not even know they could typeset into small unnumbered subsections in line with the with the rules of Italian typography and with Ital- text. The section author is in the right footer while ian hyphenation, or they did not know how to con- the left footer contains the book title and the pub- figure their system; many were still working with lisher’s name. LATEX 2.09. So we created the necessary tests with Figure 2 contains in one screen shot more or less suitable warning messages in order to assure at least the same information, except that thumbnails, text TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 249
2 Edilizia Strutture in calcestruzzo armato 3
PILASTRI
Materiali. Calcestruzzo di buona qualit`acon una resistenza a rottura di circa 30 N/mm2 (v. Calcestruzzo, pag. ??). Armature di acciaio ad aderenza mi- gliorata con una resistenza a rottura di circa 440 N/mm2 (v. Acciaio, pag. ??) Carichi. I pilastri sono soggetti alle forze verticali dovute al peso sovrastan- te (carichi permanenti e accidentali). Se l’edificio `ein zona sismica i pilastri, le travi e il blocco scale-ascensori devono resistere alle forze orizzontali causate dal terremoto (v. La struttura nel suo complesso, pag. ??). I carichi verticali sono pari 2 a circa 10 kN/m per ogni piano. Se un pilastro sostiene una soletta di 5 m×5 m Edilizia = 25 m2, ogni piano contribuisce con 250 kN al carico sul pilastro. Sezione. Se N `eil carico verticale e A la sezione trasversale, σ = N/A `e la tensione di esercizio nel calcestruzzo per i carichi verticali. Si sceglie l’area A ❉ in modo che la tensione di esercizio si mantenga inferiore ai valori prescritti. Si ha che A = Ac + mAs con Ac area del calcestruzzo, As area delle armature e m (coefficiente di omogeneizzazione) uguale a 14. Inoltre As ≃ 0,01 Ac, con un minimo di 4 d 12. (In presenza di carichi orizzontali `enecessario tener conto dei momenti flettenti che sollecitano i pilastri.) Dimensioni in funzione del carico
N Ac a × a a × 25 As kN cm2 cm×cm cm×cm cm2 250 321 18×18 15×25 4,4 500 642 25×25 25×25 6,4 750 963 31×31 39×25 9,6 1000 1285 36×36 51×25 12,9 1250 1606 40×40 64×25 16,1 1500 1927 44×44 77×25 19,3 1750 2249 47×47 90×25 22,5 2000 2570 51×51 103×25 25,7
Forma. Normalmente i pilastri sono rettangolari o quadrati (fig. A, B). In casi particolari sono a L, a C, a T. Lo spessore dei pilastri che stanno lungo il contorno dell’edificio dipende dallo spessore della muratura. Di solito, per`o, non si scende sotto i 20 cm. Le armature longitudinali vengono disposte negli angoli e, se occorre, lungo i lati della sezione ogni 30 cm circa. Il diametro delle armature longitudinali va da 12 mm a 20 mm e solo eccezionalmente fino a 26 mm. Le staffe seguono il contorno della sezione e sono disposte a un intervallo di circa 15 cm. Il diametro delle staffe va da 6 mm a 10 mm. Il copriferro sulle staffe deve essere non meno di 2 cm (v. Acciaio, pag. ??). Dettagli costruttivi. Riprese di armatura da piano a piano (fig. C). Pila- stri di sezione particolare (fig. D). Smussi negli spigoli: `eopportuno prevederli di 2,5×2,5 cm. Negli edifici in zona sismica le armature dei pilastri e quelle delle travi devono essere opportunamente collegate. Casseri e getti. Modalit`adi disposizione dei casseri (fig. E). Modalit`adi getto: normale ma con particolare cura nella vibrazione. Tempo di maturazione: circa una settimana per tutti i pilastri di un piano. Quantit`ae costi. Incidenza delle armature: da 120 a 140 kg di acciaio per m3 di calcestruzzo. Pilastro di 30 cm×40 cm, per piano di altezza 320 cm: calcestruzzo 0,38 m3, acciaio 50 kg, casseri 4,5 m2. Costo (1998): 300000Lit.
Prontuario dell’ingegnere – Hoeply Renato Villa
Figure 1: Printed version: a spread.
5 Strutture in calcestruzzo armato
PILASTRI
Materiali. Calcestruzzo di buona qualit`acon una resistenza a rottura di circa 30 N/mm2 (v. Calcestruzzo, pag. 11). Armature di acciaio ad aderenza mi- gliorata con una resistenza a rottura di circa 440 N/mm2 (v. Acciaio, pag. 10) Carichi. I pilastri sono soggetti alle forze verticali dovute al peso sovrastan- te (carichi permanenti e accidentali). Se l’edificio `ein zona sismica i pilastri, le travi e il blocco scale-ascensori devono resistere alle forze orizzontali causate dal terremoto (v. La struttura nel suo complesso, pag. 12). I carichi verticali sono pari 2 Edilizia a circa 10 kN/m per ogni piano. Se un pilastro sostiene una soletta di 5 m×5 m = 25 m2, ogni piano contribuisce con 250 kN al carico sul pilastro. Sezione. Se N `eil carico verticale e A la sezione trasversale, σ = N/A `e ❉ la tensione di esercizio nel calcestruzzo per i carichi verticali. Si sceglie l’area A in modo che la tensione di esercizio si mantenga inferiore ai valori prescritti. Si ha che A = Ac + mAs con Ac area del calcestruzzo, As area delle armature e m (coefficiente di omogeneizzazione) uguale a 14. Inoltre As ≃ 0,01 Ac, con un minimo di 4 d 12. (In presenza di carichi orizzontali `enecessario tener conto dei momenti flettenti che sollecitano i pilastri.) Dimensioni in funzione del carico
N Ac a × a a × 25 As kN cm2 cm×cm cm×cm cm2 250 321 18×18 15×25 4,4 500 642 25×25 25×25 6,4 750 963 31×31 39×25 9,6 1000 1285 36×36 51×25 12,9 1250 1606 40×40 64×25 16,1 1500 1927 44×44 77×25 19,3 1750 2249 47×47 90×25 22,5 2000 2570 51×51 103×25 25,7
Forma. Normalmente i pilastri sono rettangolari o quadrati (fig. A, B). In casi particolari sono a L, a C, a T. Lo spessore dei pilastri che stanno lungo il contorno dell’edificio dipende dallo spessore della muratura. Di solito, per`o,non si scende sotto i 20 cm. Le armature longitudinali vengono disposte negli angoli e, se occorre, lungo i lati della sezione ogni 30 cm circa. Il diametro delle armature longitudinali va da 12 mm a 20 mm e solo eccezionalmente fino a 26 mm. Le staffe seguono il contorno della sezione e sono disposte a un intervallo di circa 15 cm. Il diametro delle staffe va da 6 mm a 10 mm. Il copriferro sulle staffe deve essere non meno di 2 cm (v. Acciaio, pag. 10). Dettagli costruttivi. Riprese di armatura da piano a piano (fig. C). Pila- stri di sezione particolare (fig. D). Smussi negli spigoli: `eopportuno prevederli di 2,5×2,5 cm. Negli edifici in zona sismica le armature dei pilastri e quelle delle travi devono essere opportunamente collegate. Casseri e getti. Modalit`adi disposizione dei casseri (fig. E). Modalit`adi getto: normale ma con particolare cura nella vibrazione. Tempo di maturazione: circa una settimana per tutti i pilastri di un piano. Quantit`ae costi. Incidenza delle armature: da 120 a 140 kg di acciaio per m3 di calcestruzzo. Pilastro di 30 cm×40 cm, per piano di altezza 320 cm: calcestruzzo 0,38 m3, acciaio 50 kg, casseri 4,5 m2. Costo (1998): 300 000 Lit.
Prontuario dell’ingegnere – Hoepli Renato Villa
Figure 2: Electronic version: a screen shot corresponding to the same spread shown in figure 1. 250 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Part Right icon Left icon
Environment A A Chemistry B B Economy C C Building D D
Electronics E E Figure 4: The thumbnail shadow on the trimmed Power electrical eng. F F side of the second edition. Energetics G G \language0\righthyphenmin 2\relax Hydraulics \lccode‘\’=‘\’ I I \else Computers \def\italiano{\language \l@italian J J \righthyphenmin 2\relax \lccode‘\’=‘\’}% Machines K K \italiano \fi Production L L \fi Survey M M Well, today even these messages are built-in to the babel package, and warning messages are much sim- Telecommunications N N pler to program. (The first message says: “Italian hyphenation is undefined. I’ll use the default hy- Land planning O O phenation and I’ll make a lot of errors!” The second message says: “Verify that Italian hyphenation has Quality Q Q been loaded and that its name is associated to the command \l@italian”.) Miscellany P P 6 Thumbnails Figure 3: Right and left hand thumbnails. Concerning the thumbnail icons, we solved the prob- lem by designing their fonts, with white strokes over a black background, and with the background ex- the use of Italian hyphenation.2 The code was the tending well beyond the actual icon, so as to pro- following: trude into the right trimming area for the printed \expandafter version, or to protrude well to the left of the virtual \ifx\csname language\endcsname\relax PDF sheet border for the electronic version. This \else solution guarantees the visibility of the inked icon \expandafter shadow on the trimmed pages of the printed ver- \ifx\csname l@italian\endcsname\relax \typeout{La sillabazione per l’italiano sion, even without the typical thumbnail semicircu- non e’ definita.^^J lar cut. Figure 3 shows the left and right icons, with Usero’ la sillabazione di the extending background; initially they were pro- default e faro’ tanti errori!}% duced with METAFONT; but for the second edition \typeout{Verificare che la sillabazione they were traced and rendered as scalable outline per l’italiano sia stata Type 1 fonts. caricata^^J Figure 3 displays the icons on a wide black rect- e che il suo nome sia associato angle, whose width goes beyond the trimmed page; al comando \string\l@italian}% this is why when pages are trimmed, the closed book 2 exhibits on the right trimmed side the thumbnail Even today, although everything is much simpler, many Italian users run LATEX to typeset Italian texts without con- shadows, figure 4; probably this fact is not so im- figuring it for Italian! portant while ‘navigating’ the handbook as the icon TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 251
Figure 5: The published editions; on the left the first edition in size A5; on the right the second edition in size 120 mm × 170 mm. drawn on the flat side of the thumbnail — even when 8 The second edition modifications rapidly flipping the handbook pages it’s very easy to The second edition [3] underwent a few layout modi- identify the icon one is looking for. It goes without fications compared to the first edition. The page size saying that the thumbnails of every part are progres- was reduced to the trimmed page size of 120 mm by sively shifted down along the margin so that they 170 mm, figure 5. The written and drawn parts of appear still when pages are rapidly flipped. each record were interchanged as may be seen in fig- Even the electronic version, although it has its ure 6. The thumbnails were set on the left side, as icons on the left border and does not have pages in the electronic version, but in both versions they to be flipped through one’s fingers, benefits from were set a little closer to the text border. Together the presence of such icons when the screen view with figure 6 it’s possible to examine a screen shot is rapidly scrolled up or down by operating on the in figure 7. The thumbnail shadows remain visible scrolling arrows of the PDF reading program. on the trimmed page side, figure 4. 7 Internal hyperlinks 9 The publishing house policy The various elements of the electronic version are The Hoepli Publishing Company is very well known completely hyperlinked with one another by means for its (Italian) handbooks and, among engineers, of the hyperref package, so that surfing the docu- for its Manuale del Colombo (Colombo’s Handbook). ment gets particularly simple when the colored an- This work started in 1875 and was published in chor texts are clicked upon. Even the table of con- many successive revisions so as to become almost tents entries and the index entries are hyperlinked encyclopedic, since it can no longer be used as origi- with their sources. The sections that must refer to nally intended, as an easily workable handbook. We other sections are also hyperlinked. In this way the all know that engineering sciences have evolved in an electronic version is even more easily readable than incredible way in the past century, so that the evo- the printed one. In the nineties this was a real nov- lution of Colombo’s Handbook has been unavoid- elty that has been appreciated by the readers. able. For these reasons, in our Prontuario dell’Inge- gnere (The Engineer’s Quick Reference Handbook), 252 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
54 Strutture in calcestruzzo armato Strutture in calcestruzzo armato 55
PILASTRI
Materiali. Calcestruzzo di buona qualit`acon una resistenza a rottura di circa 30 N/mm2 (v. Calcestruzzo, pag. 52). Armature di acciaio ad aderenza mi- gliorata con una resistenza a rottura di circa 440 N/mm2 (v. Acciaio, pag. 50) Carichi. I pilastri sono soggetti alle forze verticali dovute al peso sovrastan-
Edilizia te (carichi permanenti e accidentali). Se l’edificio `ein zona sismica i pilastri, le travi e il blocco scale-ascensori devono resistere alle forze orizzontali causate dal terremoto (v. La struttura nel suo complesso, pag. 48). I carichi verticali sono pari D a circa 10 kN/m2 per ogni piano. Se un pilastro sostiene una soletta di 5 m×5 m = 25 m2, ogni piano contribuisce con 250 kN al carico sul pilastro. Sezione. Se N `eil carico verticale e A la sezione trasversale, σ = N/A `e la tensione di esercizio nel calcestruzzo per i carichi verticali. Si sceglie l’area A in modo che la tensione di esercizio si mantenga inferiore ai valori prescritti. Si ha che A = Ac + mAs con Ac area del calcestruzzo, As area delle armature e m (coefficiente di omogeneizzazione) uguale a 14. Inoltre As ≃ 0,01 Ac, con un minimo di 4 d 12. (In presenza di carichi orizzontali `enecessario tener conto dei momenti flettenti che sollecitano i pilastri.) Dimensioni in funzione del carico
N Ac a × a a × 25 As kN cm2 cm×cm cm×cm cm2 250 321 18×18 15×25 4,4 500 642 25×25 25×25 6,4 750 963 31×31 39×25 9,6 1000 1285 36×36 51×25 12,9 1250 1606 40×40 64×25 16,1 1500 1927 44×44 77×25 19,3 1750 2249 47×47 90×25 22,5 2000 2570 51×51 103×25 25,7
Forma. Normalmente i pilastri sono rettangolari o quadrati (fig. A, B). In casi particolari sono a L, a C, a T. Lo spessore dei pilastri che stanno lungo il contorno dell’edificio dipende dallo spessore della muratura. Di solito, per`o, non si scende sotto i 20 cm. Le armature longitudinali vengono disposte negli angoli e, se occorre, lungo i lati della sezione ogni 30 cm circa. Il diametro delle armature longitudinali va da 12 mm a 20 mm e solo eccezionalmente fino a 26 mm. Le staffe seguono il contorno della sezione e sono disposte a un intervallo di circa 15 cm. Il diametro delle staffe va da 6 mm a 10 mm. Il copriferro sulle staffe deve essere non meno di 2 cm (v. Acciaio, pag. 50). Dettagli costruttivi. Riprese di armatura da piano a piano (fig. C). Pila- stri di sezione particolare (fig. D). Smussi negli spigoli: `eopportuno prevederli di 2,5×2,5 cm. Negli edifici in zona sismica le armature dei pilastri e quelle delle travi devono essere opportunamente collegate. Casseri e getti. Modalit`adi disposizione dei casseri (fig. E). Modalit`adi getto: normale ma con particolare cura nella vibrazione. Tempo di maturazione: circa una settimana per tutti i pilastri di un piano. Quantit`ae costi. Incidenza delle armature: da 120 a 140 kg di acciaio per m3 di calcestruzzo. Pilastro di 30 cm×40 cm, per piano di altezza 320 cm: calcestruzzo 0,38 m3, acciaio 50 kg, casseri 4,5 m2. Costo (2003): 150 E. Renato Villa
Figure 6: Second edition printed version: a spread.
35 Strutture in calcestruzzo armato
PILASTRI
Materiali. Calcestruzzo di buona qualit`acon una resistenza a rottura di circa 30 N/mm2 (v. Calcestruzzo, pag. 34). Armature di acciaio ad aderenza mi- gliorata con una resistenza a rottura di circa 440 N/mm2 (v. Acciaio, pag. 33) Carichi. I pilastri sono soggetti alle forze verticali dovute al peso sovrastan-
Edilizia te (carichi permanenti e accidentali). Se l’edificio `ein zona sismica i pilastri, le travi e il blocco scale-ascensori devono resistere alle forze orizzontali causate dal terremoto (v. La struttura nel suo complesso, pag. 32). I carichi verticali sono pari D a circa 10 kN/m2 per ogni piano. Se un pilastro sostiene una soletta di 5 m×5 m = 25 m2, ogni piano contribuisce con 250 kN al carico sul pilastro. Sezione. Se N `eil carico verticale e A la sezione trasversale, σ = N/A `e la tensione di esercizio nel calcestruzzo per i carichi verticali. Si sceglie l’area A in modo che la tensione di esercizio si mantenga inferiore ai valori prescritti. Si ha che A = Ac + mAs con Ac area del calcestruzzo, As area delle armature e m (coefficiente di omogeneizzazione) uguale a 14. Inoltre As ≃ 0,01 Ac, con un minimo di 4 d 12. (In presenza di carichi orizzontali `enecessario tener conto dei momenti flettenti che sollecitano i pilastri.) Dimensioni in funzione del carico
N Ac a × a a × 25 As kN cm2 cm×cm cm×cm cm2 250 321 18×18 15×25 4,4 500 642 25×25 25×25 6,4 750 963 31×31 39×25 9,6 1000 1285 36×36 51×25 12,9 1250 1606 40×40 64×25 16,1 1500 1927 44×44 77×25 19,3 1750 2249 47×47 90×25 22,5 2000 2570 51×51 103×25 25,7
Forma. Normalmente i pilastri sono rettangolari o quadrati (fig. A, B). In casi particolari sono a L, a C, a T. Lo spessore dei pilastri che stanno lungo il contorno dell’edificio dipende dallo spessore della muratura. Di solito, per`o,non si scende sotto i 20 cm. Le armature longitudinali vengono disposte negli angoli e, se occorre, lungo i lati della sezione ogni 30 cm circa. Il diametro delle armature longitudinali va da 12 mm a 20 mm e solo eccezionalmente fino a 26 mm. Le staffe seguono il contorno della sezione e sono disposte a un intervallo di circa 15 cm. Il diametro delle staffe va da 6 mm a 10 mm. Il copriferro sulle staffe deve essere non meno di 2 cm (v. Acciaio, pag. 33). Dettagli costruttivi. Riprese di armatura da piano a piano (fig. C). Pila- stri di sezione particolare (fig. D). Smussi negli spigoli: `eopportuno prevederli di 2,5×2,5 cm. Negli edifici in zona sismica le armature dei pilastri e quelle delle travi devono essere opportunamente collegate. Casseri e getti. Modalit`adi disposizione dei casseri (fig. E). Modalit`adi getto: normale ma con particolare cura nella vibrazione. Tempo di maturazione: circa una settimana per tutti i pilastri di un piano. Quantit`ae costi. Incidenza delle armature: da 120 a 140 kg di acciaio per m3 di calcestruzzo. Pilastro di 30 cm×40 cm, per piano di altezza 320 cm: calcestruzzo 0,38 m3, acciaio 50 kg, casseri 4,5 m2. Costo (2003): 150 E.
Renato Villa
Figure 7: Second edition electronic version: a screen shot of the same spread shown in figure 6. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 253 only the essential elements of the various engineer- are evidently assumed to be both interesting and ing disciplines were included, and those condensed. good general advertising on behalf of the Hoepli The purpose is to give essential information to those Publishing Company. who are not experts in a particular discipline, but This third edition will contain few modifica- want to understand the basic principles. This neces- tions, compared to the second one, the most relevant sity arises also from the always increasing coopera- of which is an increase in size, so that it is possible tion between engineers and architects, each expert to increase also the font size and the legibility. in their respective fields. Therefore the Quick Ref- erence meets the need of understanding one another 10 Conclusion and easing communication among technical staff. The Quick Reference has been a wonderful occasion The graphic solution by records (a spread in the for both AG and CB to learn how to use to its best printed version) came naturally in order to show in advantage such a powerful instrument as LATEX. The the most simple and schematic way the various sub- book received a well deserved success so that, as said jects. The work had to have a synthetic and essential before, a third edition is under way; it contains not look. The importance of the technical drawings re- only upgraded information, but also the correction quired a whole page for each subject, so the other of some remaining typos. page was dedicated to the text. This unusual ar- Today, to create a similar work, from the point rangement was of great importance for the LATEX of view of the typesetter, would be much simpler, structure and for the very management of the edit- when one considers that most operations that were ing work. necessary to ‘invent’ when the first edition was pub- AG had significant experience as the editor of lished, are now mostly available with the countless Colombo’s handbook with about one hundred and packages, produced in the past 10 years, that have fifty collaborators, so he had no difficulty finding extended LATEX’s functionality. the forty plus collaborators for the Quick Reference. Today the available packages allow us to cre- The difficulty was in the coordination and the choice ate the necessary macros in a more orderly way, of what to write in this Quick Reference and in which but most important, in a well-documented manner detailed form to write it in the records. A general [5]; they allow building up typesetting structures idea of the text length was given to the authors, but in a simpler way by means of high level user com- it was the editor’s task to cut down lengthy contri- mands made available by the extension packages: butions or to request some additional material for the graphic formats can be chosen more easily by excessively short records. means of the geometry package [8]; fonts can be cho- To coordinate a few dozen authors is an inter- sen and configured with one statement, for example esting task, because authors are very different from using the extended Times fonts [7], or the extended one another from both the scientific and a human Palatino ones [6]; the style of titles and running ti- point of view. They range from the very precise and tles can be defined with high level user commands pedantic personality to the excessively ingenious and [4]; the same is true for headers and footers [9]; even chaotic one. All of them, though, are very inter- the handling of figure sets does not require the man- ested to see their experience take form and become ual graphic editing as previously described [1]. a real printed object. Moreover, they were passion- Nevertheless all these packages, although ex- ate about extracting a synthesis of their knowledge tremely useful, if used by amateurs allow the cre- for the book. Many of them are true professionals, ation of graphic designs that are not the best one but with little experience as technical writers. For can achieve. these reasons the coordination task revealed itself as Luckily, in this work the interaction between heavier that foreseen, but at the end the editor and the LATEX programmer and those giving the design the authors were very satisfied. specification had a particular positive synergy. This At the moment (2007) at the publishing house type of collaboration allowed setting reasonable lim- they are working on the third edition, whose pub- its to the graphic novelty involved, thanks to both lication should be around May 2008. At the be- the experience of AG and the interaction with CB ginning of 2007 the publishing house opened a new who could indicate what was and was not feasible Internet site, http://www.manualihoepli.it/, in- with LATEX and the typesetting interpreter TEX. tended to give information on the various published Thanks to this cooperation between the editors, handbooks, and to publish integrations and updates specifying unrealizable requirements for the graphic that users may freely download. This site contains design and the page layout was avoided. In truth, several pages from the Quick Reference, since they even though LATEX and TEX are extremely powerful, 254 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 they are computer programs that operate in batch [6] Young Ryu. The PX fonts, 2000. mode, not interactively. This is their strength and Normally distributed with the TEX system, their weakness, since they are not (yet) at the level of documentation in file doc/fonts/pxfonts/ the modern interactive pagination programs mostly pxfontsdocA4.pdf. used by publishing companies, but are far superior [7] Young Ryu. The TX fonts, 2000. in typesetting paragraphs and mathematical expres- Normally distributed with the TEX system, sions. documentation in file doc/fonts/txfonts/ txfontsdocA4.pdf. References [8] Hideo Umeki. The geometry package, 2002. [1] Steve Douglas Cochran. The Subfig package, Normally distributed with the TEX system, 2005. Normally distributed with the TEX documentation in file doc/latex/geometry/ system, documentation in file doc/latex/ manual.pdf. subfigure/subfig.pdf. [9] Piet van Oostrum. Page layout in LATEX, 2004. [2] Giuseppe Colombo. Manuale dell’ingegnere. Normally distributed with the TEX system, Hoepli Editore, Milano, 84 edition, 2003. documentation in file doc/latex/fancyhdr/ [3] Andrea Guadagni, editor. Prontuario fancyhdr.pdf. dell’ingegnere. Hoepli Editore, Milano, 2 edition, 2003. ⋄ Claudio Beccari [4] Ulf A. Lindgren. FncyChap, 2005. claudio dot beccari at gmail dot com Normally distributed with the TEX system, ⋄ Andrea Guadagni documentation in file doc/latex/fncychap/ andrea dot guadagni at tin dot it fncychap.pdf. [5] Frank Mittelbach. The doc and shortvrb packages, 2006. Normally distributed with the TEX system, documentation in file doc/latex/ base/doc.pdf; see also doc/latex/base/ docstrip.pdf. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 255
Suggestions on how not to mishandle easy to understand. Further details on how to write mathematical formulæ mathematical formulæ can be found in the ISO 31 standard (ISO 31/11, 1982; ISO 31/12, 1982), which Massimo Guiggiani and Lapo F. Mori is discussed in depth in Wikipedia (2008a,b,c,d) and Abstract in Beccari (1997). Quite frequently mathematical formulæ in reports, 3 Operations theses or even articles are not written correctly. In- 3.1 Multiplication deed, the basic rules for composing the formulæ are almost never explicitly stated. This article provides One of the most common errors is using the “dot” to some suggestions to fill this gap. indicate multiplication between scalars. For example the following formulæ 1 Introduction a x2 + b x + c = 0, σ ε = 2 α · · · · Formulæ are an excellent tool to express (some) math- should be written as ematical concepts. This statement may seem obvious, ax2 + bx + c = 0, σε = 2α. but scientists realized it only after a long historical process. Natural language might at first seem easier In fact, for the sake of simplicity, the standard multi- to use than formulæ. However, scientists know very plication between letters, or between a number and a well that formulæ are an essential tool to communi- letter, does not require any symbol. If, on the other cate clearly, unambiguously and concisely. Formulæ hand, the multiplication is between two numbers, the or symbols are required to avoid ambiguity. are then part of a language and therefore should × · follow some rules. Unfortunately formulæ are often For example you should write written “badly”, that is not clearly, ambiguously, and 2 3 = 6 and not 2 3 = 6. × not concisely. The same symbol should also be used when a line The purpose of this article is to give some indica- break occurs at a product, as shown in Eq. (1). The tions on how to write, or better on how not to write asterisk is absolutely not acceptable: formulæ. In fact, children need to go to school, make a x2 + b x + c = 0, σ ε = 2 α. mistakes, and be corrected to learn how to write ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ in natural languages. Typically, uneducated people The dot has to be used to indicate a scalar can communicate orally, but make many mistakes in product between vectors. For this purpose either writing. The same applies to mathematical formulæ. a thin or a thick dot can be used. The first one is Only occasionally do people think about which rules provided by \cdot, the second one by \bcdot, which to follow and which errors to avoid. The examples is defined as reported in the article are taken from publications \newcommand{\bcdot}{\boldsymbol{\cdot}} and theses. Most suggestions and remarks have a general validity. However, LATEX users will also find The two commands produce respectively indications on how to implement them. a c = 0 and a · c = 0. This article is mostly aimed to authors of tech- · nical/scientific documents (engineers, experimental 3.2 Mathematical operators physicists, chemists, and in general anyone who uses Mathematical operators, including the differential, mathematics as a tool) and not to mathematicians. must be indicated with upright characters, as in the In pure mathematics there is much more attention following examples: to the proper typographic rendering of mathematical dy concept, and each field has its own rules (which do sin x dx, , lim cos x = 1. Z dx x 0 not necessarily comply with ISO standards (Gregorio, → 2007)). They are indeed abbreviations of words and the up- right font reminds us of this fact and avoids any 2 General rule ambiguity with products. For example, tan x is un- The general rule is very easy: formulæ must be unam- doubtedly the tangent of x, while tanx might be the biguous and concise, that is clear and simple. This product of four scalars. A amsmath is (or should be) true for many forms of communi- LTEX and the package define the most \lim cation, not only the written ones. When doing sci- common mathematical operators, including , \sin \min ams- ence, however, the writer should be even more careful , , etc. In order to define new ones, the math \DeclareMathOperator about how to explain concepts in order to make them package provides the command, to be used only in the preamble, and the 256 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
\operatorname that allows one to define an operator 3.3 Multi-line equations directly in the text. For example Long equations sometimes need to be split over sev- argmax f(x) eral lines. The general rule is to indicate the opera- tion or relation symbols only once at the end of the can be obtained in two ways: line for text style formulæ and at the beginning of declaring in the preamble 3 • the line for display style formulæ \DeclareMathOperator{\argmax}{argmax} a c c f = sin + tan b d d and then using in the text e g 1+sin cos . (1) \argmax f(x) × f − h Operation and relation symbols should always directly using in the text be indicated only once because it is simpler and, more • importantly, to avoid ambiguity. If, for example, you \operatorname{argmax} f(x) write a = b + c + d Defining an operator is different than using − 1 e f, \mathrm because the first one also takes care of − − the space between the operator and its argument. it is not clear which of the following two you mean: Note for example the difference between a = b + c + d e f − − sin x and sinx a = b + c + d + e f. − obtained respectively with This rule also applies to equalities: \sin x a = b + c + d = e f and − − g. \mathrm{sin}x ≃ A 3.3.1 LTEX commands Moreover, operators correctly handle superscripts A While LTEX automatically splits long text style for- and subscripts as for limits. For example mulæ, the author has to do this manually with dis- 1 play style equations. The amsmath package provides lim x several environments to split equations, such as split, →∞ x can be easily obtained with multline, gather, align, aligned, alignat; refer to the amsmath package documentation (American Mathe- \lim_{x\to\infty}\frac{1}{x} matical Society, 2002) for the details.
A peculiar definition is required to properly 3.3.2 How to handle parentheses write the differential symbol. It is in fact an op- When using the \left and \right commands to let erator that has a space only on its left. In Beccari LAT X automatically choose the bracket size, prob- (2007b) the following solution is proposed: E lems may arise if the formula is split between \left \newcommand{\ud}{\mathop{}\!\mathrm{d}} and \right. For example the code \begin{multline*} It uses an empty operator and eliminates the space f(x,y,z)= (1+x+y-z)\left[\pi\\ 2 on its left with \!. Note the difference between +\sin\left(\frac{a}{b}\right) +\cos\left( \frac{c}{d}\right)\right]. sin xdx and sin x dx, \end{multline*} Z Z 3 where the differential is obtained respectively with Text style formula means a formula that appears inside \mathrm{d} and \ud. a line of text (Knuth, 1992), such as c = a + b, while display style formula means a formula that occupies a line by itself (Knuth, 1992), such as 1 \mathrm can be used to obtain an upright font in mathe- matical mode. The other methods to use an upright font in c = a + b. mathematical mode are described in par. 5.1.1. The first ones can be obtained in LATEX with the $...$ com- 2 \! inserts a negative space as wide as the one that TEX mand, while the second ones can alternatively be obtained inserts between an operator and a variable (Beccari, 2007a). with the \[...\] command or the equation environment. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 257
cannot be compiled because LATEX expects all the package to automatically handle this problem. When \left to be closed by the respective \right inside the package is loaded, the \left and \right com- each line. mands work properly even when the equation is split. A solution is to close \left and \right respec- tively with \right. and \left. 3.4 Punctuation \begin{multline*} There are two approaches on how to handle external f(x,y,z)= (1+x+y-z)\left[\pi\right.\\ punctuation, that is, the punctuation in display style \left.+\sin\left(\frac{a}{b}\right) formulæ. Some authors think that it should never +\cos\left( \frac{c}{d}\right)\right]. be used (Beccari, 2007a), others that it is necessary \end{multline*} and essential.5 Whichever of these two conventions but now the bracket dimension for each couple \left you choose, the fundamental thing is to be consistent and \right are computed independently and this and always use the same method. can lead to awful results such as The authors of this article believe that formulæ, both in display and text style, are part of the argu- f(x, y, z)=(1+ x + y z)[π − mentation and so punctuation should be used to help a c +sin + cos . the reader. An example of good use of punctuation is: b di A possible solution is to find the tallest term, in Since this case a = b a , and b and to insert it inside a \vphantom command in the b = c, other line it is proven that a = c. \begin{multline*} f(x,y,z)= (1+x+y-z)\left[\pi\vphantom{ \left(\frac{a}{b}\right)}\right.\\ 4 Variables \left.+\sin\left(\frac{a}{b}\right) 4.1 Vectors and matrices +\cos\left( \frac{c}{d}\right)\right]. \end{multline*} 4.1.1 Synthetic notation obtaining Vectors are usually indicated with bold face lower case letters6 f(x, y, z)=(1+ x + y z) π 3a + αc = v. − h a c +sin + cos . Other notations such as b d i ~a, a, a , [a] Another solution is to use fixed height brack- { } ets4 instead of looking for the tallest element. For should be avoided. example the code The same applies to matrices which can be indi- \begin{multline*} cated with upper case bold face letters f(x,y,z)= (1+x+y-z)\Bigl[\pi\\ Ax = b +\sin\Bigl(\frac{a}{b}\Bigr) +\cos\Bigl( \frac{c}{d}\Bigr)\Bigr]. avoiding expressions such as \end{multline*} [A] x = b . gives { } { } In a linear algebra text, which deals entirely with f(x, y, z)=(1+ x + y z) π matrices and vectors, it is perfectly legitimate to get − h rid of the bold face and simply write a c + sin + cos . Ax = b. b di Note that this solution is applicable only to cases in 5 Most mathematics books, new and old ones (including which brackets are not taller than \Bigg. books typeset with metal movable type), use, although not In addition to the previous solutions, Michael always consistently, semicolon, comma, and full stop in display Downes and Morten Høgholm developed the breqn style equations (Bellacchi, 1894; Bertini, 1907; Bianchi, 1899; Bonola, 1906; Burali-Forti, 1904; Caprilli, 1912; Cesaro, 1894; 4 Fixed height brackets can be obtained with the com- Dini, 1878; Fubini, 1908; Gazzaniga, 1903; Peano, 1887; Sacchi, mands \bigx, \Bigx, \biggx, and \Biggx (where x is ‘l’ for 1854; Veronese, 1891; Vivanti, 1916). left brackets, ‘r’ for right brackets, ‘m’ or nothing for a regular 6 Upright bold face characters in mathematical mode can symbol). be obtained with the \mathbf command. 258 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
4.1.2 Component notation the component with commas without indicating the In some cases it is necessary to show explicitly vector transposition, which is implicit. For example you and matrix components. Books and theses often could write v =(v1,v2,v3) with report expressions like \mathbf{v} = (v_1,v_2,v_3) a11 a12 a13 x1 b1 a21 a22 a23 x2 = b2 . In either case, the pmatrix and bmatrix environments a31 a32 a33 x3 b3 should not be used since they would produce too big brackets. This notation should be avoided because it uses dif- ferent brackets for matrices and vectors and also The choice between round and square brackets because it uses curly brackets for vectors. Much depends only on personal taste. better is the following: 4.2 One symbol, one letter a11 a12 a13 x1 b1 A mathematical symbol is usually indicated by one a21 a22 a23 x2 = b2 . (2) letter, not two or three. If, for example, we want to a31 a32 a33 x3 b3 suggest that the factor of safety is equal to three, we Although there is no rule or customary practice should not write on the type of brackets to use for vectors and matrices F oS = 3 in component notation, it is advisable to: because F oS looks like the product between three use either round or square brackets and avoid scalars. It is much better to use a subscript • all the other types (curly, angle, etc.); maintain the same notation for both matrices Fs = 3. • 7 and vectors throughout the document. CG is quite often used to indicate the center of Matrices and vectors should be written in LATEX gravity. Wouldn’t G be better? with the following environments provided by the ISO standards admit some exceptions, such as amsmath package: pmatrix (for round brackets) and Mach number Ma and Reynolds number Re, which bmatrix (for square brackets). For example Eq. (2) are represented by two letters. In these rare cases in can be obtained with which the italic font is used for a symbol of several letters, the \mathit command should be used to \begin{bmatrix} avoid spacing problems between the letters. Note A_{11}&A_{12}&A_{13}\\ A_{21}&A_{22}&A_{23}\\ for example the difference between Ma and Ma, ob- A_{31}&A_{32}&A_{33}\\ tained respectively with $Ma$ and $\mathit{Ma}$. \end{bmatrix} In the first case the spacing between M and a might \begin{bmatrix} a_1\\ a_2\\ a_3 induce one to consider it as a product while in the %%\end{bmatrix} second case the spacing is correct. \end{bmatrix} = Formulæ should never include whole words such \begin{bmatrix} as b_1\\ b_2\\ b_3 \end{bmatrix} mass acceleration = force. × First of all, this should be a vector relation and the When a column vector has to appear in the text formula does not suggest it. Moreover the words in component notation, it is advisable to represent should be written in an upright font it as a transposed row vector in order not to add too much space between lines. There are at least mass acceleration = force, × two notations for row vectors in the text. The first in order to have the right spacing between letters. one consists in using the notation for display style However it is still not as clear and concise as T vectors. For example you could write v =[v1 v2 v3] with ma = F.
\mathbf{v} = [v_1\;v_2\;v_3]^T Another common error consists in using in a formula the same symbols employed in a computer The second one, adopted for example by Strang program. For example (2005), is more compact and consists in separating A_fl + B_fl = d_k_fl 7 In fact, in component notation, a vector is just a one instead of column (or one row, depending on the convention adopted) matrix. A + B = d. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 259
4.3 Superscripts and subscripts Subscripts should be used only if necessary and, even in these cases, they should not be abbreviations. For example you should not write σnominal or σnom, where “nominal” has the regular English meaning; in this case you could simply write σn. Obviously it is allowed to use subscripts (or superscripts) for indices, as in a third order tensor σijk. In this case mathematical italic characters should be used with the regular command \sigma_{ijk}. Subscripts and superscripts follow the same rules Figure 1: Example of mathematical variables that apply for symbols (par. 5.1); they must be in indicated with italic letters. an italic font if representing physical quantities or mathematical variables, in an upright font otherwise. of geometrical entities8 (Fig. 1) and all the physics For example you should write AT if T represents the constants whose values are not “constant” because temperature but AT if T represents a name such as more accurate measures might change it.9 “trajectory”. You should write Ai if i represents a summation index. All the other mathematical and physical quan- Using words as subscripts can disfigure even tities must be written in an upright font. Among simple formulæ such as these the imaginary unit 2 + 4i, the base of natural logarithms e = 2.718 ..., and pi π = 3.141,592 ...
Twheel,braking = (Beccari, 2007a). As already mentioned in the introduction, “pure” (Tengine,supplied Tengine,absorbed) C − ∗ mathematics does not always follow these rules (Gre- N gorio, 2007). which should have been written as A 5.1.1 Character types in LTEX C(Ts Ta) Tb = − . (3) A N In mathematical mode, LTEX typesets letters in italic by default and so they represent non-constant Since the “b”, “s”, and “a” subscripts are abbreviation mathematical and physical quantities. For example of respectively “braking”, “supplied”, and “absorbed”, $a=b$ gives a = b. they must be in an upright font according to the In order to write constants, that is upright let- previous rule. ters in mathematical mode, the \mathrm command 4.4 Appropriate notation can be used. For example $a=\mathrm{b}$ gives a =b. \mathrm, although using upright characters, Appropriate notation is fundamental to make a sci- is still in mathematical mode so it ignores spaces. If entific text easy to understand. To realize how im- spaces are needed, it is convenient to use the \text portant the notation is, you can just try to compute command from amsmath. Note for example the dif- a product with Roman numerals ference between
MMCDXXVIII XIX instead of 2428 19. vreduced section and vreducedsection × × A common error consists in using different types obtained respectively with of letters for quantities of the same kind; for example v_\text{reduced section} indicating some lengths with Latin letters (l, s, a) and others with Greek letters (α, γ) does not help and the reader. Subscripts should be chosen carefully as well. Some books contain figures in which ω1 is the v_\mathrm{reduced section} angular velocity of body 2 and ω2 that of body 1. 8 Points and angles, being mathematical variables, must 5 Physical and mathematical quantities be written in italic. Most authors indicate points with Latin upper case letters (A, B, C, etc.), segments with Latin lower 5.1 Symbols case letters (a, b, c, etc.), and angles with Greek lower case letters (α, β, γ, etc.). ISO standards prescribe the use of italic symbols for 9 For example the charge of the electron e, Planck’s con- all the physical and mathematical quantities that stant h, the reduced Planck’s constant ~, and Boltzmann’s can assume different values; for example the names constant k. 260 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
\mathrm, as opposed to \text, does not let super- If a number represents an approximate measure, scripts and subscripts become italic in an italic con- • it must be in words, unless the number is too text. For example long (when written). In this case it is easy to round it because no one is interested in know- \textit{This produces $L_\text{eff}\ne L_\mathrm{ eff}$} ing that a building is one kilometer or 1123 m distant (except in some specific cases). When gives reporting approximate numbers, the units must be explicitly written as well. You can write This produces Leff = Leff 6 then “in about twenty meters” but not “in about 20 m”. (Both \mathrm and \text with their arguments A number must be written in figures if it is can be used directly as subscripts and superscripts as • coupled with another one that is in figures. For shown here; ordinarily, such multi-token sequences example you can write: there are 10 subjects of would need to be enclosed in braces.) the first type and 154 of the second one. Upright Greek letters are provided by the up- Never begin a sentence with a number written greek package. Note the difference betwen π and π • in figures. obtained respectively with \uppi and \pi. The previous examples are only meant to show Roman numerals, although quite rare in scien- how to use the various commands but, as explained in tific texts, must always be written in an upright font, the previous paragraphs, superscripts and subscripts like the Arabic numbers. You should then write XVI with full words should be avoided. instead of XVI . Long numbers should have a comma every three 5.2 Numbers digits:12 Numbers must always be in an upright font (123), not 125,362 10 A in italic (123 ). This is LTEX’s default behavior in 0.398,276 mathematical mode, but problems might arise in the 12.345,4. text. For this reason it is always advisable to write numbers in mathematical mode even in the text. If, In scientific documents the comma is usually substi- for example, a number appears in an italic sentence, tuted by a thin space (\,) (Wright, 2008a). Luckily the mathematical mode enforces the upright font. this can be done automatically with the command For example \np of the numprint package. Here are some of the features of this package: walk \emph{at most 2 km} north Addition of a separator every three digits. The • separator (, or . or \, or ~) depends on the gives language in use (defined by the babel package). walk at most 2 km north The English separator is a comma , and so \np{15000000} gives 15,000,000. instead of the correct form Substitution of the decimal symbol. Indepen- • walk at most 2 km north dently from the decimal symbol used in the LATEX code, numprint represents numbers with that can be obtained with the one that is appropriate for the language in use: . in English and , for the other Euro- walk \emph{at most $2$ km} north pean languages. For example, when writing in Lesina (1986) provides some rules for numbers English, \np{3,15} becomes 3.15. Approximation of decimal numbers to the de- in the text. They can be summarized in (Gregorio, • 2005): sired number of significant figures. If using 11 three significant figures, \np{2,742647826672} Numbers less than twenty must be in words. becomes 2.743. • For example: the pinion has eleven teeth. Conversion of the E, e, D, and d characters If a number represents a precise measure, it • 13 • into the exponential format. For example must be in figures. For example: the long side 4 \np{1,234E-4} becomes 1.234 10− . is 1.5 m. × 12 Often four-digit numbers are not separated. Thus you 10 Dates are an exception to this rule and might be in italic would write 1234 but 12,345 (Wright, 2008a). if their context is. 13 This function is particularly useful when reporting data 11 Other authors suggest numbers of at most one digit. produced by software such as FORTRAN, MATLAB, etc. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 261
χ C1 C2 a1 (N/rad) (N/rad) (m) 0 73,000.0 90,000.0 0.912 0.05 70,899.3 89,143.7 0.912 0.10 68,565.1 88,850.5 0.912
Table 1: Units enclosed in round brackets.
letters (kg, Pa, mm, MN, rad, etc.) and must follow some rules: they must be written with an upright font; • they cannot be separated by a line break from • the numeric quantity to which they refer; they cannot be enclosed in square brackets. Figure 2: Units enclosed in round brackets. • Square brackets cannot be used with units because in metrology they mean “unit of” (Beccari, 2007a). Automatic addition of zeros, if necessary. For For example • example \np{,12} becomes 0.12. a = 25 m/s2 and [a] = m/s2 5.3 Significant figures and scientific can be written, but not notation a = 25 [m/s2]. Experimental sciences often express evaluations and On the other hand, round brackets can be used in results with numerical quantities. Some numerical tables and graphs when units appear next to a symbol 2 quantities, such as π, e, √2, /3, are exact. Quan- of the corresponding physical quantity instead of the tities deriving directly or indirectly from measures numeric value to which they refer (Tab. 1 and Fig. 2). or estimates are, on the contrary, approximate. The Some conceptual errors can be added to the pre- representation, both in floating-point and in fixed- vious typographic errors. One of the most common point, of approximate quantities is very important is to indicate the second (unit of time) with “sec” because it provides information about the precision (that means secant in trigonometry) instead of the with which the quantities are known. For example symbol “s”. A good guide on units is the manual h = 1.23 m and h = 1.230,00 m of the siunitx package (Wright, 2008b). With this might seem similar but have quite different meanings. package the user does not have to format units by In the first case h is a length known with a margin hand. For example of 5 mm and then it derives from quite inaccurate \unit{32.1}{\micro\meter} measures,± in the second case the margin is 5 µm and then it derives from very accurate measures.± gives Therefore, the number of significant digits of 32.1 µm a numerical quantity is very important, sometimes 14 even more important than the digits themselves. The package writes the units with upright characters Unfortunately, numerical quantities are very often and adds an indivisible space between the number represented with too many significant digits, espe- and the unit. cially when reporting results of calculations. Another common error is using the upper case Scientific notation, which is a way of expressing “K” to indicate kilo. In the context of units, “K” approximate numbers with integer powers of ten, can only mean “Kelvin” while kilo is written with provides a concise notation and allows to immediately the lower case “k”. Thus you should write kg, kB, identify the number of significant digits. etc. to indicate kilogram, kilobyte, etc. In general the name of the units of the International System 5.4 Units have an upper case initial when named after scientists Units (ISO 1000, 1982; Bureau International des (e.g. N, W, Pa, J), lowercase initials in all other cases Poids et Mesures, 2006) are often made of multiple (e.g. m, lm, cd). The liter, which can be written both 14 For example, in some contexts, there might be more upper and lower case (l, L) in Europe and must be difference between 2.1 and 2.150,2 than between 2.1 and 2.9. upper case in the USA (L), is the only exception to 262 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
this rule (Ceraolo, 2007; Bureau International des boat 18(1), 39–48, 1997. http://www.tug.org/ Poids et Mesures, 2006). (Also, the official spelling TUGboat/Articles/tb18-1/tb54becc.pdf. is ‘litre’, although ‘liter’ is typical in the USA, as Beccari, C. Private communication, 2007a. seen in the present article.) When units are spelled Beccari, C. Introduzione all’arte della composizione out, they must always start with a lowercase letter, tipografica. 2007b. http://www.guit.sssup.it/ e.g. newton, siemens (Ceraolo, 2007; NIST, 2001). downloads/GuidaGuIT.pdf. 6 Ambiguities Bellacchi, G. Introduzione storica alle funzioni ellit- tiche. Barbera, Firenze, 1894. The digit “zero” should not be indicated by in handwriting. The context will clearly show that∅ Bertini, E. Introduzione alla geometria proiettiva it is not a lower case “o”. However, the symbol degli iperspazi. E. Spoerri, Pisa, 1907. should be used when writing program code by hand∅ Bianchi, L. Lezioni sulla teoria dei gruppi di sosti- because, in this particular case, it would be difficult tuzioni. E. Spoerri, Pisa, 1899. to distinguish “O” from “0”. Bonola, R. La geometria non-euclidea. Zanichelli, With electronic typesetting it is advisable to Bologna, 1906. indicate liters with the capital letter “L” instead of Burali-Forti, C. Lezioni di geometria metrico- the lower case “l”. Although the standards allows proiettiva. Fratelli Bocca, Torino, 1904. both forms (ISO 1000, 1982; Giacomo, 1980; Bureau Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. “Resolu- 15 International des Poids et Mesures, 1979), the lower tion 6”. In Comptes Rendus de la 16e Conférence case letter could be confused with the number one Générale des Poids et Mesures, page 101. 1979. and the upper case “i”. Note the similarity between Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. The the following: l, 1, I. International System of Units (SI). Pavillon de th 7 Conclusions Breteuil, Sèvres, France, 8 edition, 2006. Caprilli, A. Nuove formole d’integrazione. Belforte, These notes are meant to contribute to reducing Livorno, 1912. the “illiteracy” with which, sometimes, very interest- ing and profound mathematical formulæ are written. Ceraolo, M. Private communication, 2007. The importance of clarity and efficacy of communi- Cesaro, E. Corso di analisi algebrica con introduzione cation, especially scientific communication, should al calcolo infinitesimale. Bocca, Torino, 1894. never be underestimated. Dini, U. Fondamenti per la teorica delle funzioni di variabili reali. Nistri, Pisa, 1878. 8 Acknowledgments Fubini, G. Introduzione alla teoria dei gruppi discon- We would like to thank Valeria Angeli, Luca Baldini, tinui e delle funzioni automorfe. E. Spoerri, Pisa, Riccardo Bartolozzi, Barbara Beeton, Marco Beghi- 1908. ni, Karl Berry, Massimo Ceraolo, Andrea Domenici, Gazzaniga, P. Gli elementi della teoria dei numeri. Massimiliano Dominici, Beatrice Lazzerini, Cateri- Drucker, Verona-Padova, 1903. na Mori, Pier Angelo Mori, Antonio Sponziello and Giacomo, P. Metrologia 16(1), 55–61, 1980. Joseph Wright for their suggestions during both the Gregorio, E. Discussione sul forum di g It, 2005. writing and reviewing process of this article. We u http://www.guit.sssup.it/phpbb/viewtopic. would also like to thank Claudio Beccari and Enrico php?t=1220. Gregorio for their enlightening discussions on the guIt forum (http://www.guit.sssup.it/phpbb/index. Gregorio, E. Private communication, 2007. php) about some of the topics of this article. ISO 1000. “SI units and recommendations for the use of their multiples and of certain other units”. In Bibliography ISO Standards Handbook N. 2. International Orga- nd American Mathematical Society. “User’s Guide for nization for Standardization, Geneva, 2 edition, the amsmath Package”. 2002. ftp://ftp.ams. 1982. org/pub/tex/doc/amsmath/amsldoc.pdf. ISO 31/11. “Mathematical sign and symbols for use in physical sciences and technology”. In ISO Stan- Beccari, C. “Typesetting mathematics for science dards Handbook N. 2. International Organization and technology according to ISO31XI”. TUG- for Standardization, Geneva, 2nd edition, 1982.
15 ISO 31/12. “Dimensionless parameters”. In ISO Stan- The ISO standards allow the use of liters although the In- ternational System unit for the volume is m3 and its multiples dards Handbook N. 2. International Organization nd (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, 2006). for Standardization, Geneva, 2 edition, 1982. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 263
Knuth, D. The TEXbook. Addison-Wesley, 1992. ⋄ Massimo Guiggiani Lesina, R. Il manuale di stile. Zanichelli, Bologna, Dipartimento di 2nd edition, 1986. Ingegneria Meccanica, NIST. NIST Special Publication 330: The Interna- Nucleare e della Produzione Università di Pisa tional System of Units (SI). 2001. Pisa, Italy Peano, G. Applicazioni geometriche del calcolo in- guiggiani (at) ing dot unipi dot it finitesimale. Bocca, Torino, 1887. ⋄ Lapo F. Mori Sacchi, G. Sulla geometria analitica delle linee piane. Mechanical Engineering Department Bizzoni, Pavia, 1854. Northwestern University Strang, G. Linear Algebra and Its Applications. 2145 Sheridan Road Brooks Cole, 4th edition, 2005. Evanston IL 60208 Veronese, G. Fondamenti di geometria a più di- USA mensioni e a più specie di unità rettilinee esposti mori (at) northwestern dot edu in forma elementare. Tipografia del Seminario, Padova, 1891. Vivanti, G. Elementi della teoria delle equazioni integrali lineari. Hoepli, Milano, 1916. Wikipedia. 2008a. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Typographical_conventions_in_ mathematical_formulae. Wikipedia. 2008b. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ISO_31. Wikipedia. 2008c. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Mathematical_notation. Wikipedia. 2008d. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Mathematical_symbols. Wright, J. Private communication, 2008a. Wright, J. siunitx: a comprehensive (SI) units package, 2008b. http://ctan.org/get/macros/ latex/exptl/siunitx/siunitx-manual.pdf. 264 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Print still matters If a Web page is worth read- Electronic Documents ing, it is worth printing. The longer and richer the content, the more likely the reader is to print it. We may skim read a 50 page report Wikipublisher: A Web-based system to online, but if we want to study it, we print it. make online and print versions of the If we want to deliver a printed and bound ver- same content sion, it needs to look good and be laid out for John Rankin optimal readability. Yet few Web site designs appear to care what the printed form of the Abstract site looks like. Most appear to be designed as- Web pages and print documents exist as two soli- suming all the information on the site can be tudes: information created as a Web page may print chunked into short, easily digested pieces. As poorly; information created as a print document readers, experience has taught us to have low may translate into an unappealing Web page. The expectations of the printed Web page. Wikipublisher system lets authors create content on- One authoritative source The most up-to-date line first, as Web pages, and lets readers turn in- version is what appears on the Web page; the dividual pages or page collections into print docu- typeset PDF is a snapshot taken at a point in ments. It uses wiki software as a lightweight and time. This means the printed page can never be extensible content management system, so any page newer than the Web page. This is in direct con- can be edited using any Web browser. It then uses A trast to most publishing systems, where there LTEX as the typesetting engine, thus providing print are often 3 (and sometimes more) versions: the output of the highest quality. This paper examines word processing or other source, a PDF snap- the reasons for developing Wikipublisher, techniques shot of the word processing source, and a col- and challenges faced in transforming Web content lection of Web pages generated (perhaps with into print, and some wishes for the future. The edits) from the source. The more frequently the project’s home is www.wikipublisher.org. content changes and the more authors involved 1 Web-centred text in creating it, the more important it becomes to have one source. Wikipublisher was born of frustration over the gap between how I wanted to work and the capabilities Wikipublisher is designed for people who write long, of the tools I was using. In discussing this with complex, richly linked documents, who wish to pub- like-minded colleagues, we came to the view that by lish these in an accessible form on the Web and in re-thinking how we created and published informa- print. The reader presses a “Typeset” button on the tion, we could be more productive and effective. We Web page and the system returns a PDF. By us- A expressed this aspiration as a set of principles which ing LTEX as the typesetting engine, Wikipublisher underpin and inform every aspect of Wikipublisher’s produces printed output of the highest quality. design: 2 We built it because . . . My company, Affinity Limited, is a small IT manage- Online first The World Wide Web enhances our ment consultancy. Like most professional services ability to communicate, so most of our work firms, our document production systems, based on ought to appear online first. Creating content Adobe FrameMaker, were geared to efficiently pro- online first makes it instantly and widely ac- ducing print documents such as letters, proposals, cessible, and encourages linking to other online short papers, and reports. Our Web presence was resources. Yet most of our authoring tools are essentially an online brochure — who we are, what “print first” and turning print documents into we do, and how to contact us. Communication with HTML for publishing on the Web is hard to clients primarily used e-mail to send document at- do well. Too many long documents are sim- tachments back and forth. Several years ago, three ply posted to the Web as PDF files. The links things happened: in an online document make it easy to navi- we decided to make our work processes Web- gate, yet print first authoring tools do little to • centric wherever possible; encourage rich inter-document linking. So the first requirement is a system with support for open source wiki software became widely avail- the direct creation and editing of Web pages. • able, easy to install, and easy to use; TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 265
Adobe decided not to offer a Mac OS X version books, including images, tables, equations, citations • of FrameMaker. and bibliographies — in other words, it has become Apple’s switch to Intel processors meant that OS 9 a fully-fledged publishing system for Web and print was dead and with it FrameMaker on Mac. Either documents. We have released the source code (a we had to switch to Windows or find a replacement. plug-in for the wiki engine and a separate typeset- We concluded that the least-worst alternative was ting server) and discovered that a surprising (to us) A to use LYX as a front-end to LTEX, and while this number of people find it useful. would meet our print needs, it didn’t really advance 3 T Xnical matters our aim to be more Web-centric. We had received E very positive comments from clients when we intro- Without TEX, the project would have been imprac- duced wiki software for some of our work. For ex- tical. We considered using XSL-FO (formatting ob- ample, when writing up interview notes, it is much jects), but our not very scientific assessment found easier and faster for everyone if we send a link to a that at the time, none of the books on FO had been Web page of the write-up, which the interviewee can written using FO. We suspected that somewhere edit using a Web browser. Wikis use simple textual between the beautiful examples in the books and markup to describe a page, which gets translated typesetting an arbitrary Web page, we would en- into HTML when the page is displayed. Each page counter impenetrable problems. TEX seemed to us carries an Edit link, which when clicked displays the a low risk and proven approach. Various books and content of the page as an editable Web form. PDF documents on LATEX written with LATEX gave However, we have to deliver the interview notes us confidence that any problems we might find would as part of a printed and bound report, typically as an have ready solutions. appendix. We experimented with “printable views” 3.1 Typesetting becomes a Web service of the Web pages and quickly learnt that while the quality is good enough for an appendix, HTML plus Wikipublisher works by re-purposing Web pages to CSS (cascading style sheets) produces printed out- a form of XML designed to describe printed mate- put of a quality far lower than that produced by rial and then transforming the XML into LATEX for software such as FrameMaker or LATEX. We also felt typesetting. It builds on the following open source that it ought to be a lot easier to bundle up 10 in- projects. 1 terview Web pages into a single printed document. PmWiki We chose the PmWiki engine because it So we had succeeded in improving the doing part is markup agnostic — that is, the administra- of the process, but at the cost of lowering the final tor can control the input markup for structur- output quality, and we still needed a solution for the ing the content and the output markup the en- main body of our reports. We concluded that if we gine produces. The wiki continues to gener- were to make further advances in this direction, we ate HTML for normal browsing, but when the needed a way to turn a Web page or page collection reader requests a PDF document, we invoke a into a print document of at least the same quality Wikipublisher plug-in which causes the wiki en- as one expects from a modern word processor, with gine to generate Wikibook XML instead. The minimal manual intervention. wiki’s design means we can do this without any We decided to investigate the possibility of cre- changes to the original source code. ating a report as a set of linked wiki Web pages 2 and using some form of typesetting engine to re- tbook The tbook project is an XML-based sys- purpose this into a printable document, complete tem designed to allow an author to create doc- with cover page, table of contents, running head- uments in XML and then transform these into ers and footers, and other print-oriented structures. a variety of different formats, including LATEX. With the help of a research and development grant The original tbook system did not accommo- from New Zealand’s Foundation for Research, Sci- date all the markup available in PmWiki, so ence and Technology (FRST), we teamed up with we have extended the XML syntax quite signif- the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Comput- icantly. We call the revised DTD (document ing Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington to type definition) “Wikibook” —any valid tbook carry out the project. The grant allowed us to hire XML document is valid Wikibook, but Wiki- a graduate student on a part-time basis for just over book supports constructs not found in tbook. a year, while he worked on a MSc. After a further round of enhancements and bug fixes, we can now 1 www.pmwiki.org produce letters, articles, reports, presentations and 2 sourceforge.net/projects/tbookdtd 266 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
When a reader issues a request for a PDF, this goes 3.3 Adapt the output on demand to the Wikibook server, which asks the PmWiki Suppose that some of the readers want output on server to generate the requested page(s) as Wiki- US letter paper while others need A4; some have book XML. The Wikibook server transforms the duplex printers while others do not; some prefer A XML into LTEX and thence into a PDF, which it indented paragraphs while others prefer space be- returns to the reader. All an author or reader needs tween paragraphs. Perhaps the author wishes to in- is a Web browser and PDF viewer; everything else clude a “draft” watermark. Wikipublisher provides happens on a Web server. a XML element with name/value attribute For sites requiring equations, we provide a plug- pairs to control these and other settings. An “op- in for PmWiki that lets authors write TEX equations tions” button on the typesetting request form lets into a page, including automatically-generated equa- the reader control the look of the finished docu- tion numbers if required. On the Web, each equa- ment, over-riding the default meta settings. A Cana- tion is transformed into an image; in the PDF, the dian reader with a duplex printer and an Australian equations are just part of the document. We use the 3 reader with a one-sided printer can each request the open source latexrender php library for this. output he or she prefers. 3.2 Headings determine structure The print metadata capability does the simple things like creating mirrored headers and footers on Authors generally use heading markup to structure odd and even pages for duplex printing, or making their pages. In HTML, there are no controls over all headings serif. It also does more sophisticated how headings are used. Wikipublisher assumes that things; for example, if a reader requests A5 paper, it a page has sections, subsections and subsubsections; not only reduces the font size to compensate for the whatever 3 kinds of heading it finds on the page, it shorter line length, it also makes sure any images are maps into this structure. In other words, it trans- shrunk, if they are too big to fit the smaller page. forms the absolute HTML and wiki heading levels Indeed, whatever the page size, it makes sure the into relative section levels. This means different images fit the page. headings on different pages can be rendered the same While many of these print metadata settings way in print. PageA might start with
while are common to all document classes, such as choos- PageB starts with : both become sections. It ing the fontset or watermark, some are class-specific. also means the same heading might be rendered dif- For example, when typesetting a book, the reader ferently in different print contexts. If a page is being can choose the chapter heading style; when typeset- typeset as part of a list of pages, each page becomes ting a letter, the reader can include or omit a return a section, so the first heading on the page now be- address; when typesetting an article, the reader can comes a subsection. choose whether or not to number the sections. In other words, different authors can use differ- ent heading conventions (or the same author may 3.4 Citations and bibliographies use different conventions at different times), and let Because the wiki content is “online first”, we can- Wikipublisher sort it out and produce consistently not use any of the traditional bibliography tools like laid out print documents. An author can create a A natbib. The problem we face is that LTEX bibliogra- long structured document using multi-level lists, like phy tools assume the author writes some variant of this (each item is a separate wiki page): A \cite{key} and LTEX works out how to render the Section A reference and sort the bibliography. On the other • – Subsection A.1 hand, to render a Web page with citations and a – Subsection A.2 bibliography from wiki markup, the wiki engine has to solve these and other problems, then Wikipub- Section B A • lisher has to tell LTEX that we already know how – Subsection B.1 to typeset the result. The wiki way to add a new – Subsection B.2 entry to a bibliography is to cite it, just as the way And so on. On a page like Subsection A.1, the first to create a new page is to link to it: 3 heading levels now become subsubsection, para- if the cited key exists, the wiki links to that graph and subparagraph. A list item can also be • entry in the page’s bibliography designated as an appendix, which means it and sub- sequent items are unnumbered. otherwise, it links to a “new citation” form— 3 • www.mayer.dail.pipex.com/tex.htm fill in the form and press Save TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 267
The Wikibook XML we generate contains everything becomes a running header on the second and LATEX needs to know — the keys, the text of the link subsequent pages (numbered or author–year), the items (labelled) in complex tables can contain any wiki markup the bibliography, sorted in the correct order. All • the author deems it necessary to use (including LATEX has to do is typeset the data. For example, simple tables); to handle these, we wrap the the body text might contain: cell content in a LATEX minipage environment, see set all cell text to ragged right, and hope; if Smith (2001, p.6) the author supplies percentage cell widths, we use these, otherwise we make the columns equal The corresponding bibliography entry text might be: width
This means the hyphenation character starts the line 4 If we had a magic wand ... following the break point, thereby avoiding the am- biguity of an address line ending in a hyphen, which And could make three wishes, what would we like could cause a reader to wonder whether the hyphen to improve? Most of the time, “it just works”; once is part of the address or was inserted during text Wikipublisher is installed and configured, users can hyphenation. forget it is there until they need it, and when they need it, they get what they need, although this may 3.5 Tables not be precisely what they think they want. Wikipublisher currently provides support for three 4.1 Colour cite links correctly kinds of tables: I wish we could tell the hyperref package that the simple tables float, their column widths are de- • special \citesic{link text}{key} command we termined automatically, and text in the cells have defined is just a variation on the \cite{key} can be left justified, centred, or right justified; command, even though it invokes the \hyperlink the caption, if there is one, is numbered command. At the moment, if you run Wikipub- long tables are like simple tables, except that lisher with the colorlinks option turned on, cita- • they do not float and if the first row is headings tion links come out in red (linkcolor) instead of (the wiki markup for the HTML
Character encoding Since a computer organizes its bits in 8-bit bytes, and ASCII only codified the codes under 128, this left Victor Eijkhout the codes with the high bit set (‘extended ASCII’) Have you ever wondered what goes on between the undefined, and different manufacturers of computer ‘A’ you hit on your keyboard, the ‘A’ stored in your equipment came up with their own way of filling file, and the ‘A’ that comes out of your printer? them in. These standards were called ‘code pages’, Why does that letter still come out of the printer and IBM gave a standard numbering to them. For in- if the file is printed by your friend in Egypt who stance, code page 437 is the MS-DOS code page with doesn’t use the letter ‘A’? Maybe you know that ‘A’ accented characters for most European languages, is character 65 (decimal) in ASCII; if you put it on 862 is DOS in Israel, and 737 is DOS for Greek. a web page, and it’s visited by someone in Japan, Here is cp437: why don’t they get character number 65 in the Kanji alphabet? Do you remember the DOS days when your Mac owning colleague would send you a file and what were supposed to be accented characters would turn into smiley faces? Have you ever pasted text from MS-Word into Emacs, and Emacs wanted to save the document as UTF-8? Just what is that about? All this, and more, will be explained in this article. 1 History in one byte Somewhere in the depths of prehistory, people in the Western world agreed on a standard for character codes under 127, ASCII, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. This standard declares that the letter ‘A’ is character number 65 decimal (41 in hexadecimal), so if your file contains the bit pattern for 65 (which is 01000001), it will produce an ‘A’ when sent to the printer. MacRoman: ASCII has some nice properties, some of which were lacking in another encoding scheme, EBCDIC (which was used almost exclusively by IBM): All letters are consecutive, making a test ‘is this • a letter’ easy to perform. Uppercase and lowercase letters are at a distance • of 32; this means that the Shift key on your keyboard simply toggles the sixth bit in the pattern of whatever key you are holding down. and Microsoft cp-1252: The first 32 codes, everything below the space • character, as well as position 127, are ‘unprint- able’, and can be used for such purposes as terminal cursor control. The ISO 646 standard codified 7-bit ASCII, but it left certain character positions (or ‘code points’) open for national variation. For instance, British usage put a pound sign (£) in the position of the dollar. The ASCII character set was originally accepted as ANSI X3.4 in 1968. ANSI is displayed in table 1. More code pages are displayed in [5]. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 271
dec CHAR ASCII CONTROL CODES hex oct b7 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 b6 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 b5 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 BITS SYMBOLS CONTROL UPPERCASE LOWERCASE b4 b3 b2 b1 NUMBERS 0 16 32 48 64 80 96 112 0000 NUL DLE SP 0 @ P ‘ p 0 0 10 20 20 40 30 60 40 100 50 120 60 140 70 160 1 17 33 49 65 81 97 113 0001 SOH DC1 ! 1 A Q a q 1 1 11 21 21 41 31 61 41 101 51 121 61 141 71 161 2 18 34 50 66 82 98 114 0010 STX DC2 ” 2 B R b r 2 2 12 22 22 42 32 62 42 102 52 122 62 142 72 162 3 19 35 51 67 83 99 115 0011 ETX DC3 # 3 C S c s 3 3 13 23 23 43 33 63 43 103 53 123 63 143 73 163 4 20 36 52 68 84 100 116 0100 EOT DC4 $ 4 D T d t 4 4 14 24 24 44 34 64 44 104 54 124 64 144 74 164 5 21 37 53 69 85 101 117 0101 ENQ NAK % 5 E U e u 5 5 15 25 25 45 35 65 45 105 55 125 65 145 75 165 6 22 38 54 70 86 102 118 0110 ACK SYN & 6 F V f v 6 6 16 26 26 46 36 66 46 106 56 126 66 146 76 166 7 23 39 55 71 87 103 119 0111 BEL ETB ’ 7 G W g w 7 7 17 27 27 47 37 67 47 107 57 127 67 147 77 167 8 24 40 56 72 88 104 120 1000 BS CAN ( 8 H X h x 8 10 18 30 28 50 38 70 48 110 58 130 68 150 78 170 9 25 41 57 73 89 105 121 1001 HT EM ) 9 I Y i y 9 11 19 31 29 51 39 71 49 111 59 131 69 151 79 171 10 26 42 58 74 90 106 122 1010 LF SUB * : J Z j z A 12 1A 32 2A 52 3A 72 4A 112 5A 132 6A 152 7A 172 11 27 43 59 75 91 107 123 1011 VT ESC + ; K [ k B 13 1B 33 2B 53 3B 73 4B 113 5B 133 6B 153 7B{ 173 12 28 44 60 76 92 108 124 1100 FF FS , < L l C 14 1C 34 2C 54 3C 74 4C 114 5C\ 134 6C 154 7C| 174 13 29 45 61 77 93 109 125 1101 CR GS = M ] m D 15 1D 35 2D− 55 3D 75 4D 115 5D 135 6D 155 7D} 175 14 30 46 62 78 94 110 126 1110 SO RS . > N ˆ n ˜ E 16 1E 36 2E 56 3E 76 4E 116 5E 136 6E 156 7E 176 15 31 47 63 79 95 111 127 1111 SI US / ? O ˙ o DEL F 17 1F 37 2F 57 3F 77 4F 117 5F 137 6F 157 7F 177
Table 1: The ASCII table
The international variants were standardized as ISO 646-DE (German), 646-DK (Danish), et cetera. Originally, the dollar sign could still be replaced by the currency symbol, but after a 1991 revision the dollar is now the only possibility. The different code pages were ultimately stan- dardized as ISO 8859, with such popular code pages as 8859-1 (‘Latin 1’) for western European: 272 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
8859-2 for eastern European, and 8859-5 for Cyrillic: There used to be a drive towards unambiguous abstract character names across repertoires and encodings, but Unicode ended this, as it provides (or aims to provide) more or less a complete list of every character on earth. CEF Character Encoding Form: a mapping from a set of non-negative integers that are elements of a CCS to a set of sequences of particular code These ISO standards explicitly left the first 32 units. A ‘code unit’ is an integer of a specific extended positions undefined. binary width, for instance 8 or 16 bits. A CEF Reading material: The history of ASCII out of then maps the code points of a coded character telegraph codes [1]; a history, paying attention to mul- set into sequences of code points, and these tilingual use [4]; Bob Bemer, the ‘father of ASCII’[2]; sequences can be of different lengths inside one a detailed discussion of ISO 8859, Latin-1 [11]. code page. For instance ASCII uses a single 7-bit unit; UTF-8 uses one to four 8-bit units. We 2 Character sets and encodings will discuss the UTF encodings below. As you can tell from the introduction, there is quite CES Character Encoding Scheme: a reversible trans- a bit of confusion possible between characters and formation from a set of sequences of code units representations or encodings. Let us clear up the (from one or more CEFs to a serialized sequence concepts a little. of bytes. In single-byte cases such as ASCII and Informally, the term ‘character set’ (also ‘char- UTF-8 this mapping is trivial. With the two- acter code’ or ‘code’) used to mean something like byte scheme UCS-2 there is a single ‘byte order ‘a table of bytes, each with a character shape’. With mark’, after which the code units are trivially only the English alphabet to deal with that is a good mapped to bytes. On the other hand, ISO 2022, enough definition. These days, much more general which uses escape sequences to switch between cases are handled, mapping one octet into several different encodings, is a complicated CES. characters, or several octets into one character. The definition has changed accordingly: Additionally, there are the concepts of A charset is a method of converting a se- CM Character Map: a mapping from sequences of quence of octets into a sequence of characters. members of an abstract character repertoire to This conversion may also optionally produce serialized sequences of bytes bridging all four additional control information such as direc- levels in a single operation. These maps are tionality indicators. what gets assigned MIBenum values by IANA; (From RFC 2978) A conversion the other way may not see section 4.1. exist, since different octet combinations may map TES Transfer Encoding Syntax: a reversible trans- to the same character. Another complicating fac- formation of encoded data. This data may or tor is the possibility of switching between character may not contain textual data. Examples of a sets; for instance, ISO2022-JP is the standard ASCII TES are base64, uuencode, and quoted-printable, character set, but the character sequence ESC $ @ which all transform a byte stream to avoid cer- switches to JIS X 0208-1978. tain values. To disentangle the concepts behind encoding, we need to introduce a couple of levels: 3 Unicode and UTF encodings ACR Abstract Character Repertoire: the set of The systems above functioned quite well as long characters to be encoded; for example, some as you stuck to one language or writing system. alphabet or symbol set. This is an unordered set Poor dictionary makers. More or less simultane- of characters, which can be fixed (the contents of ously two efforts started that aimed to incorporate ISO 8859-1), or open (the contents of Unicode). all the world’s character sets in one standard: the CCS Coded Character Set: a mapping from an Unicode standard (originally 2-byte), and ISO 10646 abstract character repertoire to a set of non- (originally 4-byte). Unicode was extended further, negative integers. This is what is meant by so that it has all code points up to 10FFFFF, which ‘encoding’, ‘character set definition’, or ‘code is slightly over a million. page’; the integer assigned to a character is its Two international standards organizations, the ‘code point’. Unicode Consortium and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2, started TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 273
designing a universal standard that was to be a su- non-academic software must support characters perset of all existing character sets. These standards outside the BMP. are now synchronized. Unicode has elements that are not in 10646, but they are compatible where it 3.2 Unicode encodings concerns straight character encoding. Unicode is basically a numbered list of characters. ISO 10646 defines UCS, the ‘Universal Character When they are used in a file, their numbers can be Set’. This is in essence a table of official names and encoded in a number of ways. To name the obvious code numbers for characters. Unicode adds to this example: if only the first 128 positions are used, the rules for hyphenation, bi-directional writing, and long Unicode code point can be truncated to just more. one byte. Here are a few encodings: The full Unicode list of code points can be found UTF-32 Little used: this is a four-byte encoding. online, broken down by blocks [14], and download- (UTF stands for ‘UCS Transformation Format’.) able [17]. UTF-16 A two-byte encoding. Its precursor, UCS-2, 3.1 BMP and other Unicode subplanes encoded the BMP; UTF-16 has a way of going beyond that to encode planes 1–16 by using Characters in Unicode are mostly denoted hexadeci- ‘surrogate pairs’ of two-byte units. mally as U+wxyz; for instance, U+0041 is ‘Latin Cap- ital Letter A’. The range U+0000–U+007F (0–127) is UTF-8 A one-byte scheme; details below. identical to US-ASCII (ISO 646 IRV), and U+0000– UTF-7 Another one-byte scheme, but now the high U+00FF (0–255) is identical to Latin 1 (ISO 8859-1). bit is always off. Certain byte values act as an The original 2-byte subset is now called the ‘escape’, so that higher values can be encoded. ‘BMP’ for Basic Multilingual Plane, or plane 0. These Like UTF-1 and SCSU, this encoding is only of are the Unicode code points that are nonzero in the historical interest. last two bytes. Other ‘planes’ have been defined that There is an important practical reason for a one- have one or more bits set outside the last two bytes. byte encoding such as UTF-8. Multi-byte encodings BMP (Basic Multilingual Plane) The first plane such as UCS-2 are wasteful of space, if only tradi- defined in Unicode/ISO10646, designed to in- tional ASCII is needed. Furthermore, they would clude all scripts in active modern use. The BMP break software that is expecting to walk through a currently includes the Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, file with s++ and such. Also, they would introduce Devangari, hiragana, katakana, and Cherokee many zero bytes in a file, which would play havoc scripts, among others, and a large body of math- with Unix software that uses null-termination for ematical, APL-related, and other miscellaneous strings. characters. Most of the Han ideographs in cur- Then there would be the problem of whether two rent use are present in the BMP, but due to the bytes are stored in low-endian or high-endian order. large number of ideographs, many were placed For this reason it was suggested to store FE FF or FF in the Supplementary Ideographic Plane. FE at the beginning of each file as the ‘Unicode Byte Order Mark’. Formally, FEFF is the Unicode ‘zero SMP (Supplementary Multilingual Plane; plane 1) width nobreak space’ character, which can innocently This contains mostly ancient writing systems. be inserted anywhere. Conversely FFEF is defined to Some of these you’ll have likely heard of, such as be illegal, so encountering this is a sign that bytes Linear B, cuneiform, Aztec, and Mayan; others should be interpreted little-endian. Of course this are fairly obscure, such as Tangut, a language plays havoc with files such as shell scripts which used in Central China between 1000 and 1500. expect to find #! at the beginning of the file. SIP (Supplementary Ideographic Plane) The third plane (plane 2) defined in Unicode/ISO 10646, 3.3 UTF-8 designed to hold all the ideographs descended UTF-8, standardized as RFC 3629, is an encoding from Chinese writing (mainly found in Viet- where the positions up to 127 are encoded ‘as such’; namese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese) that higher numbers are encoded in groups of 2 to 6 aren’t found in the Basic Multilingual Plane. bytes. (Tim Bray describes this as ‘kind of racist’ [3]: The BMP was supposed to hold all ideographs the further east a language comes from, the more in modern use; unfortunately, many Chinese di- overhead is involved in its encoding.) In a multi- alects (like Cantonese and Hong Kong Chinese) byte group, the first byte is in the range 0xC0–0xFD were overlooked; to write these, characters from (192–252). The next up to 5 bytes are in the range the SIP are necessary. This is one reason even 0x80–0xBF (128–191, bit pattern starting with 10). 274 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
U-00000000 - U-0000007F 7 bits 0xxxxxxx U-00000080 - U-000007FF 11 = 5 + 6 110xxxxx 10xxxxxx U-00000800 - U-0000FFFF 16 = 4 + 2 6 1110xxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx U-00010000 - U-001FFFFF 21 = 3 + 3 × 6 11110xxx 10xxxxxx (3 times) U-00200000 - U-03FFFFFF 26 = 2 + 4 × 6 111110xx 10xxxxxx (4 times) U-04000000 - U-7FFFFFFF 31 = 1 + 5 × 6 1111110x 10xxxxxx (5 times) × Table 2: UTF-8 encoding blocks
Note that 8 = 1000 and B = 1011, so the highest If the exclamation mark is to be part of the Ara- two bits are always 10, leaving six bits for encoding). bic quotation, then the user can select the text ‘I All bytes in a multi-byte sequence have their high NEED WATER!’ and explicitly mark it as embedded bit set. See table 2. Arabic (
Figure 1: Right-to-left Arabic text containing left-to-right numerals TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 275
for character sets are standardized by IANA: the With a vaguely symbolic name [12, 7]: © is Internet Assigned Numbers Authority [9]. However, • the copyright symbol, is a non-breaking in what character set do you write this name down? space, etc. Fortunately, everyone agrees on (7-bit) ASCII, The more interesting way is to use an encoding • so that is what is used. A name can be up to 40 such as UTF-8 (section 3.2) for the file. For this characters from US-ASCII. it would be nice if the server could state that As an example, here is the IANA definition of the file is ASCII: name ANSI_X3.4-1968 Content-type: text/html;charset=utf-8 reference RFC 1345, KXS2 but it is also all right if the file starts with (end MIBenum 3 with /> for XHTML): source ECMA registry ISO_646.irv:1991, ASCII, It is a requirement of user agents that they can ISO646-US, US-ASCII at least parse the charset parameter, which means MIME us (preferred name), , they have to understand US-ASCII. IBM367, cp367, csASCII Open this link in your browser, and addition- The MIBenum (Management Information Base) is a 1 ally view the source: http://www.unicode.org/ number assigned by IANA. The full list of character unicode/iuc10/x-utf8.html. How well does your sets can be found online [8], and RFC 3808 is a memo software deal with it? that describes the IANA Charset MIB. 4.4 Keyboards and control characters 4.2 Unicode in programming languages Unprintable ASCII codes are accessible through the Before Unicode, a system called the ‘Double Byte control modifier key; for this reason they are also Character Set’ was invented to accommodate Asian called ‘control codes’ or control characters. The languages, where some characters were stored in one, control key, combined with a regular key, zeros bits others in two bytes. This is very messy, since you 2 and 3 of the ASCII code of that key. For instance, can not simply write s++ or s-- to traverse a string. you can hit Ctrl-[ to get Esc. Instead you have to use functions from some library The way key presses generate characters is typ- that understands these encodings. While this system ically controlled in software. This mapping from is now only of historical interest, the string handling keyboard scan codes to 7 or 8-bit characters is called problem is back in force with UTF-8. a ‘keyboard’, and can be changed dynamically in Many modern languages (Python, C99) have most operating systems. support for Unicode. In C99 (which is the new Using the modifier keys, one can generate more standard for C) this is done through so-called ‘wide keystrokes than can be described in 8 bits, so key- characters’. For instance, L’x’ is a wide character boards can send an ‘escape sequence’: one escape and L"xyz" is a string of wide characters. Such character followed by one or more regular charac- strings can be manipulated through equivalents of ters. The escape character is mostly ASCII NUL or wcscpy the normal string library. For instance, acts ESC [10]. like strcpy but on wide strings. General Unicode characters can be represented as \u0000 for 4-byte 4.5 Characters in email and \U00000000 for up to 8-byte characters. The protocols for Internet mail are based on ‘7-bit The two-byte UTF-16 encoding is popular with ASCII’, that is, the high bit in every byte transmitted programmers, since it can handle almost any prac- is supposed to be off. This is a problem for any tically encountered character without extensions to message that has text outside of ASCII, such as longer byte sequences. when accented characters from the various ISO 8859 4.3 Character codes in HTML character sets are used. It also makes transmitting binary data such as images impossible. For this HTML can access unusual characters in several ways: reason the ‘Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions’ With a decimal numerical code: is a space (MIME) were designed. MIME uses several encoding • token. (HTML 4 supports hexadecimal codes.) schemes, such as base64 or quoted-printable, to turn arbitrary data into 7-bit ASCII. 1 Apparently these numbers derive from the Printer MIB, The email standard RFC 822 states that any- RFC 1759. thing outside 7-bit ASCII has to be encoded with 276 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
uuencode. This means that the sender and recipient that plague regular text files. This is solved by the need decoding program; it is decidedly overkill if a package inputenc: message is plain ASCII apart from a few accented \usepackage[code]{inputenc} characters. The MIME protocol (RFC 2045 and 2046) inserts where code is applemac, ansinew, utf8, or various headers in a mail message, stating for each message other code pages. section the content type and the encoding that is This package makes all unprintable ASCII char- used for that section of the message. These encodings acters, plus the codes over 127, into active characters. are also used for attachments, in which case the con- The definitions are then dynamically set depending tent type should give an indication what application on the code page that is loaded. can handle the attachment after its decoding. ‘Help- 5.3 LAT X output encoding ful’ mail programs that automatically invoke such E applications have been a source of Trojans (malicious The inputenc package does not solve the whole prob- software) in the past. lem of producing a certain font character from certain keyboard input. It only maps a byte value to the 4.6 FTP TEX command for producing a character. To map FTP is a very old ARPA protocol for transferring such commands to an actual code point in a font file, files from one computer to another. It knows ‘binary’ the TEX and LATEX formats contain lines such as and ‘text’ mode: in binary mode bytes are trans- \chardef\i="10 ferred without further interpretation, but the text mode is concerned with files that contain lines of declaring that the dotless-i is at position 16. However, text. Unfortunately, line ends are different between this position is a convention, and other people — type operating systems, and their transfer in text mode manufacturers — may put it somewhere else. is not well defined. Some FTP programs adjust line This is handled by the ‘font encoding’ mech- ends; others, such as Fetch on the Mac, actually do anism. The various people working on the LATEX code page translation. font schemes have devised a number of standard font encodings. For instance, the OT1 encoding cor- 5 Character issues in (LA)TEX responds to the original 128-character set. The T1 5.1 Diacritics encoding is a 256-character extension thereof, which includes most accented characters for Latin alphabet Before 1990, T X was a 7-bit system: only characters E languages. 0–127 in the input could be recognized, and fonts A font encoding is selected with were also limited to 127 positions. This meant that there was not enough space in fonts for letters with \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} accents, so accents (diacritics) were implemented as A font encoding definition contains lines such as things to put on top of characters, even when, as with the cedilla, they are under the letter. This leads \DeclareTextSymbol{\AE}{OT1}{29} to the problem that TEX could not hyphenate a word \DeclareTextSymbol{\OE}{OT1}{30} with accents, since the accent introduces a space in \DeclareTextSymbol{\O}{OT1}{31} the word (technically: an explicit kern). \DeclareTextSymbol{\ae}{OT1}{26} Both problems were remedied to a large extent \DeclareTextSymbol{\i}{OT1}{16} with the ‘Cork font encoding’, which contains most 5.4 T X beyond 8 bits common accented letters as single characters. This E means that accents are correctly placed by design, The above LATEX packages allow flexible handling and also that the word can be hyphenated, since the of (8-bit) code pages, essentially the ISO 8859 stan- kern has disappeared. dard. For handling of other alphabets, a number These fonts with accented characters became of styles have been written over the years. How- possible when TEX version 3 came out around 1990. ever, their continued support is often uncertain. The This introduced full 8-bit compatibility, both on the first project that aimed at use of Unicode throughout input side and in the font addressing. TEX’s code base was Omega [13]; the modern TEX ex- tensions X TE EX (http://scripts.sil.org/xetex) A 5.2 LTEX input file access to fonts and LuaTEX (http://luatex.org) also do so. If an input file for LATEX is allowed to contain all 8-bit octets, we get all the problems of compatibility TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 277
References [11] The ISO Latin 1 character repertoire. [1] Annotated history of ASCII. http://www.wps. http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/latin1/ com/projects/codes/index.html. index.html. [2] Bob Bemer homepage. http://www. [12] Character entities for ISO Latin 1. http: //www.cs.tut.fi/ jkorpela/HTML3.2/ trailing-edge.com/~bobbemer/. ~ latin1.html. [3] Tim Bray. Characters vs. bytes. http: //www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/ [13] Omega project home page. http://omega. 04/26/UTF. enstb.org/. [4] Brief history of character codes in [14] Unicode. http://www.fileformat.info/ North America, Europe, and East Asia. info/unicode/index.htm. http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/ [15] Unicode standard annex 14, line breaking characcodehist.html. properties. http://www.unicode.org/ [5] Codepage & co. http://aspell.net/ reports/tr14/. charsets/codepages.html. [16] Unicode standard annex 9, the bidirectional [6] Han unification. http://en.wikipedia.org/ algorithm. http://www.unicode.org/ wiki/Han_unification. reports/tr9/. [7] Character entity references in HTML4. [17] Unicode code chart and scripts. http: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/sgml/ //www.unicode.org/charts/. entities.html. [18] Unicode line breaking rules: explanations [8] IANA character set names. http://www.iana. and criticism. http://www.cs.tut.fi/ org/assignments/character-sets. ~jkorpela/unicode/linebr.html. [9] Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. [19] UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for Unix/Linux. http://www.iana.org/. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode. html. [10] IBM PC keyboard scan codes. http: //jimprice.com/jim-asc.shtml#keycodes. [20] UTF-8 history. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/ ~mgk25/ucs/utf-8-history.txt.
⋄ Victor Eijkhout University of Texas at Austin victor (at) eijkhout dot net 278 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
packages and classes to produce excellent presenta- Fonts tions, fully colored, with some animations, making use of a large variety of outline fonts, particularly well suited for use with modern video beamers. lxfonts: LATEX slide fonts revived In this article I describe the old fonts used by Claudio Beccari SliTEX and by the slides class, with their pros and cons. I further describe the modifications I have Abstract introduced, and in particular how I produced their The LATEX 2ε class slides used special fonts whose PostScript versions, necessary in order to be used readability was exceptional. However, despite being with the modern classes and packages. I describe .sty part of the TEX system, they were not particularly the file with which a complete substitution of efficient where mathematics was concerned. Since the CM/EC (Computer Modern/European Modern) the time the LATEX3 Team abandoned slides, they or LM (Latin Modern) families, together with the have almost disappeared. American Mathematical Society’s fonts may be made This article describes the modifications and en- in order to produce nice presentations that use such hancements made to revive these historical fonts, and fonts and exploit their legibility. What I produced explains the package making the new font version may be considered an alpha-release; in order to be- usable with modern presentation classes, in order come a beta or a definitive release, some feedback to produce slides that were unthinkable during the is required so as to repair the various glitches that olden times of slides. may possibly still be present (and certainly there are many. . . ). 1 Some history 2 The quotation fonts Once upon a time there was a program, SliTEX [4], li when the TEX interpreter’s version was 2.x. This was The S TEX fonts derive from the ones that Knuth the 1980s, almost the prehistory of TEX, certainly created for typesetting those witty quotations at the LAT X’s infancy, when in order to typeset a document end of every chapter of The TEXbook [2] and The E METAFONT in a language different from English it was necessary book [3]. to have suitable format files, since that old TEX could They are sans serif fonts, formally designed at a handle only one hyphenation pattern set at a time. design size of 8 pt, but with a large x-height and short With version 3.0 of TEX, the ability to type- ascenders and descenders. Anybody who handled set in a variety of languages different from English those books knows perfectly what we are talking spread the TEX system, with its LATEX dialect, in about, but here a specimen is replicated in order to the old continent, and it became so important that describe the successive modifications. the Europeans set up the LATEX3 team. This new If you can’t solve a problem, team produced, in 1994, the new LATEX 2ε, and with you can always look up the answer. this SliTEX died for good, replaced by the standard But please, try first to solve it by yourself; class slides [5]. then you’ll learn more and you’ll learn faster. Actually, other than using the same interpreter — DONALD E. KNUTH,The TEXbook (1983) and the same LATEX set of macros, with the slides class things did not change very much. In the short The elegance and style of this sans serif font is term, in 1999 the LATEX3 team gave up the mainte- immediately evident, simple and perfectly readable. nance of the slides class; even if it still is a standard Although it is used at size 8 pt, its x-height appears LATEX class distributed with every new release of the as large as that of the roman font of the main text. TEX system, the Team formally invited the users of Its drawback, though, is that the lower case ‘l’ TEX to develop new classes to produce presentations and the upper case ‘I’ and, in math mode (not shown), and slide shows. This warm invitation included the the ‘absolute value’ sign are indistinguishable. This strong suggestion that such new creations should be appealing font, well-suited for Knuth’s quotations, is made available to the whole TEX user community. thus not suited for typesetting mathematics. For these reasons, in the past several years we 3 The slide fonts have witnessed the proliferation of many systems, This is why since the beginning of SliT X, Leslie Editor’s note: E This is a translation of the article “I font per le Lamport created a new font for slides by modifying slide LATEX resuscitati”, which first appeared in ArsTEXnica is- sue #4 (October 2007), pp. 82–87. Reprinted with permission. Translation by the author. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 279
the quotation fonts, essentially by substituting the from the symbols font. It seems complicated, but it upper case ‘i’ with a seriffed variant. suffices to observe the \Longrightarrow sign = to ⇒ If you can’t solve a problem, understand the problem; the mathematical axes do you can always look up the answer. not match and the stroke thicknesses are different; But please, try first to solve it by yourself; the final result is very unsatisfying. then you’ll learn more and you’ll learn faster. For math mode typesetting it was thus neces- — DONALD E. KNUTH,The TEXbook (1983) sary to create math fonts that had the same design parameters as the new slide fonts. This implied the 4 The new fonts for slides creation of the ‘letters’ font (essentially the math italics, the Greek upper and lower case letters and As is clear from the previous example, this modified a good number of other symbols), the symbols font capital ‘I’ solves part of the problem; there remains (most operator symbols, the old style numbers and the fact that the lower case ‘l’ may still be confused the calligraphic letters), and the large delimiters and with the mathematical sign for marking the absolute display math operators font. This further work did value, or the norm, or this sort of mathematical not consist simply of changing the design parameters entity. in the master METAFONT file, but also reviewing For this reason, the new fonts under discussion each glyph in order to assure its adequacy to the here have been created with the lowercase ‘l’ drawn typesetting of (hopefully) beautiful mathematics, as with a hook at the bottom, similar to the foot of the good as the CM math fonts do in normal text. Those lower case ‘t’. The result is the following. unsatisfying compound math signs, so frequent in If you can’t solve a problem, the definitions of math symbols, had to be checked you can always look up the answer. one by one, in order to assure the perfect match of But please, try first to solve it by yourself; the new glyphs with one another. then you’ll learn more and you’ll learn faster. — DONALD E. KNUTH, The TEXbook (1983) 6 Examples Of course this also implies the modification of Besides the last text example in section 4, I now show the metric files .tfm, and, more intrusive than any- some examples where different series and typesetting thing else, the correction of all the ligatures and kerns modes are mixed. where the lower case ‘l’ is involved. Having designed 6.1 The medium and the bold series these fonts for both the old OT1 and the T1 Latin en- codings, this implied also the Polish lwith its kerns, The preceding running title is typeset with and all the other signs where some sort of diacritic the bold series, while this text is composed mark is used with the base sign ‘l’. The revisions with the medium one. involved both the normal and the slanted styles, as Notice that the previous example, unlike the well as both the medium and the bold weights. For one given in section 4, is typeset at size 10 pt, as is completeness, the same design parameters were used this normal text (which is typeset with the standard for the Text Companion font in encoding TS1 in all roman font of the CM collection). The larger x-height its versions, so that the new fonts could be paired induces one to think that the example is typeset with harmoniously. a larger font, possibly size 12 pt. 5 Typesetting problems in mathematics 6.2 The font sizes When typesetting mathematics new problems arise; The new font, like the old one, is designed at just in the old SliTEX math expressions were typeset one size, and other sizes are obtained by shrinking or with the normal CM math fonts; but this produced enlarging this single size. Table 1 shows some sizes undesirable effects even beyond the obvious stylistic and it’s evident that the smaller sizes are definitely clash, because the operators font was substituted too thin, while the larger ones do not appear blacker by the upright version of the slide fonts, but all the as the normal CM fonts do, with their multiple design other signs were taken from the letters, symbols, sizes. and large delimiters CM fonts. This produced a But this is a deficiency that was already inherent bad rendering of those signs that were produced by in the old slide font, and it also manifests itself kerning a symbol from the operators font and another with the vast majority of the available Type 1 or symbol from the symbols font. For example, the Open Type fonts when they are excessively shrunk double long arrows are produced by joining an ‘equals or magnified. sign’ from the operators font and a ‘double arrow tip’ 280 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Size Example The second degree equation with con- stant real coefficients: 5 pt ABCD abcd ax2 + bx + c = 0 (1) 7 pt ABCD abcd 10 pt ABCD abcd has solutions 12 pt ABCD abcd `b ˚ b2 ` 4ac x1 2 = p (2) 14 pt ABCD abcd ; 2a 17 pt ABCD abcd with 2 20 pt ABCD abcd x1;2 2 R se b ` 4ac > 0 8 b 2 Table 1: The new font in different sizes >x1 = x2 = ` se b ` 4ac = 0 (3) < 2a 2 x1;2 2 C se b ` 4ac < 0 > As things are, the first level sub- and super- : Figure 1 scripts are certainly readable, while the second level : Some text and math ones may be a bit too thin. Nevertheless, some of the examples shown below contain such second-order subscripts, and one hardly notices they are so thin. presentations. Another point is evident: figure 1 contains sym- 6.3 Comparison with the standard sans bols, such as the blackboard bold capital letters, that serif CM font belong to the AMS math font collections. Yes, the It’s interesting to compare the normal sans serif font new slide font collection contains also the sans serif selectable with the command \textsf, with the new version of the AMS fonts, redrawn with the same font drawn at the same optical size — see table 2. It’s graphic parameters used for the other fonts of this evident that the new font, in spite of being at the collection. same size, appears definitely larger than the normal The equations shown in figure 1 appear out of sans serif one. their typical context of a slide show, since they are intermixed with the rest of this article’s text, typeset OT1/cmss abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz with the normal Computer Modern roman font. It is OT1/llcmss abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz better to examine a whole slide show displayed with an actual projector in order to appreciate the beau- Table 2: The regular CM sans serif font compared tiful effect of these fonts maintaining the legibility with the slide font associated with the old SliTEX. To this end, the new fonts’ distribution package contains a demo beamer show contained in the file Slidesfonts-demo.pdf 6.4 Some mathematics where everything is typeset with these new fonts and It’s worth typesetting some simple math expression where some more information is given in addition to as if we were preparing a slide: see figure 1. Probably what is provided here. at first sight what strikes our attention is that the exponents are a little lighter than expected, since 6.5 Some more math we are used to math expressions typeset with the Of course it is impossible to display here all the CM math fonts, where exponents are drawn from the available LATEX math symbols, AMS math included. right optical size, not merely reduced versions of a Nevertheless, in order to evaluate what you can get larger size. But this problem, as was already pointed with these new fonts when typesetting math, it’s out, occurs with almost all outline fonts, except worthwhile to typeset some more expressions, for those specific to the TEX system collections where example an expression where large operators appear; optical sizes are conveniently available, especially for see figure 2. purposes of typesetting math. Notice that the expression in figure 2 contains Another point is that math italics are real italics, also the counterclockwise oriented circle, taken from not a slanted version of the upright font, as happens the redrawn AMS math font collection. with the default settings for some classes for slide pro- Another formula, figure 3, contains a triple in- duction and conference presentations. This happens tegral, a typical construct obtainable with standard with both CM sans serif fonts and with Helvetica, amsmath commands, but here they directly access the two most common sans serif fonts for preparing the newly redrawn math symbols and operators. The TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 281
The residues theorem states that if f(z): In order to complete this transformation it is z; f 2 C is analytic in D except in a finite set necessary to use particular encoding vectors; for the of singularities, then it is American Mathematical Society fonts such encod- Nsing ing vectors were not distributed with TEX Live in ! f(z) dz = 2ıj Rk 2007, so it was necessary to create them. They are Z ‚ kX=1 included in this font distribution package in the enc where ‚ is a simply connected line total- subdirectory; although they should not be necessary ly lying in D and Nsing is the number of in normal use, now they are available. singularities contained within ‚. 9 Font installation Figure 2: Some more math In order to use these fonts, it is necessary to install them. If the bitmapped versions are sufficient, then the .mf and the .tfm file should be copied to the P F ( ) dx dy dz right folders and the file name database should be ZZZV updated. Figure 3: Large operators Since the outline versions are available, there is no reason to avoid their installation. It is a little trickier than with the ordinary METAFONT version, mixture of medium and bold math symbols is ob- but the instructions are given in the documentation tained with the \boldsymbol command, but all the contained in the distribution package. See also [6]. symbols are taken from the new fonts. In fact, installation of the outline fonts is highly More examples could be produced endlessly — recommended. Even if PDF viewers are improv- A all constructs that can be typeset with LTEX and ing, it’s still true that bitmapped fonts are not par- its extension packages are compatible with the new ticularly suited for reading a document at various fonts. magnifications: enlarged bitmapped fonts appear as 7 Text symbols small tiles set close together, instead of fonts with smooth contours. Moreover, bitmapped fonts should Since the Text Companion font [7] has also been be avoided when one uses programs, such as pdflatex, redrawn with the graphic parameters of these fonts, that directly use outline fonts, for the very reason all symbols available with that Companion font are described above. Presentations, which these fonts accessible together with these slide fonts; some glyphs were intended for, are of course typically produced are shown in figure 4. in PDF format.
č ţ W ě $ £ Ľ 10 The extension package for the fonts Figure 4: A specimen of Text Companion symbols Last and perhaps most important of all, it is nec- essary to copy lxfonts.sty into a suitable folder Notice in particular the Euro symbol: in contrast where LATEX can find it. to the original Text Companion font, this glyph is This file, lxfonts.sty, is the keystone of the without serifs, according to the style of these new whole building, but it must be used with care. It slide fonts. must be invoked by means of \usepackage after all Obviously this font variety has the same shapes other font related packages have been loaded. and series of the main text font, that is upright Some details: medium and bold, and slanted medium and bold; the If no special font choices are made, the default italic variant is missing as is customary with sans • settings of lxfonts.sty is to choose the OT1 serif fonts. In any case, with symbols the difference font encoding (not recommended when type- between slanted and italics is rather uncertain. setting in languages that use many diacritical marks), and neither the Text Companion nor 8 The PostScript Type 1 implementation the AMS fonts are loaded. All fonts described so far have been transformed If the T1 encoding is specified, then the pack- into PostScript Type 1 format by means of mftrace • age loads the T1 encoded fonts, which is recom- [8]. This script provides for calling a number of mended when typesetting in most Latin-based other programs in order to trace the contours of languages other than English. bitmapped fonts produced with METAFONT, clean If the Text Companion font was invoked, then up the results, and assemble the final .pfb font files. • lxfonts.sty loads the new substitution font, 282 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
in the sense that all normal Text Companion work is excellent and their fonts have been used for commands that access glyphs from the original decades now, to the complete satisfaction of every font, after this substitution, access the glyphs user. I simply noticed that their METAFONT pro- from the new font. gramming was specific for the particular glyphs that Finally, if the amsmath package was called for, had to be produced. • that is, if the AMS math symbols are required, The same holds true for the Text Companion then the lxfonts.sty file takes care of substi- fonts, where I had to ‘correct’ only the Euro sign — tuting the original AMS fonts by the new ones. the original serifed one gave very strange results with There is no declaration to make in order to use the new parameters. these new fonts; everything is needed is provided by I am sure that many other corrections are nec- the new lxfonts.sty file. The curious ones who essary, but being the only user of these new fonts, I want to dig into this file will find only family and have not been able to discover more. Therefore the lxfonts package now available on CTAN [1] must be shape definitions that refer to just one size, 8 pt, that considered an alpha version, though reliably usable. is magnified or shrunk according to necessity during the various typesetting stages. For this reason it is Therefore I invite all interested readers to use particularly convenient to use the scalable outline these new fonts, discover where they should be cor- fonts; their installation might be a little tricky, but rected and give me feedback on their findings. As with every piece of free and open source software, it is worth the effort. these fonts get better when constructive criticism is 11 Suggestions provided by the users, not to mention the software The simple examples shown in the previous sections contribution that competent users can offer. of this printed paper demonstrate the pros and cons References of these new fonts. In particular, they display the ex- lxfonts treme lightness of the smaller sizes, and this, perhaps, [1] Beccari, Claudio. The package. http://ctan.org/get/fonts/lxfonts. is the primary drawback of these fonts. But when you use them for producing presenta- [2] Knuth, Donald E. The TEXbook. Addison tions, for example with the beamer class, you get the Wesley, Reading Mass., 1990. best out of them, because they appear to be partic- [3] Knuth, Donald E. The METAFONTbook. ularly suited for presentations; after all, they were Addison Wesley, Reading Mass., 2000. originally conceived with this aim as part of the old [4] Lamport, Leslie. LATEX: A Document SliTEX system. And it is for this very reason that is Preparation System. Addison Wesley, Reading suggested to avoid using these fonts for anything but Mass., 1st edition, 1984. presentations and, perhaps, for text to be printed at [5] Lamport, Leslie. LATEX: A Document very large sizes. Preparation System. Addison Wesley, Reading nd 12 Conclusion Mass., 2 edition, 1994. [6] Philipp Lehman. The font installation While building these fonts I had to correct a certain METAFONT guide, 2004. http://ctan.org/get/info/ number of glitches in the original files Type1fonts. originally produced by the American Mathematical [7] The Society. These glitches probably never showed up Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens, et al. LAT X Companion nd because nobody (I suppose) needed to produce new E . Addison Wesley, 2 edition, fonts with different graphical parameters while using 2004. the same METAFONT programs. By experience I [8] Nienhuys, Han-Wen. mftrace — scalable fonts for METAFONT know that more often than not the character pro- . http://lilypond.org/download/ grams are tweaked to the necessities of the graphic sources/mftrace/mftrace-1.2.14.tar.gz. parameters, and probably I did the same with the ⋄ AMS fonts. I do not want to blame at all the AMS Claudio Beccari experts who designed the AMS fonts, because their claudio dot beccari at gmail dot com TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 283
Reshaping Euler: A collaboration with Hermann Zapf Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater, Volker RW Schaa
It is no secret that over the last few years Hermann Zapf has been reshaping some of his designs, most notably Palatino and Optima. Some three years ago, when Volker and Hans were talking to Hermann, they discovered he would like to improve the Euler fonts as well. These fonts were developed a few decades ago using the technology of those days, in close cooperation between Don Knuth and Hermann Zapf. The glyphs were drawn on paper about 6cm height and these drawings were digitized using pinpoints on paper with a raster. The resulting points were translated to METAFONT and some additional math shapes were added afterwards. Later, when the fonts became popular with TEXies, virtual fonts were created using Euler and AMS Math fonts. The resulting bitmap fonts were fine for the bitmap-oriented TEX backends of those days. Later, when bitmaps became outdated, the bitmaps became outlines, and the artifacts introduced in the digitization became somewhat more prominent (especially when the fonts were scaled). The reasons why Hermann wanted to reshape Euler were manifold. First, he wanted to improve some details related to drawing with a broad pen. Then, the slope as well as the descenders of some glyphs needed to be adapted. The strokes had to be made more consistent too. Finally, the characters that were not Euler (but had been added afterwards) had to be redrawn: first the core characters, later (in principle) all characters that TEXies use. This last effort is still on the agenda and part of making Euler Unicode compliant. When we met Hermann on a subsequent occasion, the topic of reshaping Euler came up again, and we decided to go ahead with an active project. Taco was willing to join in and we decided to improve the fonts by just editing the Type 1 fonts. Because the project would take more than a year (at that time Hermann was still working at Linotype on his other projects), we decided to make this redesign into a present for Don Knuth’s 70th birthday. At that point the old Euler was 25 years old. The following graphics display some of the changes. Some are more prominent than others. Even small corrections help improve the overall look and feel because they influence our perception of black on white. (It may help to have a magnifier at hand.) In figure 1 we take a first look at some of the reshaping. The gray area is the bounding box, the white shape is the new font, the outline is the old one.
subtle corrections direction changes vertical strokes BFigure 1 ΣΓ New Euler Roman Medium (a) In figure 2 we see more drastic changes: shortened strokes. The bounding box is kept unchanged since we made it an initial goal for the new shapes to work well with the existing metric files; that 284 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 way, New Euler would be a drop-in replacement for the existing fonts and could be used with no fear of changing line breaks.
νFigure 2 New Eulerτ Roman Medium. (b) As with Palatino Nova and Optima Nova, Hermann did not hesitate to go even further than this. Figure 3 demonstrates this clearly. A nice side effect of harmonizing the font is that we can now use Euler for running text, although the text font is not yet released (due to too many holes in the usual text encoding vectors). g Figuref 3 New Euler Roman Medium (c) Some of the changes result directly from looking at the fonts in a larger size (see figure 4). The redesign started by printing the outlines of the fonts at sizes up to 12cm but finally Hermann decided to focus on the 6cm variant. The corrected outlines were mailed, faxed and/or presented in person. Many such corrections concerned the way corners are cut off. In that respect some of the original characters didn’t qualify as Euler at all, for instance < symbols, but by cutting some corners and adapting the strokes they became eulerized.
bend in corners< wrong cut-offs MFigure 4 New Euler Roman Medium (d) TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 285
When the discussions about reshaping started, the changes mostly concerned small corrections and descenders, but once we had the proper work-cycle in place Hermann went a bit further. Of course the descenders have been lowered too, as is demonstrated in Figure 5. JQ Figure 5 New Euler Roman Medium (e)
As usual, TEX math fonts have interesting ways of combining characters in fonts and so we have old style digits in the Fraktur font. The elegance of New Euler is well demonstrated by these numerals (see0 figure 6). 68* eufm: 0 eufm: 6 eufm: 8 eufm: star Figure 6 New Euler Fraktur Medium Most characters have been changed, some much more than others. In the symbol font, the aleph now better matchesℵ the rest (it was rather fat)L and the script L is less upright (see figure 7). eusm: Aleph eusm: Script L Figure 7 New Euler Symbol Medium 286 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
As intended, New Euler is metric compatible with Old Euler, and of course the smaller sizes and the bold variants have been adapted too. By the end of 2007 all the medium variants at 10pt were done, and Taco had to go into overdrive. We were quite lucky that he has mastered FontForge so well (figure 8), and so we could start 2008 with a complete set of fonts.
normal bold Figure 8 Editing Euler in FontForge
The fonts were presented to Don Knuth on January 10, 2008 on an eight-page leporello hand-made by Willy Egger, with each page showing one of the aspects of the reshaping, all of which kept us pretty busy during the holidays (figure 9).
Figure 9 Presenting New Euler TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 287
Does the project end here? No, this is just the first stage. Hermann is willing to participate in extending the Euler fonts with the Unicode math characters that make sense. An important aspect of the project is to get the old fonts replaced by the new ones. We’re happy that the AMS is considering acceptance of the new fonts as a formal substitute for the existing ones. And of course, the TEX distribution wizard Karl Berry will take care of getting the fonts in the right places and rooting out traces of old ones, when the time comes. For quite some time Don Knuth has been asking users to get rid of the old Computer Modern delta, so in closing let’s quote him from his web site on behalf of Hermann: If you see that your system produces the symbol δ instead of δ for the Greek lowercase delta, you should tell your system administrator immediately to upgrade your obsolete version of the Euler fonts. And don’t tell us that you don’t see the difference. And, as you may expect, this quote was typeset in Euler Text.
Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater, Volker RW Schaa ⋄ 288 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Software & Tools picture intersection; fill(intersection,c1,lightred+lightgreen); clip(intersection,c2); Asymptote: A vector graphics language add(intersection); John C. Bowman and Andy Hammerlindl draw(c1); Abstract draw(c2); Asymptote is a powerful descriptive vector graph- ics language inspired by METAPOST that features label("$A$",z1); robust floating-point numerics, automatic picture siz- label("$B$",z2); ing, native three-dimensional graphics, and a C++/ path g=(0,-2)--(0,-0.25); Java-like syntax enhanced with high-order functions. draw(Label("$A\cap B$",0),g,Arrow); 1 Motivation The descriptive vector graphics language Asymptote1 was developed to provide a standard for drawing mathematical figures, just as TEX and LATEX have A B become the standard for typesetting equations in the mathematics, physics, and computer science commu- nities. Asymptote has been aptly described as “the ruler and compass of typesetting” [1]. For profes- sional quality and portability, Asymptote natively A ∩ B produces PostScript or PDF output. Graphics la- 3 History bels are typeset directly by TEX to achieve overall document consistency: identical fonts and equations Asymptote began as a University of Alberta sum- should be used in graphics and text portions of a mer undergraduate research project in 2002, after document. looking into the feasibility of overhauling Hobby’s 2 In this article we first highlight Asymptote’s ba- METAPOST to use floating-point numerics. Many sic graphics capabilities with an example and then of the current limitations of METAPOST derive from proceed to review the origins and distinguishing fea- METAFONT: numbers are stored in a low-precision tures of this powerful vector graphics language. Fur- fixed-point format that is adequate for representing ther examples of Asymptote diagrams, graphs, and points in a glyph but restrictive for diagrams and sci- animations are available in the Asymptote gallery entific computations. While the IEEE floating-point and user-written wiki: numeric format was not standardized until 1985, http://asymptote.sourceforge.net/gallery/ the initial development of TEX dates back to 1978. http://asymptote.sourceforge.net/links.html At that time, the decision to use only fixed-point (integer-based) arithmetic was perfectly reasonable: 2 An example Knuth wanted to guarantee that TEX and META- The following example illustrates the four Asymptote FONT would produce exactly the same bit-mapped graphics primitives (draw, fill, clip, and label): output on any existing hardware. We quickly determined that a complete rewrite size(0,100); of the underlying graphics engine would be necessary. pair z1=(-1,0); After six months of work, our compiler for a new pair z2=(1,0); graphics language could finally draw a sine curve. real r=1.5; One of the four Asymptote primitives had now been path c1=circle(z1,r); implemented! path c2=circle(z2,r); From this very humble beginning, Asymptote evolved rapidly. The basic fill operation was straight- fill(c1,lightred); forward to implement. The most crucial advance, fill(c2,lightgreen);
1 Andy Hammerlindl, John Bowman, and Tom Prince, 2 METAPOST is a modified version of METAFONT, the available under the GNU General Public License from program that Knuth wrote to produce the Computer Modern http://asymptote.sourceforge.net/ fonts used with TEX. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 289
aligning TEX labels at the correct positions, was ac- flow, underflow, and loss of precision issues much complished three months later, using compass direc- less troublesome than they are in METAPOST pro- tions or arbitrary angles to specify label alignments: grams. Asymptote represents curves as cubic B´ezier size(0,2cm); splines, but can easily handle large data values and draw((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle); the pathological behaviour of functions like x sin(1/x) label("$A$",(0,0),SW); near the origin. It also supports new path operations label("$B$",(1,0),SE); like computing the winding number of a path relative label("$C$",(1,1),NE); to a given point, which is useful for identifying the label("$D$",(0,1),NW); region bounded by a closed path. Most users find the Asymptote language much D C easier to program in, with its C++/Java-like syn- tax (augmented to support high-order functions), than METAPOST, with its awkward and somewhat confusing vardef macros. Asymptote also borrows A B several ideas from Python, such as named function The idea was to leave the entire label type- arguments and array slices. High-level graphics com- setting to LATEX, inserting PostScript layers with mands are implemented in the Asymptote language \includegraphics, and thereby avoid the complica- itself, allowing them to be easily tailored to specific tions and kerning issues inherent in the METAPOST user applications. approach of post-processing the DVI file. To accom- Like METAPOST, Asymptote is mathematically plish this, Asymptote communicates with TEX via oriented. For example, one can rotate vectors by a bidirectional pipe in two passes: the first pass is complex multiplication and apply affine transforma- used to obtain label sizing information, while the tions (shifts, rotations, reflections, and scalings) to second pass performs the final typesetting directly pairs, triples, paths, pens, strings, pictures, and other into DVI/PostScript or PDF. Label clipping and transforms. transforms are implemented with PostScript or PDF 4.1 Functions specials. A third co-developer, Tom Prince, joined us Asymptote is the only language we know of that in 2004. He contributed a method for embedding treats functions as variables, but allows overloading Asymptote code directly in LATEX source files. With by distinguishing variables based on their signatures. Tom’s help, we ported more reliable versions of the In fact, function definitions are just syntactic sugar METAPOST algorithms for basic B´ezier path oper- for assigning function objects to variables: ations such as splitting into subpaths, computing real square(real x) {return x^2;} points of tangency, determining path bounds, and finding intersection points. Robust arc length and is equivalent to arc time computations were implemented with adap- real square(real x); tive Simpson integration, which was determined to square=new real(real x) {return x^2;}; be more efficient than B´ezier subdivision. Asymptote supports a more flexible mechanism On November 7, 2004, we posted our first pub- for default function arguments than C++: they may lic release, version 0.51, on sourceforge.net. Since appear anywhere in the function prototype. This then, the user base and the list of new features have feature underlies Asymptote’s greatest strength: sen- grown dramatically. The current version at the time sible default values for the basic graphical elements of this writing is 1.42. Like METAPOST, Asymptote allow beautiful graphs and drawings to be created runs on GNU/Linux and other UNIX-like operating with extremely short scripts, without sacrificing the systems, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X. Pre- flexibility for detailed customization. Default argu- compiled Asymptote binaries are now included in ments are evaluated as Asymptote expressions in the several major Linux distributions. scope where the function is defined. 4 Language features Because certain data types are implicitly cast to more sophisticated types, one can often avoid Asymptote uses lexical analysis, parsing, and inter- ambiguities in function calls by ordering function mediate code generation to compile commands into arguments from the simplest to the most complicated. virtual machine code, optimizing speed without sac- For example, given rificing portability. Double-precision floating-point numbers and 64-bit integers make arithmetic over- real f(int a=1, real b=0) {return a+b;} 290 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
the call f(1) returns 1.0, but f(1.0) returns 2.0. 5 Modules It is sometimes difficult to remember the order in Function and structure definitions can be grouped which arguments appear in a function declaration. into modules: Python-style named (keyword) arguments make call- ing functions with multiple arguments easier: the // powers.asy above examples could respectively be written f(a=1) real square(real x) {return x^2;} and f(b=1). An assignment of a function argument real cube(real x) {return x^3;} is interpreted as an assignment to a parameter of and imported: the same name in the function signature, not in the local scope of the calling routine. import powers; Rest arguments allow one to write functions that path square(real x) { take a variable number of arguments. For example, return scale(x)*unitsquare; the following function sums its arguments: } real four=powers.square(2.0); real sum(... real[] nums) { real eight=cube(2.0); real total=0; For example, Asymptote ships with modules for for(real x : nums) Feynman diagrams: total += x; − return total; e µ+ ′ } k p As in other modern languages, functions can call themselves recursively. Operators, including all of q Asymptote’s built-in arithmetic and path operations, are just syntactic sugar for functions that can be k′ p − addressed and defined with the operator keyword. e+ µ Asymptote functions are first-class values, al- lowing them to be defined within, passed to, and data structures, returned by other functions. This is convenient when one wants to graph a sequence of functions such as 1 fn(x)= n sin(x/n) for n = 1 to 5 from x = 10 to − 10: 2 3 import graph; typedef real function(real); 4 0 6 7
function f(int n) { 5 real fn(real x) { and algebraic knot theory: return n*sin(x/n); } return fn; }
for(int n=1; n <= 5; ++n) draw(graph(f(n),-10,10));
Anonymous functions can be created with the key- word new, so that the function definition in the pre- vious example could be simplified to 0 1 2 function f(int n) { return new real(real x) { Modules are written in high-level Asymptote code. return n*sin(x/n); Users have contributed modules tailored to many }; other specialized applications (such as flowcharts } and computer-aided design). TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 291
6 Graphics features is to be filled. In this example, the same effect can be METAPOST does not support many important fea- achieved by using the default zero winding number tures of PostScript. For example, only connected fill rule, if one is careful to alternate the orientation PostScript subpaths are supported. Regions must of the paths: be simply connected (have no holes) and can only filldraw(unitcircle^^reverse(g), yellow, be filled with uniform RGB colours. In addition to black); native support for three-dimensional graphics, also lacking in METAPOST, these missing features have 6.3 Patterns been implemented in Asymptote. One can also construct custom pictures to be used as tiling patterns for fill or draw operations. The tiling 6.1 Pens pattern can be assigned a name that can subsequently Pens provide a context for the four primitive drawing be used to construct a patterned pen. For example, commands: they specify attributes such as color, line a hatch pattern can be generated like this: type, line width, text alignment, font, font size, fill import patterns; rule, and filling patterns. For non-solid line types, add("hatch",hatch()); dash lengths are by default slightly adjusted to fit the filldraw(unitcircle,pattern("hatch")); path arc length (for example, to allow publication quality legend entries in graphs with multiple line types). Interesting calligraphic effects are possible by applying transforms to the (normally circular) pen nib or even using a polygonal pen nib (which need not be convex): 6.4 Shading Asymptote supports axial and radial gradient shad- ing, lattice shading, Gouraud shading, and shading of Coons and tensor product patches; the latter forms are essential for three-dimensional rendering in the The default pen, called currentpen, provides the presence of a light source. Asymptote also supports same functionality as the METAPOST pickup com- a true unfill operation implemented with clipping mand. Colors can be specified in any one of the (the METAPOST unfill command simply fills with a PostScript colorspaces: grayscale, RGB, and CMYK. fixed background color). 6.2 Subpaths 6.5 Automatic picture sizing An Asymptote path, being connected, is equivalent to A frame is a canvas for drawing in PostScript coordi- a PostScript subpath. The binary operator ^^, which nates, much like a picture in METAPOST. However, requests that the pen be moved (without drawing or working directly in PostScript coordinates is often affecting endpoint curvatures) from the final point inconvenient, requiring the tedious introduction of of the left-hand path to the initial point of the right- manual scaling factors. hand path, may be used to group several Asymptote Pictures are high-level structures that provide connected paths into a path[] array (equivalent to canvases for drawing in a user-specified Cartesian a PostScript path). While this facility is merely coordinate system. Automatic sizing allows pictures convenient for drawing an object like the skeleton of to be constructed in user coordinates and then auto- a cube (without retracing), it is essential for filling matically scaled to the desired final size: nonsimply-connected regions: y path g=scale(2)*unitcircle; filldraw(unitcircle^^g, evenodd+yellow, black); y (a, 0) (2a, 0) (a, 0) (2a, 0) x x
size(0,50); The PostScript even-odd fill rule here specifies that only the region bounded between the two unit circles size(0,100); 292 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Eventually, one must fit a picture to a Post- small Script frame. This requires deferred drawing: a graphical object cannot be drawn until the actual scaling of the user coordinates (in terms of Post- Script coordinates) is known. One needs to queue a function that can draw the scaled object later, when this scaling is known. For example, the draw function for pictures in scalable user coordinates is BIG implemented in terms of the underlying PostScript- coordinate draw primitive for frames like this: 6.6 Three-dimensional graphics void draw(picture pic=currentpicture, We now describe our three-dimensional generaliza- path g, pen p=currentpen) { tion of Hobby’s prescription for drawing an aesthet- pic.add(new void(frame f, transform t) { ically pleasing, numerically efficient, interpolating draw(f,t*g,p); spline through a set of nodes, given optional tangent }); directions and endpoint curvatures [2, 3]. This gener- pic.addPoint(min(g),min(p)); alization is shape invariant under three-dimensional pic.addPoint(max(g),max(p)); rotation, scaling, and translation. In the planar case, } it reduces to the two-dimensional algorithms found in METAFONT, METAPOST, and Asymptote. Here, the addPoint function stores bounding box In two dimensions, a tridiagonal system of linear information as user (e.g. path) coordinates, which equations is first solved to determine any unspecified scale linearly with the picture size, and true-size (e.g. directions θk and φk through each node zk: pen) coordinates, which remain fixed. θk 1 2φk φk+1 2θk The sizing constraints that arise between scal- − − = − . ℓk ℓk+1 able objects and fixed-sized attributes (typically la- bels, dots, linewidths, and arrowheads) reduce to a linear programming problem that is solved by the sim- φk zk plex method. However, a figure can easily produce thousands of restrictions, making direct application θk of the simplex method time consuming. In practice, ℓk most of these restrictions are redundant: in the case +1
of concentric circles, only the largest circle needs to zk+1 ℓk be accounted for. When sizing a picture, Asymptote first determines which coordinates are maximal (or minimal) and sends only active constraints to the simplex algorithm. The entire picture-sizing algo- rithm, including the simplex method, is implemented zk−1 in high-level Asymptote code. The resulting shape may be adjusted by modifying This example illustrates how deferred drawing the default tension parameters and curl boundary can be used to draw paths around text labels and conditions (cf. [3]). then connect them (an object is a unifying structure Having prescribed outgoing and incoming path iθ iφ that a label or frame can be implicitly cast to): directions e at node z0 and e at node z1 relative to the vector z1 z0, any unspecified control points size(0,100); are then determined− by the equations pair A=(0,1); iθ pair B=(0,0); u = z0 + e (z1 z0)f(θ, φ), iφ − − v = z1 e (z1 z0)f( φ, θ), − − − object small=draw("small",box,A,1mm); where the relative distance function f(θ,φ) is given object big=draw("\huge BIG",ellipse,B,1mm); in [2] and [3]. In three dimensions, it is natural to require that add(new void(frame f, transform t) { our generalization reduce in the planar case to the draw(f,point(small,SW,t){SW} usual two-dimensional algorithm. Therefore, any ..{SW}point(big,NE,t)); unknown incoming or outgoing tangent directions }); are first determined by applying Hobby’s direction TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 293
algorithm in successive planes containing the three (1,0,0)..(0,1,1)..(-1,0,0)..(0,-1,1)..cycle points zk 1, zk, and zk+1. The only ambiguity that − describes a saddle-like path in three dimensions. The can arise is in the overall sign of the angles, which result of simply projecting the nodes and control relates to viewing each local two-dimensional plane points of this three-dimensional B´ezier curve to a from opposing normal directions. A reference vector two dimensional B´ezier curve is indicated by the constructed from the mean unit normal of successive dashed path in the following perspective projection. segments is used to resolve such ambiguities. The true projection, described by the two-dimension- A formula for the three-dimensional control al nonuniform rational B-spline represented by the points u and v follows on expressing Hobby’s algo- solid curve, can be efficiently approximated as a two- rithm in terms of the absolute incoming and outgoing dimensional B´ezier curve by introducing additional unit direction vectors ω0 and ω1, respectively: nodes and control points. An algorithm for doing this u = z0 + ω0 z1 z0 f(θ, φ), efficiently will be presented in a future publication. | − | − v = z1 ω1 z1 z0 f( φ, θ), − | − | −
φ ω1 z1
The three-dimensional graph of the sinc function ω0 θ below illustrates Gouraud shading, advanced contour path computations, and PDF transparency: z0 where we interpret θ and φ as the angle between the 1 corresponding path direction vector and z1 z0. In this case there is an unambiguous reference vector− for determining the relative sign of the angles θ and φ. z 0.5 Unfortunately, PostScript and PDF support only B´ezier splines, which are shape invariant under affine (orthographic) projections (parallel lines being pro- 0 2 jected to parallel lines), but not perspective projec- tions. In any dimension, applying an affine trans- − 2 − y formation xi′ = Aijxj + Ci to a cubic B´ezier curve 1 3 0 −2 x(t) = Bk(t)Pk for t [0, 1], where Bk(t) is x 1 k=0 ∈ 2 the kthP cubic Bernstein polynomial yields the B´ezier curve 6.7 Scientific graphs 3 3 Asymptote ships with a sophisticated graph module xi′ (t)= Bk(t)Aij(Pk)j + Ci = Bk(t)Pk′ that quickly allows one to draw publication-quality kX=0 kX=0 scientific and textbook-style graphs, such as the two- th in terms of the transformed k control points Pk′ , dimensional polar coordinate graph of the cardioid 3 noting that k=0 Bk(t) = 1. Thus, for orthographic shown in Section 6.5 and the three-dimensional sur- projections,P both the nodes and control points of face plot shown in Section 6.6. It supports features three-dimensional B´ezier curves can simply be pro- such as legends, custom graph markers, secondary jected to obtain their two-dimensional counterparts. axes, custom (e.g. base 2) axes scalings, broken axes, Non-uniform rational B-splines have the advan- and custom tick label formats and locations. tage of being invariant even in the presence of per- spective distortion, since they are B´ezier curves in 7 Graphical user interface the projective space described by homogeneous coor- Recent versions of Asymptote include an innovative dinates, where (x,y,z,w) is considered as equivalent graphical user interface, written in Python/TK, that x y z to ( w , w , w , 1). For example, the Asymptote syntax allows one to modify existing graphical objects and 294 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
draw new ones. The modified figure can then be 12 Credits saved and processed as a normal Asymptote file. Financial support for the development of Asymptote This allows the user to exploit the best features of was generously provided by the Natural Sciences the script (command-driven) and graphical-interface and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the methods for producing figures. Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and the 8 Slide presentations University of Alberta Faculty of Science. We would like to acknowledge enthusiastically Asymptote also includes a convenient slide module the previous work of John D. Hobby, which inspired for preparing slide presentations, including embedded the development of Asymptote, and Donald E. Knuth, clickable high-resolution PDF movies (with optional for his exceptionally high quality TEX typesetting sys- control panels). This module has the advantage over tem, without which none of these later developments A existing LTEX presentation packages of providing would have been possible. We also thank L. Nobre built-in graphics support, including object alignment, and Troy Henderson for suggesting techniques for in addition to the full power of TEX. approximating nonuniform rational B-splines. 9 Animations The authors of Asymptote are Andy Hammer- lindl, John Bowman, and Tom Prince. Sean Healy While Asymptote can create MPEG and animated designed the Asymptote logo (below). Other con- GIF movies, the lossless inline PDF movies it can tributors include Radoslav Marinov, Orest Shardt, A generate with the help of the LTEX animate.sty Chris Savage, Philippe Ivaldi, Olivier Guib´e, Jacques package are of a much higher quality. Sample anima- Pienaar, Mark Henning, Steve Melenchuk, Martin tions can be found in the Asymptote gallery. Wiebusch, and Stefan Knorr. 10 Equation solving Unlike METAFONT and METAPOST, Asymptote is not built on top of an implicit linear equation solver and therefore does not automatically have the no- symptotesymptote tion of a whatever unknown. Although such an implicit equation facility could certainly be added (perhaps using the notation ?= since = denotes as- signment in Asymptote), we have noticed that the METAPOST most common uses of whatever in are References covered by explicit functions like extension in the math module (which returns the intersection point [1] The Art of Problem Solving: Asymptote of the extensions of two line segments). We find the (Vector Graphics Language). Available online at use of routines like extension to be more explicit http://www.artofproblemsolving.com, 2007. and less confusing, particularly to new users. But we [2] John D. Hobby. Smooth, easy to compute could be persuaded to add implicit equation solving interpolating splines. Discrete Comput. Geom., if someone can justify the need (so far no one has 1:123–140, 1986. provided us with an example that cannot already [3] Donald E. Knuth. The METAFONTbook. be done elegantly in Asymptote). In the meantime, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1986. one can always use the explicit built-in linear solver solve (based on LU decomposition) or one of the ⋄ John C. Bowman numerically robust specialized solvers tridiagonal, Dept. of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences quadraticroots, cubicroots, and quarticroots. University of Alberta 11 Future plans Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6G 2G1 Thanks to the LATEX movie15 package, Asymptote bowman (at) math dot ualberta dot ca can embed three-dimensional U3D files into PDF http://www.math.ualberta.ca/~bowman/ files. In the near future, we plan to generate U3D ⋄ Andy Hammerlindl data (or possibly the more advanced PRC format) University of Toronto directly from Asymptote’s internal three-dimensional Dept. of Mathematics representations. This will provide the scientific com- Toronto, Ontario munity with a self-contained and powerful facility for Canada M5S 2E4 generating interactive three-dimensional PDF files. andy (at) math dot toronto dot edu TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 295
The Luafication of TEX and ConTEXt and we’re confident that we can keep our schedule. We do our tests of a variant of ConTEXt tagged Hans Hagen MkIV, especially meant for LuaTEX, but LuaTEX 1 Introduction itself is in no way limited to or tuned for ConTEXt. Large chunks of the code written for MkIV are rather Here I will present the current stage of LuaT X E generic and may eventually be packaged as a base around beta stage 2, and discuss the impact so far system (especially font handling) so that one can on ConTEXt MkIV that we use as our testbed. I’m use LuaTEX in rather plain mode. To a large extent writing this at the end of February 2008 as part of MkIV will be functionally compatible with MkII, the the series of regular updates on LuaTEX. As such, version meant for traditional TEX, although it knows this report is part of our more or less standard test how to profit from X TE EX. Of course the expectation document (mk.tex). More technical details can be is that certain things can be done better in MkIV found in the reference manual that comes with Lua- than in MkII. TEX. More information on MkIV is available in the ConTEXt mailing lists, Wiki, and mk.pdf. 2 Status For those who never heard of LuaT X: this is E By the end of 2007 the second major beta release of a new variant of TEX where several long pending LuaTEX was published. In the first quarter of 2008 wishes are fulfilled: Taco would concentrate on MPlib, Hartmut would combine the best of all TEX engines come up with the first version of the image library • add scripting capabilities while I could continue working on MkIV and start • open up the internals to the scripting engine using LuaT X in real projects. Of course there is • E enhance font support to OpenType some risk involved in that, but since we have a rather • move on to Unicode close loop for critical bug fixes, and because I know • integrate MetaPost how to avoid some dark corners, the risk was worth • There are a few more wishes, like converting the taking. code base to C code but these are long term goals. What did we accomplish so far? I can best de- The project started a few years ago and is scribe this in relation to how ConTEXt MkIV evolved conducted by Taco Hoekwater (Pascal and C code and will evolve. Before we do this, it makes sense coding, code base management, reference manual), to spend some words on why we started working on Hartmut Henkel (PDF backend, experimental fea- MkIV in the first place. tures) and Hans Hagen (general overview, Lua and When the LuaTEX project started, ConTEXt TEX coding, website). The code development got a was about 10 years in the field. I can safely say that boost by a grant of the Oriental TEX project (project we were still surprised by the fact that what at first lead: Idris Samawi Hamid) and funding via the TEX sight seems unsolvable in TEX somehow could always Users Group. The related MPlib project by the same be dealt with. However, some of the solutions were team is also sponsored by several user groups. The rather tricky. The code evolved towards a more or very much needed OpenType fonts are also a user less stable state, but sometimes depended on con- group funded effort: the Latin Modern and TEX trolled processing. Take for instance backgrounds Gyre projects (project leads: Jerzy Ludwichowski, that can span pages and columns, can be nested and Volker RW Schaa and Hans Hagen), with develop- can have arbitrary shapes. This feature has been ment (the real work) by: Bogus law Jackowski and present in ConTEXt for quite a while, but it involves Janusz Nowacki. an interplay between TEX and MetaPost. It depends One of our leading principles is that we focus on information collected in a previous run as well as on opening up. This means that we don’t implement (at runtime or not) processing of graphics. solutions (which also saves us many unpleasant and This means that by now ConTEXt is not just everlasting discussions). Implementing solutions is a bunch of TEX macros, but also closely related to up to the user, or more precisely: the macro package MetaPost. It also means that processing itself is writer, and since there are many solutions possible, by now rather controlled by a wrapper, in the case each can do it his or her way. In that sense we follow of MkII called texexec. It may sound complicated, the footsteps of Don Knuth: we make an extensible but the fact that we have implemented workflows tool, you are free to like it or not, you can take it that run unattended for many years and involve and extend it where needed, and there is no need to pretty complex layouts and graphic manipulations bother us (unless of course you find bugs or weird demonstrates that in practice it’s not as bad as it side effects). So far this has worked out quite well may sound. 296 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
With the arrival of LuaTEX we not only have a --expansions show expanded variables rigourously updated TEX engine, but also get Meta- --configurations show configuration order Post integrated. Even better, the scripting language --expand-braces expand complex variable Lua is not only used for opening up TEX, but is also --expand-path expand variable used for all kind of management tasks. As a result, (resolve paths) --expand-var expand variable the development of MkIV not only concerns rewriting (resolve references) whole chunks of ConT Xt, but also results in a set E --show-path show path expansion of ... of new utilities and a rewrite of existing ones. Since --var-value report value of variable dealing with MkIV will demand some changes in the --find-file report file location way users deal with ConTEXt I will discuss some of --find-path report path of file them first. It also demonstrates that LuaTEX is more --make or --ini make luatex format than just TEX. --run or --fmt= run luatex format --luafile=str lua inifile 3 Utilities (default is
$ mtxrun --script font --list --pattern=lmtype.*regular lmtypewriter10-capsregular LMTypewriter10-CapsRegular lmtypewriter10-capsregular.otf lmtypewriter10-regular LMTypewriter10-Regular lmtypewriter10-regular.otf lmtypewriter12-regular LMTypewriter12-Regular lmtypewriter12-regular.otf lmtypewriter8-regular LMTypewriter8-Regular lmtypewriter8-regular.otf lmtypewriter9-regular LMTypewriter9-Regular lmtypewriter9-regular.otf lmtypewritervarwd10-regular LMTypewriterVarWd10-Regular lmtypewritervarwd10-regular.otf
Figure 1: Listing fonts available by pattern with mtxrun.
whose main task is to launch scripts (or documents or This help information gives an impression of whatever) in a TDS tree. The mtxrun script makes what the script does: running other scripts, either it possible to get away from installing Ruby and within a certain TDS tree or not, and either con- as a result a regular TEX installation can be made ditionally or not. Users of ConTEXt will probably independent of scripting tools. recognize most of the flags. As with texmfstart, arguments with prefixes like file: will be resolved version 1.0.2 - 2007+ - PRAGMA ADE / CONTEXT before being passed to the child process. The first option, --script is the most impor- --script run an mtx script tant one and is used like: --execute run a script or program --resolve resolve prefixed arguments mtxrun --script fonts --reload --ctxlua run internally mtxrun --script fonts --pattern=lm (using preloaded libs) --locate locate given filename In MkIV you can access fonts by filename or by font name, and because we provide several names per --autotree use texmf tree font you can use this command to see what is possible. cf. environment settings Patterns can be Lua expressions, as demonstrated --tree=pathtotree use given texmf tree in Figure 1. (def: ’setuptex.tmf’) A simple --environment=name use given (tmf) environment file mtxrun --script fonts --path=runpath go to given path before execution gives: --ifchanged=file only execute when given file version 1.0.2 - 2007+ - PRAGMA ADE / CONTEXT has changed font tools --iftouched=old,new only execute when given file has changed --reload generate new font database --list list installed fonts --make create stubs for --save save open type font (context related) scripts in raw table --remove remove stubs for (context related) scripts --pattern=str filter files --stubpath=binpath paths where stubs --all provide alternatives will be written --windows create windows stubs In MkIV font names can be prefixed by file: or --unix create unix (linux) stubs name: and when they are resolved, several attempts are made, for instance non-characters are ignored. --verbose give a bit more info The --all flag shows more variants. --engine=str target engine Another example is: --progname=str format or backend mtxrun --script context --ctx=somesetup \ --edit launch editor somefile.tex with found file --launch (--all) launch files Again, users of texexec may recognize part of (assume os support) this and indeed this is its replacement. Instead of texexec we use a script named mtx-context.lua. --intern run script using built-in Currently we have the following scripts and more libraries will follow: 298 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
context controls processing of files by MkIV 4 Macros babel conversion tools for LAT X files E I will not repeat what is said already in the MkIV cache utilities for managing the cache related documents, but stick to a summary of what chars utilities used for MkIV development the impact on ConT Xt is and will be. From this check T X syntax checker E E you can deduce what the possible influence on other convert helper for some basic graphic conversion macro packages can be. fonts utilities for managing font databases Opening up T X started with rewriting all I/O update tool for installing minimal ConT Xt trees E E related activities. Because we wanted to be able to watch hot folder processing tool read from zip files, the web and more, we moved web utilities related to automate workflows away from the traditional kpse based file handling. The babel script is made in cooperation with Instead MkIV uses an extensible variant written in Thomas Schmitz and can be used to convert ba- Lua. Because we need to be downward compatible, belized Greek files into proper UTF. More of such the code is somewhat messy, but it does the job, and conversions may follow. With cache you can inspect pretty quickly and efficiently too. Some alternative the content of the MkIV cache and do some cleanup. input media are implemented and many more can The chars script is used to construct some tables be added. In the beginning I permitted several ways that we need in the process of development. As its to specify a resource but recently a more restrictive name says, check is a script that does some checks, url syntax was imposed. Of course the file locating and in particular it tries to figure out if TEX files are mechanisms provide the same control as provided by correct. The already mentioned context script is the the file readers in MkII. MkIV replacement of texexec, and takes care of mul- An example of reading from a zip file is: tiple runs, preloading project specific files, etc. The \input zip:///archive.zip?name=foo.tex convert script will replace the Ruby script pstopdf. \input zip:///archive.zip?name=/somepath/foo.tex A rather important script is the abovementioned In addition one can register files, like: fonts. Use this for generating font name databases (which then permits a more liberal access to fonts) or \usezipfile[archive.zip] \usezipfile[tex.zip][texmf-local] identifying installed fonts. The unzip script indeed \usezipfile[tex.zip?tree=texmf-local] unzips archives. The update script is still some- what experimental and is one of the building blocks The last two variants register a zip file in the TDS structure where more specific lookup rules apply. of the ConTEXt minimal installer system by Mojca Miklavec and Arthur Reutenauer. This update script The files in a registered file are known to the file synchronizes a local tree with a repository and keeps searching mechanism so one can give specifications an installation as small as possible, which for in- like the following: stance means: no OpenType fonts for pdfTEX, and \input */foo.tex no redundant Type 1 fonts for LuaTEX and X TE EX. \input */somepath/foo.tex The (for the moment) last two scripts are watch In a similar fashion one can use the http, ftp and web. We use them in (either automated or and other protocols. For this we use independent not) remote publishing workflows. They evolved out fetchers that cache data in the MkIV cache. Of of the Example framework which is currently being course, in more structured projects, one will seldom reimplemented in Lua. use the \input command but use a project structure As you can see, the LuaTEX project and its Con- instead. TEXt companion MkIV project not only deal with Handling of files rather quickly reached a stable TEX itself but also facilitate managing the workflows. state, and we seldom need to visit the code for fixes. There will be more scripts. These scripts are Already after a few years of developing the first code normally rather small because they hook into mtxrun for LuaTEX we reached a state of ‘Hm, when did I which provides the libraries. Of course existing write this?’. When we have reached a stable state tools remain part of the toolkit. Take for instance I foresee that much of the older code will need a ctxtools, a Ruby script that converts font encoded cleanup. pattern files to generic UTF encoded files. Related to reading files is the sometimes messy Those who have followed the development of area of input regimes (file encoding) and font encod- ConTEXt will notice that we moved from utilities ing, which itself relates to dealing with languages. written in Modula to tools written in Perl. These Since LuaTEX is UTF-8 based, we need to deal with were later replaced by Ruby scripts and eventually file encoding issues in the frontend, and this is what most of them will be rewritten in Lua. Lua based file handling does. In practice users of TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 299
LuaTEX will swiftly switch to UTF anyway but we phenation patterns for quite some time now, and provide regime control for historic reasons. This time because ConTEXt ships with its own files, this tran- the recoding tables are Lua based and as a result sition probably went unnoticed, apart maybe from a MkIV has no regime files. In a similar fashion font faster format generation and less startup time. encoding is gone: there is still some old code that Most of these features started out as an exper- deals with default fallback characters, but most of iment and provided a convenient way to test the the files are gone. The same will be true for math en- LuaTEX extensions. In MkIV we go quite far in coding. All information is now stored in a character replacing TEX code by Lua, and how far one goes table which is the central point in many subsystems is a matter of taste and ambition. An example of now. a recent replacement is graphic inclusion. This is It is interesting to notice that until now users one of the oldest mechanisms in ConTEXt and it has have never asked for support with regards to input en- been extended many times, for instance by plugins coding. We can safely assume that they just switched that deal with figure databases (selective filtering to UTF and recoded older documents. It is good to from PDF files made for this purpose), efficient run- know that LuaTEX is mostly pdfTEX but also incor- time conversion, color conversion, downsampling and porates some features of Omega. The main reason product dependent alternatives. for this is that the Oriental TEX project needed bidi- One can question if a properly working mecha- rectional typesetting and there was a preference for nism should be replaced. Not only is there hardly this implementation over the one provided by ε-TEX. any speed to gain (after all, not that many graphics As a side effect input translation is also present, but are included in documents), a Lua–TEX mix may since no one seems to use it, that may as well go even look more complex. However, when an opened- away. In MkIV we refrain from input processing as up TEX keeps evolving at the current pace, this last much as possible and focus on processing the node argument becomes invalid because we can no longer lists. That way there is no interference between user give that TEXie code to Lua. Also, because most of data, macro expansion and whatever may lead to the the graphic inclusion code deals with locating files final data that ends up in the to-be-typeset stream. and figuring out the best quality variant, we can ben- As said, users seem to be happy to use UTF as input, efit much from Lua: file handling is more robust, the and so there is hardly any need for manipulations. code looks cleaner, complex searches are faster, and Related to processing input is verbatim: a fea- eventually we can provide way more clever lookup ture that is always somewhat complicated by the fact schemes. So, after all, switching to Lua here makes that one wants to typeset a manual about TEX in sense. A nice side effect is that some of the men- TEX and therefore needs flexible escapes from illus- tioned plugins now take a few lines of extra code trative as well as real TEX code. In MkIV verbatim instead of many lines of TEX. At the time of writing as well as all buffering of data is dealt with in Lua. It this, the beta version of MkIV has Lua based graphic took a while to figure out how LuaTEX should deal inclusion. with the concept of a line ending, but we got there. A disputable area for Luafication is multipass Right from the start we made sure that LuaTEX data. Most of that has already been moved to Lua could deal with collections of catcode settings (those files instead of TEX files, and the rest will follow: magic states that characters can have). This means only tables of contents still use a TEX auxiliary file. that one has complete control at both the TEX and Because at some point we will reimplement the whole Lua end over the way characters are dealt with. section numbering and cross referencing, we post- In MkIV we also have some pretty printing fea- poned that till later. The move is disputable because tures, but many languages are still missing. Cleaning in the end, most data ends up in TEX again, which up the premature verbatim code and extending pretty involves some conversion. However, in Lua we can printing is on the agenda for the end of 2008. store and manipulate information much more easily Languages also are handled differently. A major and so we decided to follow that route. As a start, change is that pattern files are no longer preloaded index information is now kept in Lua tables, sorted but read in at runtime. There is still some relation on demand, depending on language needs and such. between fonts and languages, no longer in the encod- Positional information used to take up much hash ing but in dealing with OpenType features. Later we space which could deplete the memory pool, but now will do a more drastic overhaul (with multiple name we can have millions of tracking points at hardly any schemes and such). There are a few experimental cost. features, like spell checking. Because it is a quite independent task, we could Because we have been using UTF encoded hy- rewrite the MetaPost conversion code in Lua quite 300 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
early in the development. We got smaller and cleaner complex feature support, so that provides a good code, more flexibility, and also gained some speed. test bed as well as some pressure for getting it done. The code involved in this may change as soon as we Of course there is always the question to what extent start experimenting with MPlib. Our expectations we should follow the (maybe faulty) other programs are high because in a bit more modern designs a that deal with font features. We’re lucky that the graphic engine cannot be missed. For instance, in Latin Modern and TEX Gyre projects provide real educational material, backgrounds and special shapes fonts as well as room for discussion and exploring are all over the place, and we’re talking about many these grey areas. MetaPost runs then. We expect to bring down the In parallel to writing this, I made a tracing processing time of such documents considerably, if feature for Oriental TEXer Idris so that he could only because the MetaPost runtime will be close to trace what happened with the Arabic fonts that he is zero (as experiments have shown us). making. This was relatively easy because already in While writing the code involved in the MetaPost an early stage of MkIV some debugging mechanisms conversion a new feature showed up in Lua: lpeg, were built. One of its nice features is that on an a parsing library. From that moment on lpeg was error, or when one traces something, the results will being used all over the place, most noticeably in the be shown in a web browser. Unfortunately I have not code that deals with processing XML. Right from the enough time to explore such aspects in more detail, start I had the feeling that Lua could provide a more but at least it demonstrates that we can change some convenient way to deal with this input format. Some aspects of the traditional interaction with TEX in experiments with rewriting the MkII mechanisms did more radical ways. not show the expected speedup and were abandoned Many users may be aware of the existence of so- quickly. called virtual fonts, if only because it can be a cause Challenged by lpeg I then wrote a parser and of problems (related to map files and such). Virtual started playing with a mixture of a tree based and fonts have a lot of potential but because they were stream approach to XML (MkII is mostly stream related to TEX’s own font data format they never got based). Not only is loading XML code extremely very popular. In LuaTEX we can make virtual fonts fast (we used 40 megabyte files for testing), dealing at runtime. In MkIV for instance we have a feature with the tree is also convenient. The additional (we provide features beyond what OpenType does) MkIV methods are currently being tested in real that completes a font by composing missing glyphs projects and so far they result in an acceptable and on the fly. More of this trickery can be expected as pleasant mix of TEX and XML. For instance, we can soon as we have time and reason to implement it. now selectively process parts of the tree using path In pdfTEX we have a couple of font related good- expressions, hook in code, manipulate data, etc. ies, like character expansion (inspired by Hermann The biggest impact of LuaTEX on the ConTEXt Zapf) and character protruding. There are a few code base is not the previously mentioned mecha- more but these had limitations and were suboptimal nisms but one not yet mentioned: fonts. Contrary and therefore have been removed from LuaTEX. Af- to X TE EX, which uses third party libraries, LuaTEX ter all, they can be implemented more robustly in does not implement dealing with font specific issues Lua. The two mentioned extensions have been (of at all. It can load several font formats and accepts course) kept and have been partially reimplemented font data in a well-defined table format. It only pro- so that they are now uniquely bound to fonts (in- cesses character nodes into glyph nodes and it’s up to stead of being common to fonts that traditional TEX the user to provide more by manipulating the node shares in memory). The character related tables can lists. Of course there is still basic ligature building be filled with Lua and this is what MkIV now does. and kerning available but one can bypass that with As a result much TEX code could go away. We still other code. use shape related vectors to set up the values, but In MkIV, when we deal with Type 1 fonts, we try we also use information stored in our main character to get away from traditional TFM files and use AFM database. files instead (indeed, we parse them using lpeg). The A likely area of change is math and not only fonts are mapped onto Unicode. Awaiting extensions as a result of the TEX Gyre math project which of math we only use TFM files for math fonts. Of will result in a bunch of Unicode compliant math course OpenType fonts are dealt with and this is fonts. Currently in MkIV the initialization already where we find most Lua code in MkIV: implementing partly takes place using the character database, and features. Much of that is a grey area but as part of so again we will end up with less TEX code. A side the Oriental TEX project we’re forced to deal with effect of removing encoding constraints (i.e. moving TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 301
to Unicode) is that things get faster. Later this year for file searching. This stage is mostly finished. math will be opened up. OpenType fonts One of the biggest impacts of opening up is the • Provide PDF output for Aleph bidirectional arrival of attributes. In traditional TEX only glyph functionality and add support for OpenType nodes have an attribute, namely the font id. Now all fonts. Allow Lua scripts to control all aspects of nodes can have attributes, many of them. We use font loading, font definition and manipulation. them to implement a variety of features that already Most of this is finished. were present in MkII, but used marks instead: color tokenizing and node lists (of course including color spaces and transparency), • inter-character spacing, character case manipulation, Use Lua callbacks for various internals, com- language dependent pre and post character spacing plete access to tokenizer and provide access to (for instance after colons in French), special font node lists at moments that make sense. This rendering such as outlines, and much more. An stage is completed. experimental application is a more advanced glue/ paragraph building • penalty model with look-back and look-ahead as Provide control over various aspects of para- well as relative weights. This is inspired by the one graph building (hyphenation, kerning, ligature good thing that XML formatting objects provide: a building), dynamic loading of hyphenation pat- spacing and pagebreak model. terns. Apart from some small details these ob- It does not take much imagination to see that jectives are met. features demanding processing of node lists come MetaPost (MPlib) with a price: many of the callbacks that LuaTEX • provides are indeed used and as a result quite some Incorporate a MetaPost library and investi- time is spent in Lua. You can add to that the time gate options for runtime font generation and needed for handling font features, which also boils manipulation. This activity is on schedule and down to processing node lists. The second half of integration will take place before summer 2008. 2007 Taco and I spent much time on benchmarking image handling • and by now the interface between TEX and Lua Image identification and loading in Lua in- (passing information and manipulating nodes) has cluding scaling and object management. This is been optimized quite well. Of course there’s always nicely on schedule, the first version of the image a price for flexibility and LuaTEX will never be as library showed up in the 0.22 beta and some fast as pdfTEX, but then, pdfTEX does not deal with more features are planned. OpenType and such. special features We can safely conclude that the impact of Lua- • Cleaning up of Hz optimization and protrud- T X on ConT Xt is huge and that fundamental E E ing and getting rid of remaining global font changes take place in all key components: files, fonts, properties. This includes some cleanup of the languages, graphics, MetaPost XML, verbatim and backend. Most of this stage is finished. color to start with, but more will follow. Of course page building there are also less prominent areas where we use Lua • based approaches: handling url’s, conversions, alter- Control over page building and access to in- native math input to mention a few. Sometime in ternals that matter. Access to inserts. This is 2009 we expect to start working on more fundamental on the agenda for late 2008. typesetting related issues. TEX primitives • 5 Roadmap Access to and control over most TEX prim- itives (and related mechanisms) as well as all On the LuaTEX website http://www.luatex.org registers. Especially box handling has to be you can find a roadmap. This roadmap is just an reinvented. This is an ongoing effort. indication of what has happened and will happen PDF backend and it will be updated when we feel the need. Here • is a summary: Open up most backend related features, like merging engines annotations and object management. The first • Merge some of the Aleph codebase into pdf- code will show up at the end of 2008. T X (which already has ε-T X) so that LuaT X math E E E • in DVI mode behaves like Aleph, and in PDF Open up the math engine parallel to the de- mode like pdfTEX. There will be Lua callbacks velopment of the TEX Gyre math fonts. Work 302 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
on this will start during 2008 and we hope that Eventually LuaTEX will be the successor to pdf- it will be finished by early 2009. TEX (informally we talk of pdfTEX version 2). It can CWEB already be used as a drop-in for Aleph (the stable vari- • Convert the TEX Pascal source into CWEB ant of Omega). It provides a scripting engine without and start using Lua as glue language for compo- the need to install a specific scripting environment. nents. This will be tested on MPlib first. This These factors are among the reasons why distribu- is on the long term agenda, so maybe around tors have added the binaries to the collections. Nor- 2010 you will see the first signs. bert Preining maintains the Linux packages, Akira Kakuto provides Windows binaries as part of his dis- In addition to the mentioned functionality we tribution, Arthur Reutenauer takes care of Mac OS X have a couple of ideas that we will implement along and Christian Schenk recently added LuaT X to MiK- the road. The first formal beta was released at TUG E T X. The LuaT X and MPlib projects are hosted 2007 in San Diego (USA). The first formal release E E at Supelec by Fabrice Popineau (one of our techni- will be at TUG 2008 in Cork (Ireland). The pro- cal consultants). And with Karl Berry being one of duction version will be released at EuroT X in the E our motivating supporters, you can be sure that the Netherlands (2009). binaries will end up someplace in TEX Live this year.
⋄ Hans Hagen PRAGMA ADE http://pragma-ade.com TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 303
Porting TEX Live to OpenBSD future versions. It was then that I realized that teTEX development had sadly been retired for almost a year. Edward Barrett The web page suggested that I pursue a project called Abstract “TEX Live”, so I did. I was mostly pleased with what I saw, but found the ISO disk image distribution The history, creation, and fruition of porting T X E format inconvenient, and the DVD only supplied i386 Live to OpenBSD. binaries for OpenBSD, which needless to say would 1 Why TEX? not work on my Sun Sparc systems. This was when I started the porting process, At the time that I became a student, I had been using after an email to the [email protected] mailing *NIX systems for years, in particular an operating list in March 2007 to see if anyone else had been system called OpenBSD, which is one of the BSD1 working on a port. At the time I remember thinking derived open-source Unix-a-likes. OpenBSD aims to that this was a week’s work at most. How wrong I be “Free, Functional and Secure”, but it also has was . . . other qualities which made it appealing to me: it was small, it did not demand a fast computer and is 3 Porting developed with “correctness” in mind. 2 My initial build confirmed that TEX Live was quite The existing WYSIWYG document preparation happy to build on OpenBSD. Now I had to inte- software packages for OpenBSD either did not suit grate the build with the OpenBSD “ports” build the nature of the document, or did not feel natural system. The “ports” build system is basically a set to me as a computing student. In particular: of instructions (in the form of Makefiles) for building Most of my assignments required source code • third party software, whose concept was originally listings. Standard procedure generally consisted devised by the FreeBSD project. NetBSD also has of copy and pasting large chunks of code into a similar system, as does the Gentoo Linux project. a word processor (screen by screen if you were The advantage of these systems is that packages need in a terminal appplication). It did work, but it not be manually built upon each new release of the was tedious to repeat when the sources changed. operating system, as it can be powerfully automated. During my two years in industry, Vim3 had Getting T X Live to play nice with the ports in- • E become second nature to me when editing text. frastructure was not easy. A lot of the TEX Live build In comparison a word processor seemed very system did not honour the GNU standard DESTDIR limited and inefficient. environment variable, which is required to fool soft- It was only when I saw what some of the mem- ware into installing into a fake root filesystem ready bers of staff at University had done with TEX that for packaging. Luckily a tool called systrace allowed I became fully aware of its purpose. The concept me to detect these bugs and I was able to “patch of logical markup in a document felt right, and my them away” before the build commenced. I applied previous gripes with word processors could be solved, just under 40 patches to the TEX Live build system, not to mention that documents typeset with TEX resulting in a package named texlive base-2007. Fol- looked a much more professional than anything I lowing the conventions of the existing teTEX port, could make with a word processor. I started learning I made the texmf tree a separate package named how to make documents like this myself using the texlive texmf-2007. th existing teTEX package on my OpenBSD systems. On May 8 2007 I posted my hopefully “com- pleted” work onto the porting mailing list and waited. 2 The retirement of the teTEX distribution Responses to my work were positive, but there Oddly enough, the porting process of TEX Live was concern with the size of the texmf package which started with the simple need for the rcs package had exceeded 512 MB. I was asked to “trim it down”, in a document. I had one day decided that a verba- if at all possible. The next few months proved to be tim CVS tag in the preface of my documents looked the most difficult stage of the port, not only because ugly and that I should find a solution. I was studying for exams as well as porting, but A CTAN search revealed the rcs package, but it also because I had uncovered some nasty bus errors was not included in teTEX. I visited the teTEX web in X TE EX when run on the sparc64 CPU architec- page to see if there was a possibility of including it in ture. I think my housemates must have thought I was chasing a lost cause, but I was not prepared to 1 Berkeley Software Distribution 2 What you see is what you get give up. 3 Vi Improved, http://www.vim.org 304 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
I decided to first concentrate on splitting the had always wished I could give something back to texmf tree. This involved learning how the (now the open source community. I have been in contact deprecated) “TPM”4 hierarchy worked as well as the with several developers interested in developing ports various configuration files, so that they matched the of TEX Live for their operating systems, including a relevant texmf subset that was installed. Norbert developer from the Macports project who succeeded Preining had done a similar task for Debian Linux in translating the OpenBSD port to their ports sys- and generously shared what he knew. Also, a lec- tem. I certainly do enjoy the freedom of open source turer at University, Peter Knaggs, who had been software development. using TEX for a while was able to explain some of If you are running the developer branch of Open- the mechanisms of a TEX system. A Python script I BSD (or -current as it is known), then you can called MFSplit sprang into existence. This creation get TEX Live now from the OpenBSD FTP servers. split the large texmf tree into three smaller counter- OpenBSD 4.3 pre-orders are available now; this is a parts (minimal, full and documentation) and helped great way to help the project. to generate configuration files. I must admit I found this quite challenging, even frustrating at times, and 5 Thanks the TEX Live mailing list was a invaluable resource I would like to take the opportunity to thank all during times of confusion. of the people who have answered my questions on A major cause of the aforementioned frustra- mailing lists, donated resources, helped me bug-fix tion was due to the slowness of my dated Sun hard- or otherwise contributed to porting TEX Live to ware. In an attempt to find something more prac- OpenBSD. It is greatly appreciated and I hope to tical, I placed a banner on my web page asking for meet some of you at the conference in Cork. hardware donations. I had expected to hear noth- ing. Within a few days one individual donated some 6 About the author money for a beer, which pleasantly shocked me, but Allow me to introduce myself, as I am new to the not as much as when a company contacted me say- TEX community. I am a student at Bournemouth ing that they wished to donate a machine to the University in England. As far as I can remember, I port! The company was yellowshift LLC, a consul- have always been fascinated by computers, starting tancy company in America that believed in giving with the Sinclair Spectrum 48K. After messing about back to open source (https://www.yellowshift. on computers most of my childhood (and advancing com/giving-back). Gratefully I accepted and now through almost all of the Sinclair Spectrum models), I am a proud owner of a Sun Blade 1000 for devel- I studied computing at college and entered the real opment of TEX Live/OpenBSD for sparc64 systems. world as a programmer for a kitchen manufacture As for the X TE EX issues, the X TE EX author and company. During this time I learned a web script- a very dedicated member of the TEX community, ing language inside out, programmed some really Jonathan Kew, helped me out greatly. It proved interesting industrial machinery and pulled out a lot very difficult to debug over email, so I ended up of hair trying to interpret 20-year-old BASIC code. granting him remote access to my build box in order Having done this for two years, I felt a change was for him to look more closely at the problem. Very in order and enrolled for a BSc computing degree. quickly he put together some patches which fixed the At the time of writing I am on the 3rd year of the issue (and a few others too), which were committed degree, which is a “sandwich year” in which students upstream and to the port. work in industry for a year before returning to Uni- versity to complete the final year. It turned out that 4 Integrating TEX Live into OpenBSD I really liked the academic environment and wished th On July 17 2007 the TEX Live port was committed to look into the possibility of an academic future. on my behalf to the head branch of the ports tree, After enquiring if the University accepted placement but not yet linked to the build as a replacement for students, I became a Unix systems administrator for teTEX, since further community testing was needed. the school of design, engineering and computing. Small bug fixes and cleanups were applied. Eventu- th ⋄ ally, on October 11 2007, TEX Live replaced teTEX Edward Barrett entirely for OpenBSD developer snapshots, and will eddbarrett (at) googlemail dot com http://students.dec.bournemouth.ac. certainly be included in upcoming OpenBSD-4.3. I uk/ebarrett consider this is a great personal achievement, as I
4 TEX Package Manager TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 305
a program. However, when the corresponding .ins LATEX file is processed, the (text-only) program is extracted from the .dtx file to one or more separate files. Placing emphasis on providing thorough, type- Good things come in little packages: An set code documentation intertwined with the code introduction to writing .ins and .dtx files itself is commonly known as literate programming [1]. Scott Pakin Literate programming is particularly apropos for doc- umenting LATEX packages because of the esotericism Abstract of the TEX language and the consequent need for LATEX packages made available from CTAN are com- copious explanation. The mechanisms needed to monly distributed as a pair of files: something .ins implement literate programming in .ins and .dtx and something .dtx. The user ish then instructedi files are provided by two packages that come stan- A to runh the .insifile through latex to produce the dard with all LTEX2ε distributions: Doc [3, 4] for A actual package files. What are these .ins and .dtx typesetting, formatting, and indexing LTEX macro files? How do you, as a class or style-file writer, and environment definitions, and, DocStrip [5] for create your own? And, why would you want to? extracting the code from a literate program while This article answers those questions and elucidates stripping away all of the commentary. the mysterious techniques underlying LAT X package E 2 Installer (.ins) files distribution. The first step in preparing a package for distribution 1 Introduction is to write an installer (.ins) file. An installer file A typical CTAN package comprises a README file, extracts the code from a .dtx file, uses DocStrip to some PDF documentation, an .ins file, and a .dtx strip off the comments and documentation, and out- file. Running the .ins file through latex creates puts a .sty file. The good news is that a .ins file is one or more .sty, .cls, .def, or other files that typically fairly short and doesn’t change significantly the user can install. Few LATEX users and developers from one package to another. understand the reasoning behind that extra step or Figure 3 presents a typical .ins file. An .ins the purpose of the seemingly unnecessary .dtx file. file usually begins with a comment block that states Before we examine .ins and .dtx files in depth, the package’s copyright notice and license agreement let us consider a coding example from outside the (lines 1–13). Most of the commands that appear in TEX world. Figure 1 presents a function in the C pro- an .ins file are provided by the DocStrip package gramming language for solving a quadratic equation. so that is loaded in line 15. DocStrip is normally Comments at the top of the function are used to excessively verbose about its operation so Figure 3 explain what the function does. Although comments includes an invocation of \keepsilent (line 16) to are intended to be human-readable, only simple text instruct DocStrip to output only the most important can be used to format comments. Wouldn’t it be information. nice if comments and the code they describe could A package can invoke the \usedir macro (as be typeset using a tool such as LATEX, as in Figure 2? on line 18) to specify a preferred installation direc- Even for short programs, including mathematics, fig- tory relative to the root of the TEX directory tree. ures, and tables in comments can assist readability. In practice, the \usedir call serves primarily as a For longer programs, sectioning commands, cross comment and is seldom used to automatically place references (maybe even with hyperlinks), indexes, files in their final destination. and a table of contents can be quite beneficial for Lines 20–36 of Figure 3 specify a set of comments explaining the program’s purpose and usage to read- to include at the top of every file that the .ins ers. However, having to maintain two versions of a file generates. Typically, these comments include a program — a nicely formatted version with typeset remark that the file is generated plus a repetition of documentation for human readers and a text-only the package’s copyright notice and license agreement. version for the compiler — is an approach doomed to The most important line in an .ins file is the failure as the two versions will inevitably drift apart. call to \generate. The \generate macro is the The idea behind a .dtx file is to maintain a mechanism by which an .ins file instructs DocStrip single version of a program yet be able to process it how to extract the various package files from an ac- either as a typeset document or as compilable code. companying .dtx file. Line 38 of Figure 3 should be As far as the latex compiler is concerned, a .dtx file interpreted as the instruction, “Generate a file called is an ordinary document; it just happpens to describe mypackage.sty by extracting all text marked with 306 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
/* Use the quadratic formula (x=(-b +/- sqrt(b^2-4ac))/2a) to store the two * roots of ax^2+bx+c=0 in x1 and x2. Return 1 on success, 0 on failure * (if a=0 or the roots are complex). */ int solve_quadratic (double a, double b, double c, double *x1, double *x2) { double discrim = b*b - 4*a*c;
if (a == 0.0 || discrim < 0.0) return 0; *x1 = (-b + sqrt(discrim)) / (2*a); *x2 = (-b - sqrt(discrim)) / (2*a); return 1; }
Figure 1: Compiler-readable C code for solving a quadratic equation
b √b2 4ac 2 solve_quadratic() Use the quadratic formula (x = − ± 2a − ) to store the two roots of ax +bx+c = 0 in x1 and x2. Return 1 on success, 0 on failure (if a = 0 or the roots are complex). 1 int solve_quadratic (double a, double b, double c, double *x1, double *x2) 2 { 3 double discrim = b*b 4*a*c; − 4 5 if (a == 0.0 discrim < 0.0) || 6 return 0; 7 *x1 = ( b + sqrt(discrim)) / (2*a); − 8 *x2 = ( b sqrt(discrim)) / (2*a); − − 9 return 1; 10 }
Figure 2: Typeset C code for solving a quadratic equation
the tag package in the file called mypackage.dtx.” prevent TEX from collapsing multiple spaces into a The \generate command is fairly flexible in single space in the subsequent \Msg invocations. that a file can be generated from multiple tags spread An .ins file ends with a call to \endbatchfile, across multiple files. In fact, blocks of code can as shown in line 55.
be shared by multiple generated files. As a fairly A complex example, consider the \generate command 3 Documented LTEX (.dtx) files used by LATEX2ε’s classes.ins file to generate all A documented LATEX (.dtx) file contains both the of the standard LATEX2ε class files and their per- commented source code and the user documentation size helper files. As the excerpt from classes.ins for the package. Running a .dtx file through latex shown in Figure 4 indicates, both size10.clo and typesets the user documentation, which usually also bk10.clo are produced by extracting all text from includes a nicely typeset version of the commented classes.dtx that is marked with the 10pt tag. The source code. bk10.clo file additionally includes all text marked Due to some Doc trickery, latex actually evalu- with the bk tag. The same bk-tagged text is copied ates a .dtx file twice when generating documentation. into bk11.clo and bk12.clo as well. On the first pass, only a small piece of latex driver Returning to our complete example of an .ins code is evaluated. The second time, comments in file in Figure 3, DocStrip provides a \Msg macro that the .dtx file are evaluated, as if there were no “%” outputs a message to the standard output device. It preceding them. This can lead to a great deal of is helpful to use \Msg to inform the user what files confusion when writing .dtx files and occasionally were extracted and need to be installed. Lines 40– leads to some awkward constructions. Fortunately, 53 in Figure 3 output a typical end-of-installation once the basic structure of a .dtx file is in place, message. Note the use of \obeyspaces in line 40 to filling in the code is fairly straightforward. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 307
1 %% 2 %% Copyright (C) 2008 by Your Name Here
Figure 3: A typical .ins file 308 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
\generate{\file{article.cls}{\from{classes.dtx}{article}} \file{report.cls}{\from{classes.dtx}{report}} \file{book.cls}{\from{classes.dtx}{book}} \file{size10.clo}{\from{classes.dtx}{10pt}} \file{size11.clo}{\from{classes.dtx}{11pt}} \file{size12.clo}{\from{classes.dtx}{12pt}} \file{bk10.clo}{\from{classes.dtx}{10pt,bk}} \file{bk11.clo}{\from{classes.dtx}{11pt,bk}} \file{bk12.clo}{\from{classes.dtx}{12pt,bk}} }
Figure 4: Excerpt from LATEX2ε’s classes.ins file
1 % \iffalse meta-comment 2 % 3 % Copyright (C) 2008 by Your Name Here
Figure 5: .dtx header comments
3.1 Package identification 18 % \iffalse A .dtx file traditionally begins with a copyright and 19 %<*driver> license notice, which are formatted as in Figure 5. 20 \ProvidesFile{mypackage.dtx} 21 % The significance of the \iffalse ... \fi construct is 22 %
for producing documentation, latex is also run on 28 %<*driver> the .ins file to extract the various package files 29 \documentclass{ltxdoc} from the .dtx file. The \generate call on line 38 30 \EnableCrossrefs of Figure 3 associated the tag package with the de- 31 \CodelineIndex rived file mypackage.sty. Consequently, all lines 32 \RecordChanges either beginning with %
40 % \CheckSum{0} 41 % 42 % \CharacterTable 43 % {Upper-case \A\B\C\D\E\F\G\H\I\J\K\L\M\N\O\P\Q\R\S\T\U\V\W\X\Y\Z 44 % Lower-case \a\b\c\d\e\f\g\h\i\j\k\l\m\n\o\p\q\r\s\t\u\v\w\x\y\z 45 % Digits \0\1\2\3\4\5\6\7\8\9 46 % Exclamation \! Double quote \" Hash (number) \# 47 % Dollar \$ Percent \% Ampersand \& 48 % Acuteaccent \’ Leftparen \( Rightparen \) 49 % Asterisk \* Plus \+ Comma \, 50 % Minus \- Point \. Solidus \/ 51 % Colon \: Semicolon \; Lessthan \< 52 % Equals \= Greaterthan \> Questionmark\? 53 % Commercial at \@ Left bracket \[ Backslash \\ 54 % Right bracket \] Circumflex \^ Underscore \_ 55 % Grave accent \‘ Left brace \{ Vertical bar \| 56 % Rightbrace \} Tilde \~}
Figure 8: .dtx verification code
********************************** 57 % \changes{v1.0}{2008/02/18}{Initial version} * This macro file has no checksum! 58 % * The checksum should be number ! h i 59 % \GetFileInfo{mypackage.dtx} ********************************** 60 % It is convenient to specify \CheckSum{0} when de- 61 % \DoNotIndex{\newcommand,\newenvironment} veloping a package and to replace 0 with the correct checksum only when the package is ready to be re- Figure 9: Miscellaneous initialization commands leased. The character table must appear exactly as shown in Figure 8, lines 42–56. Doc verifies that the date part of \ProvidesFile’s argument available the character table has not been corrupted and out- as \filedate, the version as \fileversion, and the puts the following success message: package description as \fileinfo. The documenta- *************************** tion can then use those macros when referring to the * Character table correct * package. *************************** One of Doc’s most useful features is the auto- If any character differs from that which was expected, matic production of a code index. Every control Doc issues the following error message: sequence defined or used by the package is automati- ! Package doc Error: Character table cally indexed. However, particularly common control corrupted. sequences can be distracting and should be omit- ted from the index. The \DoNotIndex macro takes 3.4 Miscellaneous initialization a comma-separated list of control sequences that Doc can automatically typeset a list of changes made should not be indexed. (\DoNotIndex can be — and in each version of the package code. It is customary usually is — invoked repeatedly, with one line’s worth to include an entry for the first version of the code, of control sequences at a time.) Typically, TEX as shown in line 57 of Figure 9. The first argument primitives such as \if / \else / \fi, \begingroup / is the version number in which the change was made; \endgroup, and \def / \edef / \gdef / \xdef ap- the second argument is the date the change was made; pear as arguments to \DoNotIndex, as do common and, the third argument is a description of the change. macros from the LATEX kernel such as \newcommand / If \changes is called from within the description of a \renewcommand and \newcounter / \newsavebox / macro or environment, the change is associated with \newlength. However, a package that redefines that macro or environment. Otherwise, the change \newcounter, for example, probably would want to is categorized as “General”. index that control sequence. Producing a good in- The \GetFileInfo macro (line 59) reads the dex takes a lot of judgment; think carefully about given file and parses its invocation of \ProvidesFile what someone reading the code might be interested (lines 20 and 25 of Figure 6). \GetFileInfo makes in locating. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 311
62 % \title{The \textsf{mypackage} package\thanks{This document 63 % corresponds to \textsf{mypackage}~\fileversion, dated \filedate.}} 64 % \author{Your Name Here \\ \texttt{[email protected]}} 65 % 66 % \maketitle 67 % 68 % \section{Introduction} 69 %
70 . . 71 % 72 % \section{Usage} 73 %
74 . . 75 % 76 % \DescribeMacro{\myMacro} 77 % This macro does nothing.\index{doing nothing|usage} It is merely an example. If this were a 78 % real macro, you would put a paragraph here describing what the macro is supposed to do, what 79 % its mandatory and optional arguments are, and so forth. 80 % 81 % \DescribeEnv{myEnv} 82 % This environment does nothing. It is merely an example. If this were a real environment, you 83 % would put a paragraph here describing what the environment is supposed to do, what its 84 % mandatory and optional arguments are, and so forth.
Figure 10: Prose description of the package
\myMacro This macro does nothing. It is modified (\filedate). merely an example. If this were a real There is no \begin{document} in Figure 10 be- macro, you would put a paragraph cause the \begin{document} already appeared in here describing what the macro is the .dtx driver code (Figure 7); the code in Figure 10 supposed to do, what its mandatory is included through the driver code’s invocation of and optional arguments are, and so \DocInput. forth. It is common to begin the package documenta- myEnv This environment does nothing. It tion with an introductory section that describes what is merely an example. If this were the package does and a usage section that explains a real environment, you would put how to use the package. The Doc package provides a paragraph here describing what two macros that help give a uniform look to usage sec- the environment is supposed to do, tions in package documentation: \DescribeMacro what its mandatory and optional ar- and \DescribeEnv. Figure 11 displays how Doc guments are, and so forth. typesets lines 76–84 of Figure 10. Notice that the macro or environment name is placed in the margin, Figure 11: Typeset output of \DescribeMacro and where it is easy for a reader to find. Furthermore, the \DescribeEnv macro/environment name is automatically indexed, with the corresponding page number appearing in the so-called usage style (normally italics) in the index. 3.5 User documentation Line 77 of Figure 10 shows how to index arbitrary Package documentation usually begins with a few text in the same style, using \index{ term |usage}. sections of documentation for the user of the package, h i as shown in Figure 10. The \title specification in 3.6 Package source code lines 62 and 63 is fairly typical in that it sets the The documented package source code follows the user package name with \textsf and uses \thanks to documentation. Because the average user is not inter- include a footnote with the package’s version number ested in the package’s implementation, Doc enables and release date. \date is often omitted from the a user to avoid including the package’s source code title block to distinguish the date the document was when building the documentation by inserting a call printed (\today) from the date the package was last 312 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
85 % \StopEventually{} package. First, “|” toggles verbatim mode, which 86 % is convenient for macro documentation that would 87 % \section{Implementation} otherwise be cluttered with \verb invocations. (This 88 . shortcut is in fact provided by the shortvrb package, . 89 % \begin{macro}{\myMacro} which is included by Doc.) One caveat is that “|” 90 % The |\myMacro| macro takes a person’s name cannot then be used in a tabular (or other) envi- 91 % and returns the string ‘‘Hello, ronment without first disabling its verbatim proper- 92 % \meta{name}’’. ties using \DeleteShortVerb and reenabling them 93 % \begin{macrocode} afterwards with \MakeShortVerb. See the Doc doc- 94 \newcommand{\myMacro}[1]{% umentation [4] for more information. The second 95 Hello, #1\relax useful Doc feature that appears in Figure 12 is \meta, 96 } which typesets its argument in italics and within an- 97 % \end{macrocode} gle brackets, as in “ name ”. This is useful for type- 98 % \end{macro} setting metasyntactich variablesi such as number or 99 . . length . h i 100 % \Finale h Thei macro source code appears, uncommented, Figure 12: Sample Implementation section within a macrocode environment. Because of some behind-the-scenes trickery in how macrocode is han- dled, there must be exactly four spaces between the to \OnlyDescription into the .dtx driver code (be- “%” and the \begin{macrocode} (as shown in line 93) tween the \documentclass and \begin{document} and between the “%” and the \end{macrocode} (as lines in Figure 7). shown in line 97). When the documentation is Figure 12 shows how to document the package’s typeset, the lines between \begin{macrocode} and source code. The entire code should be bracketed be- \end{macrocode} are automatically numbered, and tween a call to \StopEventually (line 85) and a call all control sequences encountered are automatically to \Finale (line 100). \StopEventually takes an indexed in an unadorned style. argument, which is the text for all of the sections that While Figure 12 shows only how to define a follow the package source code, for example the list macro, environments are defined analogously, us- of references or the package’s copyright and license ing \begin{environment} / \end{environment} in- information. Because the text appears as an argu- stead of \begin{macro} / \end{macro} but still us- ment to a command, certain LATEX constructs such ing \begin{macrocode} / \end{macrocode} to de- as \verb cannot be used within \StopEventually. lineate blocks of LATEX code. Definitions of things Unfortunately, ordinary document sections cannot other than macros and environments — lengths, coun- simply be placed after the call to \Finale because ters, boxes, etc. — should be placed within a macro \OnlyDescription would still discard them. environment. It is good practice to use the standard LATEX The sample macro definition given in Figure 12 sectioning commands within the implementation sec- is typical of short, simple macros. Longer, more com- tion to organize the code and clarify its structure; for plex macros may benefit from additional commentary example, \subsection{Initialization macros}, within the macro body. In addition, it is common in \subsection{Helper macros}, \subsection{User- LATEX for macros to define other macros. A .dtx file callable macros and environments}, .... One can handle both of these cases: Figure 13 shows how. of the beauties of literate programming is that any It may be easier to follow Figure 13 by comparing it LATEX code can be used to document a package: ta- to the typeset output, shown in Figure 14. Notice bles, figures, mathematics — whatever is appropriate how the \begin{macro}{\othermacro} is nested for explaining how the package works. within the \begin{macro}{\complexdef}. Pack- Lines 89–98 of Figure 12 give a sample macro def- ages that include a number of short, related defi- inition. A macro definition starts with \begin{macro} nitions (e.g., a set of \newlength calls) commonly and the macro name and ends with \end{macro}. specify a sequence of \begin{macro} calls followed The Doc package puts the macro name in the margin by a description of all the definitions as a whole and includes an index entry with the source-code line (e.g., “These lengths represent the jabberwock’s width, number set in the main style (normally underlined). height, and depth”), followed by a single macrocode Following the \begin{macro} comes the descrip- environment that includes all of the related declara- tion of what the macro does. The sample description tions back-to-back. in Figure 12 uses two convenient features of the Doc TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 313
% \begin{macro}{\complexdef} % This is a more sophisticated use of the |macro| and |macrocode| environments than was used in % Figure 12. Notice the nested |macro| environments and the repeated |macrocode| environments. % \changes{v1.1}{2008/02/18}{Changed ‘‘Goodbye’’ to ‘‘Hello’’} % \begin{macrocode} \DeclareRobustCommand{\complexdef}[1]{% Hello, #1. % \end{macrocode} % You can insert comments anywhere. Just call |\end{macrocode}|, enter your text, and start a % new |\begin{macrocode}|. % \begin{macrocode} How do you like my macro?% % \end{macrocode} % \begin{macro}{\othermacro} % Here we have the |\othermacro| macro defined within the |\complexdef| macro. |macro| % environments are allowed to nest. % \begin{macrocode} \gdef\othermacro{#1}% } % \end{macrocode} % \end{macro} % \end{macro}
Figure 13: A more complex macro definition
\complexdef This is a more sophisticated use of the macro and macrocode environments than was used in Figure 12. Notice the nested macro environments and the repeated macrocode environments. 1 \DeclareRobustCommand{\complexdef[1]{% 2 Hello, #1. You can insert comments anywhere. Just call \end{macrocode}, enter your text, and start a new \begin{macrocode}. 3 How do you like my macro?%
\othermacro Here we have the \othermacro macro defined within the \complexdef macro. macro environments are allowed to nest. 4 \gdef\othermacro{#1}% 5 }
Figure 14: Typeset version of Figure 13
3.7 The change history and index sections Change History The \changes call in Figure 13 is not typeset in place but rather schedules a line to be added to the docu- v1.1 ment’s Change History section. Because Figure 13’s \complexdef: Changed “Goodbye” \changes call appears within a macro environment to “Hello” ...... 1 it is assumed to apply to the surrounding macro instead of to the document as a whole. Figure 15 il- Figure 15: Sample Change History section lustrates how the Change History section may appear in the typeset documentation. If \changes appears outside of a macro or environment environment, the corresponding .idx file if \CodelineIndex appears corresponding line in the Change History section lists in the driver code and a corresponding .glo file if “General” in place of a macro/environment name. \RecordChanges appears in the driver code. The Running the .dtx file through latex produces a makeindex program [2] can be used as shown in 314 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
makeindex -s gind.ist -o package .ind \ files can take advantage of all of LATEX’s typesetting package .idx h i power — sectioning, cross-references, figures, tables, makeindexh i -s gglo.ist -o package .gls \ mathematics, etc. — coupled with automatic index- package .glo h i ing of all macro and environment definitions and h i uses and automatically pretty-printed code listings. Figure 16: Commands for producing an index and a Because of their ability to facilitate the production change history of immensely readable package documentation, .ins and .dtx files are the most popular way to distribute LAT X packages and represent a technique that all Figure 16 to convert the .idx file to a typeset index E LAT X package writers should strongly consider using (.ind) and the .glo file to a typeset change history E for their own packages. (.gls). References 3.8 Additional notes about comments [1] Donald E. Knuth. Literate programming. Program comments should not be written between The Computer Journal, 27(2):97–111, \begin{macrocode} and \end{macrocode} because May 1984. Available from http://www. everything within a macrocode environment is type- literateprogramming.com/knuthweb.pdf. set as code, not as formatted text. (Figure 13 shows the proper way to include inline code comments.) [2] Leslie Lamport. MakeIndex: An Index Processor A However, it is possible to write comments that are for LTEX, February 17, 1987. Available not typeset at all (e.g., for documenting a macro from http://www.ctan.org/get/indexing/ definition that is part of the user documentation, not makeindex/doc/makeindex.pdf. TUGboat of the package itself), In fact, all combinations of [3] Frank Mittelbach. The doc—option. , “visible in the user documentation” and “visible in 10(2):245–273, July 1989. Available from the .sty file” are possible. Table 1 summarizes the http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/ techniques for achieving each of these combinations. tb10-2/tb24mitt-doc.pdf. [4] Frank Mittelbach. The doc and shortvrb packages. Distributed as part of LAT X2ε, Table 1: Comment visibility E February 9, 2004. Document source is available Appears Appears from http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/ Mechanism in docs in .sty latex/base/doc.dtx. N N % ˆˆA comment [5] Frank Mittelbach, Denys Duchier, Johannes h i Braams, Marcin Woliński, and Mark Wooding. N Y % \iffalse The DocStrip program. Distributed as part %% comment A h i of LTEX2ε, July 29, 2005. Available from % \fi http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/latex/ Y N % comment base/docstrip.dtx. h i A A Y Y %% comment [6] The LTEX3 Project. LTEX2ε for class and h i package writers. Distributed with LATEX2ε as clsguide.dvi, February 15, 2006. Also available from http://www.ctan.org/get/ 4 Concluding remarks macros/latex/doc/clsguide.pdf. The advantage of using .ins and .dtx files is that they encapsulate not only the LATEX-readable pack- ⋄ Scott Pakin age code but also a human-readable description of 4975 S. Sol the code. Unlike typical, text-only program com- Los Alamos, NM 87544-3794 ments, documentation produced from .ins and .dtx USA scott+tb (at) pakin dot org http://www.pakin.org/~scott TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 315
2 The basics ConTEXt basics for users: Indentations Indentation involves two things: when to indent, and Aditya Mahajan how much to indent. In ConTEXt, these can be spec- ified using \setupindenting[...]. There are two Abstract types of keys for this command: ConT Xt’s indentation mechanism can be a bit con- E 1. To specify when to indent: never or always, fusing. This article explains why ConT Xt indenta- E (equivalently, no or yes), odd or even, and tion works the way it does and how to set up inden- first or next. tation to achieve desired behaviour. 2. To specify how much to indent: none, small, 1 Introduction medium, big, or a specific dimension. small corresponds to 1em, medium to 1.5em, and In plain T X, controlling indentation is simple: The E big to 2em. user sets a value for \parindent, and each new para- graph is indented by that value, unless explicitly be- Suppose we want to indent all paragraphs by 20pt, gun with \noindent. Environments can provide a which is the convention followed by this journal: \noindent at the end of their definitions, and if the we can use \setupindenting[20pt, yes]. This is user wants to overrule that, he can add an explicit what one typically uses in a document. The other \indent at the beginning of the next paragraph. For keys are needed only for special cases (like typeset- A ting quotations and verses), and we will not talk the most part, L TEX follows the same convention. about them in this article. So, understanding indentation in plain TEX A \setupindenting does not take care of indent- and L TEX boils down to this: set a value for \parindent, and start a new paragraph (i.e., leave ing after environments, such as ConTEXt’s itemizes A an empty line) whenever you want indentation. For (approximately L TEX itemize and enumerate), A example, LAT X usually does not indent the first line enumerations ( L TEX theorem), definitions ( E A ≈ ≈ after a sectioning command. If you want to indent L TEX subparagraph), formulas and floats. It also the first line after a sectioning command you use the does not take care of indenting after heads such as indentfirst package (which is part of the required chapters, sections, and subsections. A The setup command of these environments L TEX bundle). If you want to indent the paragraph after an environment, you leave a blank line after provides an indentnext key to configure the in- the end of the environment; if you do not want to dentation behaviour after the environment. The indent after the end of an environment, you do not indentnext key can take one of three values: yes, leave a blank line. It takes a while to get used to, no, and auto. If indentnext=yes then the para- but the rules are easy to remember and eventually graph after the end of the environment is always in- you do not need to even think about indentation; it dented; if indentnext=no then the next paragraph becomes a matter of habit. is never indented; if indentnext=auto then the next paragraph is indented only if there is a blank space Indentations in ConTEXt are a bit different; and sometimes difficult to understand. In this article after the environment. Setting indentnext=auto is equivalent to the default plain T X and LAT X be- I hope to explain how ConTEXt does indentations. E E haviour. First, let’s understand why ConTEXt does inden- tations differently; why does it not simply follow Let us provide a couple of examples. Suppose A we do not want paragraphs after itemize to be in- the time-tested approach of plain TEX and L TEX? The way I understand it, the reason is that Hans dented; then we can say Hagen, the author of ConTEXt, prefers spaced out \setupitemgroup[itemize][indentnext=no] markup — surrounding each environment by empty If we want paragraphs after section heads to be in- lines — which makes it easy to see where an environ- dented, we can say ment starts and ends while reading the source file. \setuphead[section][indentnext=yes] However, this style means that the “indentation after If we want the paragraphs after all sectioning heads empty lines” paradigm of plain T X and LAT X can- E E to be indented, we can say not be used for indentations. So, ConTEXt provides \setupheads[indentnext=yes] an alternative. As with other things in ConTEXt, this alternative is consistent and easy to configure; If we want paragraphs after formulas to be indented but if you are used to other TEX formats it takes only if we leave a blank space after them, we can say some time to get comfortable with it. \setupformulas[indentnext=auto] 316 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
There is one case that is not taken care of by \item To check \tex{indent} \setupindenting and the indentnext key: inden- \stopitemize tation of paragraphs inside multi-paragraph environ- ments such as itemizes, descriptions, and enumer- \indent This paragraph is not indented. The \tex{indent} command does not work here. ations. By default ConTEXt does not indent such paragraphs. The setup commands of these environ- \startitemize[n] ments provides an indenting key to configure the \item Another dummy list indentation behaviour of paragraphs inside these en- \item To check \tex{indentation} vironments. This key takes the same values as the \stopitemize arguments of \setupindenting command. For ex- ample, if we set \indentation This paragraph will be indented \setupitemgroup[itemize][indenting={40pt,yes}] because we used \tex{indentation} instead. then the following (|-| in ConTEXt indicates a hy- gives phen after which further hyphenation is allowed; see http://www.logosrl.it/context/modules/ 1. A dummy list current/singles/lang-mis_ebook.pdf for more): 2. To check \indent \startitemize This paragraph is not indented. The \indent com- \item This is an example of a multi|-|paragraph mand does not work here. item inside an itemize environment. 1. Another dummy list This second paragraph is indented by 40pt 2. To check \indentation (double the normal indentation). This paragraph will be indented because we \stopitemize used \indentation instead. gives 4 Beware of typos This is an example of a multi-paragraph item ConT Xt defines two more commands not commonly • inside an itemize environment. E used: \indenting and \noindenting. \indenting This second paragraph is indented is similar to \setupindenting and is provided for by 40pt (double the normal indentation). backward compatibility; \noindenting is equiva- lent to \setupindenting[no]. Unfortunately, these 3 Manual indentation commands sound very similar to \indentation and \noindentation, thus can be easily used by mis- No matter how careful we are with all the settings, take. If you happen to write \noindenting instead there are some cases which cannot be taken care of of \noindentation in a document, it can take a by automatic indentation, and we have to tell Con- while to debug. I have been bitten by this mistake A TEXt how to indent. Plain TEX (and L TEX) provide once too often so I have invented a mnemonic to the \indent and \noindent commands for explicitly avoid it: indenting and preventing indenting of a paragraph. shun (-tion) the -ing—use indentation These commands are defined in ConTEXt but are I admit, this is not a clever mnemonic, but it has not hooked into the ConTEXt indentation mecha- saved me quite a few trips to the manual. nism. Instead, ConTEXt provides \indentation and \noindentation which achieve the same effect. 5 Conclusion Notice that in this article, paragraphs after This article explained how indentation works in Con- itemize are not indented. This is because the item- TEXt. By default, ConTEXt does not enable any ize environment has been set up (according to the indentation; the user is expected to set up inden- general style of the journal) as tation as he wants. I hope this article has helped \setupitemgroup [itemize] [indentnext=no] to illustrate how to set up indentation for different Now, if we want to indent after an itemize, start- environments. ing the next paragraph with \indent does not work; to get indentation we have to say \indentation. For Aditya Mahajan example, ⋄ University of Michigan \startitemize[n] adityam (at) umich dot edu \item A dummy list TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 317
grid, not with Hindu-Arabic numerals, but with Chi- MetaPost nese numerals. These numerals are 一 (1), 二 (2), 三 (3), 四 (4), 五 (5), 六 (6), 七 (7), 八 (8), and 九 (9). Kanji-Sudokus: Integrating Chinese A typical Sudoku problem reads as follows (this and graphics example from Wikipedia): Denis Roegel 5 3 7 1 Introduction 6 1 9 5 Recently, I had the need to get my hands on Werner Lemberg’s excellent CJK package, for a talk on the 9 8 6 Chinese calendar in which I wanted to use META- POST figures with Chinese labels. This worked al- 8 6 3 most seamlessly. 4 8 3 1 Actually, this isn’t quite true, but CJK is better and better integrated into TEX Live these days, and 7 2 6 writing in Chinese, Japanese or Korean has become 6 2 8 pretty much mundane with an up-to-date TEX envi- ronment. This wasn’t so even a year ago. Nowadays, 4 1 9 5 you still need to install various Linux (say) packages, and one is likely to run into trouble because some 8 7 9 crucial element is missing. For instance, on my lat- est Ubuntu, the TEX Live setup wasn’t complete 2.1 The grid and I was missing some Korean fonts I needed. By The whole Sudoku problem can be drawn as follows the time you read this, the problem may have been in METAPOST: solved already. To sum up, with the latest TEX Live 2007 setup, beginfig(1); and perhaps a few additional Linux packages, as string sol[]; well as the latest Emacs, you are all set for type- drawgrid(1.5pt,.5pt); setting beautiful CJK documents! Typesetting CJK % first row at the bottom has even become easier, because one can now write % last row at the top almost everything in UTF-8, without a need to post- sol1="000080079";sol2="000419005"; process the input file with Emacs macros (this pro- sol3="060000280";sol4="700020006"; cedure used to output a .cjk file which could only sol5="400803001";sol6="800060003"; then be processed by LATEX). Now, the file you write sol7="098000060";sol8="600195000"; is the file you process, and processing has become sol9="530070000"; faster. fillgrid(sol)(false); For METAPOST figures, the matter was also endfig; made easier. Up until recently, when including Chi- The drawgrid macro is straightforward; it pro- METAPOST nese in , one had first to produce a .cjk duces the horizontal and vertical lines (with u being file, which could unfortunately not be processed by for instance equal to 1 cm): METAPOST. The .cjk file had to be slightly altered first, because the Emacs macros were not aware of def drawgrid(expr tha,thb)= the METAPOST format. This could have been cor- pickup pencircle scaled thb; rected within the Emacs macros, but in fact, since for i=0 upto 9: the conversion to the .cjk file is now mostly an old draw (i*u,0)--(i*u,9u); story, the processing problems have also vanished. draw (0,i*u)--(9u,i*u); So, my advice is not only to switch to the latest TEX endfor; Live and Linux, but also to write CJK in UTF-8. It pickup pencircle scaled tha; works! for i=0 upto 3: draw (3i*u,0)--(3i*u,9u); 2 A small example draw (0,3i*u)--(9u,3i*u); I will illustrate the integration of Chinese and META- endfor; POST with a small example. I will draw a Sudoku enddef; 318 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
2.2 Filling the grid This preamble will load the CJKutf8 package, In order to fill the grid, we need to access the posi- which is what we need for UTF-8 input. It then tion (i,j), where i is the column and j is the row, all defines the commands \0 (for void), \1 (Chinese nu- numbered from 1 at the bottom-left cell. We there- meral 1), \2 (Chinese numeral 2), etc., up to \9. fore define the following macro, which takes i, j and Then, we start an appropriate (for these char- a label that it centers in the middle of the cell. In acters) CJK environment at the \begin{document} our case, the label is scaled 200%, but how much hook: you scale depends on the dimensions of the frame \AtBeginDocument{ and on the base size of the font. \begin{CJK}{UTF8}{bsmi}} def pos(expr i,j,l)= and we close the environment at the end of the doc- label(l scaled 2,((i-.5)*u,(j-.5)*u)); ument: enddef; \AtEndDocument{\end{CJK}} 2.3 Cell entries 2.4 Putting all the pieces together In order to put, say, the value 3 at position (2,9), we could write We now have a definition of cell values, we can draw a grid, and we have macros for Chinese numerals. pos(2,9,btex 3 etex); What’s next? Well, we want to be able to do two However, we want to be more general and draw kinds of things: draw problems, and draw solutions. our figures from the string array sol. That way, For our purposes, a problem is merely an array of some program can produce a problem and/or a so- cell values with some cells being equal to 0. These lution, and the problem can easily be plugged into 0s will be displayed as empty cells. In addition to our macros. So, instead, we could write this switch, we want to display the non-void values pos(2,9,TEX(s)); either with Hindu-Arabic numerals or with Chinese where s is a string provided to the TEX macro. The numerals. latter is defined by loading the package TEX: Our coding of cell values makes this rather easy, because we will use (for instance) 4 for the Hindu- input TEX; Arabic numeral, and \4 for the Chinese numeral. So, This, however, is not very efficient, because it care must be taken of this additional \ when needed. will call TEX up to 81 times. And besides, it won’t The special case of 0 must also be considered, be- take care of Chinese numerals when we need them. cause the Hindu-Arabic numeral 0 must not be dis- So, we are looking for something more flexible. The played, whereas the Chinese \0 can be displayed, latexmp METAPOST package will suit our needs. since it is void. The previous label is now obtained with The ‘0’ switch is handled with the zerospace pos(2,9,textext(s)); macro. This macro takes a character s and replaces this character by a space only when it is 0 and when One of the advantages of the latexmp package the output uses Hindu-Arabic numerals. is that it will require only two runs of LATEX, and not one for every label. This package also makes it easy def zerospace(expr chinese,s)= to load LATEX packages, in particular for Chinese. if not chinese and (s="0"): " " So, our METAPOST file will begin as follows: else: s fi input latexmp; enddef; Finally, filling the grid is done with fillgrid. setupLaTeXMP(class="article", The first parameter is the name of the string array packages="CJKutf8", and the second parameter is a switch for Chinese preamble=( or Hindu-Arabic numerals. substring is used to "\let\N\newcommand" isolate the character of interest. &"\N\0{}\N\1{一}\N\2{二}\N\3{三}" def fillgrid(text grid)(expr chinese)= &"\N\4{四}\N\5{五}\N\6{六}\N\7{七}" for i=1 upto 9:for j=1 upto 9: &"\N\8{八}\N\9{九}" pos(j,i,textext(if chinese: "\" & fi zerospace(chinese, &"\AtBeginDocument{" substring(j-1,j) of grid[i]))); & "\begin{CJK}{UTF8}{bsmi}}" endfor;endfor; &"\AtEndDocument{\end{CJK}}")); enddef; TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 319
The result is then as follows for the problem 3 Conclusion and the solution, with Chinese numerals: This example demonstrates how straightforward the 五 三 七 integration of Chinese and METAPOST has become. What remains to be done is to link these macros with 六 一 九 五 a general problem solving algorithm for Sudokus.
九 八 六 ⋄ Denis Roegel LORIA, BP 239 八 六 三 54506 Vandœuvre-l`es-Nancy 四 八 三 一 FRANCE roegel (at) loria dot fr 七 二 六 http://www.loria.fr/~roegel 六 二 八 四 一 九 五 八 七 九 五 三 四 六 七 八 九 一 二 六 七 二 一 九 五 三 四 八 一 九 八 三 四 二 五 六 七 八 五 九 七 六 一 四 二 三 四 二 六 八 五 三 七 九 一 七 一 三 九 二 四 八 五 六 九 六 一 五 三 七 二 八 四 二 八 七 四 一 九 六 三 五 三 四 五 二 八 六 一 七 九 320 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
instead of the scratch \next macro. For example, Hints & Tricks from [2]: \def\loop#1\repeat{% \def\body{#1}\iterate} Interesting loops and iterations — \def\iterate{% second helping \body\expandafter\iterate\fi} Pawe lJackowski or even simpler, from [6]: \def\loop#1\repeat{% \def\iterate{% Abstract #1\expandafter\iterate\fi}% Where on earth does a programmer have to imple- \iterate} ment a loop construct himself? In TEX! TEX as In the first case we are getting rid of the superfluous a programming language is akin only to itself. Its definition of \next and in the second also of the interesting feature, rarely to be found among pro- definition of \body. In yet another construction (for gramming languages, is the lack of a built-in loop an extended description see [3]) the whole contents construct. However, thanks to TEX dealing per- of the loop is executed outside of a conditional block fectly well with recursive definitions and its ability \if...\fi: to check conditions there are no obstacles to defin- \def\loop#1\repeat{% ing DIY loops. It has been done by Donald Knuth \def\body{#1}\iterate} in plain T X, extended by Alois Kabelschacht, Kees E \def\iterate{% van der Laan, Marcin Woli´nski and many others and \body\else\etareti\fi\iterate} used by every practicing T Xie. This article sums E \def\etareti\fi\iterate{\fi} up what every TEXie should know about loops. We will not shy away from dirty tricks which users need A summary of these and other solutions may be not know about. found in [4].
Taking on \loop A loop in a loop Let’s yet again review the traditional plain-ish loop The above constructs, though correct and elegant, definition ([1], p. 352): do not allow loop nesting. In each of them the first operation remembers the content of the loop in an \def\loop#1\repeat{% instruction. Embedding it would cause a conflict \def\body{#1}\iterate} for the inner and outer loops. \def\iterate{% Is there a way out? Yes. At the cost of slightly \body \let\next\iterate slowing the loop one may use a macro parameter \else \let\next\relax\fi \next} instead of a definition. For example, instead of \let\repeat=\fi repeating the \body at every \iterate, we can set The definition is pretty readable and understand- the repeated code fragment as an argument of the able thanks to the supporting macros suggestively \iterate instruction. For convenience the \long named \next and \body. However, an unnecessary prefix is used, to enable the use of \par within the assignment is performed at every iteration. This loop. We also define the \gobbleone macro, which assignment gives a meaning to the \next instruc- is called just before processing leaves the loop and tion as well as the \body instruction which, in gobbles the superfluous argument just after the \fi principle, should not be used anywhere else. As ending the conditional. the instructions are hidden from the user a name \long\def\loop#1\repeat{% conflict can easily arise. \iterate\gobbleone{#1}} There are several well-known enhancements of \long\def\iterate\gobbleone#1{% this traditional definition which use \expandafter #1\expandafter\iterate\fi \gobbleone{#1}} This is a translation of the article “Ciekawe pętle \long\def\gobbleone#1{} i iteracje na drugą n´o˙zę”, which first appeared in The \gobbleone definition plays a second role — Biuletyn GUST nr 22 (2005), 3–6. Reprinted by it delimits the \iterate macro (i.e., is a macro permission. Translation by Jerzy Ludwichowski. delimiter). When the \iterate instruction is being TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 321 executed, the immediately following \gobbleone is \def\fifo#1{\ifx\ofif#1\ofif\fi swallowed as an unused fragment of the parameter. \process#1\fifo} At the end of the loop \iterate is skipped, but \def\ofif#1\fifo{\fi} \gobbleone swallows the loop content argument. In the example below \fifo is used to create a This loop might be used like the traditional crib sheet of codes of some diacritics: form, the difference being that it can be nested, as \def\process#1{(#1 -> \number‘#1)} shown in the following example: \immediate\message \count100=9 {\fifo ´a´e´o\ofif} \loop{\count101=65 % ASCII ‘A’ Counting of iterations is replaced here by \advance\count100 by-1 executing the \process instruction for consecutive \ifnum\count100>0 arguments. At the start of each iteration \ifx \leavevmode\loop checks if the just-found argument is the \ofif \char\count101 \the\count100 token. The latter both delimits the token list and \advance\count101 by1 is a macro ending the condition executed after the \ifnum\count101<73 \space last iteration. \repeat\par }\repeat Number games The code produces something akin to a chess field. The row elements are typeset by the inner No one needs convincing that expandable macros loop and the rows are produced by the outer loop. (without assignments) are more convenient. But A8 B8 C8 D8 E8 F8 G8 H8 how can assignments be avoided in loops operat- A7 B7 C7 D7 E7 F7 G7 H7 ing on numbers? The most typical use of loops A6 B6 C6 D6 E6 F6 G6 H6 is repeating code some defined number of times. A5 B5 C5 D5 E5 F5 G5 H5 The previously shown \loop...\repeat constructs A4 B4 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 H4 achieve this by iteratively incrementing or decre- A3 B3 C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 H3 menting a counter, but this requires assignments. A2 B2 C2 D2 E2 F2 G2 H2 The task is not hopeless, however. As the A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 H1 preceding example shows, the \number instruction One should note the use of grouping in the outer expands “on the fly” any TEX representation of a loop block: number into its decimal form. In the basic version of T X every arithmetic operation requires an as- \loop{...\loop...\repeat...}\repeat E signment. To the rescue comes ε-TEX, which offers This group affects only the scope of the ar- several convenient operations that allow dodging gument reading. The content of the outer loop is inconvenient assignments. The \numexpr instruc- not executed within the group. Thanks to this, tion will serve as an example. It executes, in an the outer loop can use the assignments done in the expandable way, the basic operations on numbers inner loop. Grouping is necessary — without it TEX (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). would cease reading the outer loop just after seeing Let us use \numexpr to build a \replicate the first \repeat. macro which repeats an arbitrary piece of code a given number of times. The first parameter is the Let it resolve number of repetitions, the second is the content of The capabilities of TEX do not end in incrementing the loop. and checking the counter value. Moreover, TEX \long\def\replicate#1#2{% iterations are not restricted to \loop...\repeat \ifnum\numexpr#1>0 constructions. Often there is a need to execute #2\replicate{#1-1}{#2}\fi} some procedure for each token of a group, in a The loop starts with the check for the counter being context where assignments cannot be used (e.g., positive, i.e., if the repetition should be executed. when creating definitions with \edef, \xdef, inside If so, then the contents of the loop, given as the \write-s, \special-s and \mark-s). Here it is second parameter, is executed and then a recursive worth citing the beautiful-in-its-simplicity macro call is being made to the \replicate procedure \fifo, described in more detail in [3]: with the counter subtracted by 1 and the second parameter unchanged. 322 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
This construct suffers from two serious draw- \immediate\message backs. First, each repetition is executed within {\replicate{100+1} accumulating \ifnum...\fi blocks, which threat- {I will be using eTeX% ens catastrophe if a large number of iterations is \replicate{3}{!} }} required. Second, the length of the first parameter Let’s move on to a more complicated example. We of the macro is increased by two at each turn of will try to define a \fixed macro which puts the the loop, hence during the check of the counter digit 0 in front of all other digits in such a way value TEX must each time evaluate an ever longer as to complement the number to a set length. For expression of the form \numexpr100-1-1-1.... example, Therefore let us try to modify the \replicate \fixed{4}{12} macro so as to execute each repetition outside of the \ifnum...\fi condition and give the parameter should expand to 0012. We begin by defining a representing the counter a more elegant form. helper macro to “measure” the length of a sequence. \long\def\replicate#1#2{% \long\def\abacus#1{\addabacus#10} \ifnum\numexpr#1>0 \long\def\addabacus#1#2#3{% #2\expandafter\replicate\expandafter \ifx#3#1#2\else {\number\numexpr#1-1\expandafter}% \expandafter\addabacus \else \expandafter#1\expandafter \expandafter\gobbleone {\number\numexpr#2+1\expandafter}% \fi{#2}} \fi} Again we start by checking if the loop counter is The \abacus macro (from Latin: a calculating tool) positive, i.e., if the repetition should be executed. If counts tokens appearing between a pair of two other so, the content of the loop (the second parameter) is tokens. processed, after which \expandafter in connection \count100=\abacus|Llanfairpwllgwyngyll% with \number\numexpr decrements the counter by gogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch| one and enters the \replicate procedure with the \edef\numofletters{% new value of the counter. The second parameter to \abacus\relax Antidisestablish% the \replicate procedure is passed on unchanged mentarianism\relax} and immediately follows the \fi instruction ending At each turn of the loop the macro tests if the the conditional. When the counter reaches 0 (or if upcoming token is the delimiting token of the we mischievously start the loop with the parameter measured sequence. If not, the macro in the already being not greater than 0), \expandafter kills the described manner increments the counter by 1 and remaining \fi after which the already described moves on to the next iteration. If yes, it simply \gobbleone procedure swallows the superfluous returns its counter which is the number of tokens parameter. between the freely chosen delimiters. We use here the previously mentioned beneficial Now, we can use \replicate and \abacus to feature of the \number instruction which causes the define a macro to pad the sequence with a chosen macros following it to be expanded completely, character to a given length. i.e., until the decimal representation of the number \def\fixedprefix#1#2#3{% is produced. During the expansion of \numexpr, \expandafter\replicate\expandafter \expandafter is executed which as if in passing {\number (during the number expansion!) causes the loop \numexpr#1-\abacus\relax#2\relax} condition block to disappear. T X then “notices” E {#3}#2} that the expression cannot be expanded further and returns to the \replicate instruction. The latter If we now write is executed with the numerical argument in decimal \edef\test{\fixedprefix{4}{ab}{*}} representation and the second argument being the the \test instruction will be assigned the value of immutable loop content. This happens outside of **ab. It remains to construct a specialized version the conditional block. of the \fixedprefix macro which will format Here is an example of \replicate in a context numbers in such a way that they will have the in which the traditional TEX loop with assignment specified number of digits by prepending with zeros would fail. The \replicate macro is expandable if needed. Because the \fixed macro should operate and can be nested. on numbers, the first operation to be performed is TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 323
to expand the argument to a sequence of digits only. 0\or1\or2\or3\or4\or5\or We know this trick already. 6\or7\or8\or9\or A\or \def\fixed#1#2{% B\or C\or D\or E\or F\fi} \expandafter\fixedzero\expandafter \def\xnum#1#2{% {\number\numexpr#1\expandafter}% \expandafter\doxnum\expandafter \expandafter{\number\numexpr#2}} {\number \def\fixedzero#1#2{% \numexpr#1\expandafter}\expandafter \fixedprefix{#1}{#2}{0}} {\number\numexpr#2}} We also know that TEX expands numbers tirelessly \def\doxnum#1#2{% until the end. We also know that it has no prob- \ifcase lems with long sequences of tokens swallowed as \ifnum#2<\numexpr#2/#1*#1\relax arguments. The \rnum (read number) macro pre- 0 \else1 \fi sented below exploits both TEXniques of iteration \expandafter\doxnumdown\or to read numbers in different notations, from binary \expandafter\doxnumup\fi to hexadecimal. {#1}{#2}} \def\rnum#1#2{\dornum{#1}{0}#2\relax} \def\doxnumdown#1#2{% \def\dornum#1#2#3{\ifx#3\relax#2\else \ifnum#1>#2 \else \expandafter\dornum\expandafter \expandafter\doxnum\expandafter {\number {\number#1\expandafter}\expandafter \numexpr#1\expandafter}\expandafter {\number\numexpr#2/#1-1\expandafter}\fi {\number \hexdigit{#2-(#2/#1-1)*#1}} \numexpr#1*#2+"#3\expandafter}% \def\doxnumup#1#2{% \fi} \ifnum#1>#2 \else \expandafter\doxnum\expandafter We thus taught T X to understand what, e.g., E {\number#1\expandafter}\expandafter 1 000 000 000 000 means in binary notation: {\number\numexpr#2/#1\expandafter}\fi \count100=\rnum{2}{1000000000000} \hexdigit{#2-#2/#1*#1}} The reader may have noticed the character ‘"’ which % test was used in the second-to-last line of the \dornum \count100=\rnum{2}{1000000000} macro. As is known, for TEX this means: “read the \immediate\message digits as hexadecimal”. Without it, TEX would not {\xnum{16}{\count100}} properly understand the digits A through F. For dessert we propose the \xnum macro, which Bibliography does the opposite of \rnum. It rewrites deci- mal numbers into other notations, from binary to [1] Donald E. Knuth: The TEXbook (1990), hexadecimal and, of course does this in a fully Addison-Wesley. expandable way. If the reader made it to this point, [2] Alois Kabelschacht: \expandafter vs. \let he should have no problems in understanding the and \def in conditionals and a generalization following code. However, those who do not use of plain’s \loop. TUGboat, Volume 8 (1987), ε-TEX deserve two explanations. No. 2, 184–185. 1. If during calculating \numexpr ε-TEX encoun- [3] Kees van der Laan: FIFO and LIFO sing the ters the \relax token, it immediately stops BLUes. Biuletyn GUST, nr 4 (1992), 20–26. reading the expression and \relax disappears [4] Marcin Woli´nski: O pewnych konstrukcjach without a trace. warunkowych i iteracyjnych [On some condi- 2. If \numexpr contains non-integer division, the tional and iterative constructs]. Biuletyn GUST, result will be rounded, unlike in TEX, where it nr 7 (1996), 5–9. will be truncated to the integer part. [5] Peter Breitenlohner: The ε-TEX Manual, Ver- More about ε-TEX constructions is in [5]. sion 2, February 1998, 9. [6] Victor Eijkhout: The bag of tricks. TUGboat, \def\hexdigit#1{% Volume 21 (2000), No. 1, 91. \expandafter\hexdigits \number\numexpr#1\relax\relax} ⋄ PawelJackowski \def\hexdigits#1\relax GUST {\ifcase#1 P dot Jackowski (at) gust dot org dot pl 324 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Glisterings \parshapetest num draws num lines ac- cording to the current{h paragraphi} shapeh i specifica- Peter Wilson tion, which doesn’t sound very exciting but can save The raging waves doth belching upwardcast a lot of fiddling trying to get the right number of The wretched wrackes that round about doe words for a more realistic trial layout. fleete, For instance, I tried this example from [8] The silken sayles and glistering golden \begingroup Mast, \hangindent=3pc \hangafter=-2 Lies all to torne and trodden under feete. \parshapetest{4} \endgroup The Ship of safegarde, Barnabe Googe which, to my surprise, resulted in: The aim of this column is to provide odd hints or small pieces of code that might help in solving a problem or two while hopefully not making things worse through any errors of mine. Corrections, suggestions, and contributions will What I hadn’t realised was that even with spec- always be welcome. ifying \hangindent and \hangafter, \parindent The main topic this time is macro definition. was applied to the first line of the shaped paragraph. Questions about this, particularly with respect to The effect that I had expected is obtained as below. LATEX, are fairly regular on the comp.text.tex news- \begingroup group. But first. . . \parindent=0pt \hangindent=3pc \hangafter=-2 \parshapetest{4} The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant \endgroup places; yea I have a goodly heritage. which results in: Psalm 16, verse 6
1 More on paragraphs Donald Knuth sent me a version of the following code saying Following this I tried the \hangfrom example ‘I’ve found this macro to be useful for check- from the same column which demonstrated a hang- ing out a \parshape specification before clut- ing paragraph. The macro was defined as: tering it up with actual text.’ \newcommand*{\hangfrom}[1]{% \setbox\@tempboxa\hbox{{#1}}% % parshape.tex, featuring a possibly useful \hangindent \wd\@tempboxa % macro by Don Knuth, April 2007 \noindent\box\@tempboxa} % \parshapetest{n} will typeset n lines of % horizontal rules using the current And a demonstration is: % paragraph shape (as specified by \hangfrom{$\Rightarrow$\space} % \hangindent, \hangafter, \parshape, or \parshapetest{3} % none of the above) \def\parshapetest#1{% ⇒ \leavevmode%% DEK originally had \indent here \count255=1 \loop \ifnum\count255<#1 Here’s a more interesting paragraph shape, and \null\leaders\hrule\hfil\null\break the result of testing it: \advance\count255 by 1 \repeat \newdimen\zide \null\leaders\hrule\hfil\hskip-\parfillskip \zide=\baselineskip \null\par} \newcommand*{\aparshape}{% \parshape=10 0pt 10\zide % 1 Unfortunately it was too late to incorporate it into 0pt 10\zide % 2 the last column [8] which was about how to typeset 9\zide \zide % 3 variously shaped paragraphs. It was doubly unfor- 8\zide \zide % 4 tunate because when I tried using \parshapetest 6\zide \zide % 5 on some of the examples I found that I had misun- 4\zide \zide % 6 derstood some aspects of paragraph setting. 2\zide \zide % 7 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 325
\zide \zide % 8 Who will change old lamps for new? . . . new 0pt 10\zide % 9 lamps for old ones? 0pt 10\zide % 10 Arabian Nights: The History of Aladdin } \aparshape 2 LATEX’s defining triumvirate \noindent\parshapetest{10} The macro provided by LATEX for defining new com- mands is somewhat simpler than the TEX macro upon which it is based. This is the LATEX one: \newcommand cmd [ num ][ arg1 ] defn where cmd {his thei} name,h includingi h i the{h backslashi} (e.g., \amacroh i ), of the new macro being defined and defn is the definition of the new macro, which may hbe simplyi some text to be typeset or something very complex. The optional num argument specifies the number of arguments thath thei new macro will take; if given this must be at least one and at most nine. Try using this paragraph shape with a text of The new macro will take an optional argument if 76 ‘z’ characters with spaces between each, like this: arg1 is given, where arg1 is the default value \aparshape hof thei first argument.h Thei macro resulting from \noindent \newcommand is, in TEX terms, a long macro, mean- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ing that an argument may consist of more than one etc paragraph or, equivalently, include a \par. There Replying to a request on the comp.text.tex is also a star form of the command (\newcommand*) newsgroup by Stephen Moye, Paul Vojta [7] posted which creates a macro where paragraph(s) are not the following code1 for setting the first line of a para- allowed in an argument to the new macro. If cmd h i graph flushleft, the next centered and the final line has been defined previously LATEX will give an error flushright. message. A \newcommand*{\leftcenterright}{% The LTEX macro \leftskip=0pt plus 1fil \renewcommand cmd [ num ][ arg1 ] defn {h i} h i h i {h i} \rightskip=0pt plus 1fil and its companion \renewcommand*, are similar to \parfillskip=0pt plus -1fil \newcommand except that they change the definition \parindent=0pt of cmd , which must have been defined earlier, oth- h i \everypar={\hskip0pt plus -1fil}} erwise LATEX will complain. This should either be used in a group, or you can The third member of LATEX’s macro definition use the following macro to return to the regular macros is: paragraph style, where you have previously specified \providecommand cmd [ num ][ arg1 ] defn \myparindent as the normal value of \parindent. which acts like \newcommand{h i} h if cmdi h hasi not{h beeni} h i \newcommand*{\regularpar}{% defined, otherwise it silently does nothing. Again, \leftskip=0pt plus 0pt minus 0pt there is a starred version of the command. \rightskip=\leftskip If you want to make sure that your definition \parfillskip=0pt plus 1fil for cmd is used regardless of whether or not it has \parindent=\myparindent beenh definedi before you can do this: \everypar{}} % ensure \amacro is defined Following is an example of a \leftcenterright \providecommand{\amacro}{} paragraph, typeset from: % change the definition \leftcenterright \renewcommand{\amacro}... First line \\ Second line \break Within the defn argument to the macros the Third line \break Last line \par use of the first argument,h i if any, is denoted by #1, \regularpar the second by #2, and so on up to the ninth which is First line denoted by #9. The arguments can be used as many Second line times as needed and in any order. Third line A question that pops up now and then on the Last line comp.text.tex newsgroup is how to define a macro 1 For convenience I have put Paul’s code into a macro. that takes more than nine arguments. The answer is 326 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 to split it up into two or more macros each of which may find that Eijkhout [4, ch. 11] or Abrahams et handles a portion of the required number. For, say, al. [1, chs. 4 and 9] are more accessible or helpful. 11 arguments: The syntax of the \def command is unlike any- \newcommand{\xiargs}[9]{% thing you see in an author’s view of LATEX. % 9 args used here then \def cmd paramspec defn h ih i{h i} \xtrargs} As in the LATEX formulation, cmd is the name, \newcommand{\xtrargs}[2]{% including the backslash (e.g., \amacroh i ), of the new % use last 2 args here macro being defined and defn is the definition of h i % #1 and #2 are the apparent 10th & 11th args the new macro, just as with LATEX. Note that there } are no braces around cmd . The user calls \xiargs with the 11 arguments, and The paramspec his wherei you specify the ap- \xiargs processes the first 9 of these. It then calls pearanceh of any argumentsi to cmd . Each argu- \xtrargs, which is effectively hidden from view, to ment is denoted by #1, #2, etc.,h ini paramspec ; process the remaining 2 arguments. If you need to these must be in numerical order, and spacesh withini use, say, the 4th argument within \xtrargs this can paramspec are significant. Below are two equiva- h i be easily accomplished: lent pieces of (LA)TEX code: \newcommand{\xiargs}[9]{% \newcommand*{\amacro}[2]{....} % LaTeX % 9 args used here then \def\amacro#1#2{....} % TeX \xtrargs{#4}} ... \amacro{foo}{bar} ... % (La)TeX \newcommand{\xtrargs}[3]{% That finishes the simple bit, except to say that if you % #1 here is #4 from \xiargs and % #2 and #3 are the apparent 10th & 11th args need an argument to consist of one or more para- } graphs, by including a blank line or a \par, then the macro must be long. Also T X gives no warning As a lead in to the next section, here is another E if you \def a macro that has already been defined — way of getting the 4th argument into \xtrargs: it just throws the old definition away. Be careful of \newcommand{\xiargs}[9]{% this as it is not a good idea to inadvertently rede- % 9 args used here including fine some vital macro that you did not know existed. \def\ivarg{#4}% Anyway, here are two more equivalent pieces of code: % then \xtrargs} \renewcommand{\amacro}[2]{....} % LaTeX \newcommand{\xtrargs}[2]{% \long\def\amacro#1#2{....} % TeX % #1 and #2 are the apparent 10th & 11th args ... \amacro{A paragraph\par}{bar} ... % (La)TeX % call \ivarg for original 4th arg When the paramspec consists only of param- } eters (the #1 etc.)h they arei said to be undelimited; where \def is the TEX command for defining a com- simplistically these correspond to LATEX’s manda- mand. tory arguments. On the other hand, if any non- This kind of code can obviously be extended to parameter tokens (that is, anything except a #n or handle as many arguments as you wish, but after a the opening { of the defn ) occur after a #n then {h i} while it might be easier to use the keyval package [3], that parameter is said to be delimited. When the or the later extension called xkeyval [2], which pro- new macro is called, the argument for a delimited vide a very different approach. You name each ar- parameter does not end until TEX encounters the de- gument and the user can use as many or as few of limiting character(s). Internally, LATEX uses delim- these as he deems necessary. ited parameters to implement optional arguments. Suppose we need a macro that looks like this: He who can properly define and divide is to \where{foo}(x,y) be considered a god. where foo, x and y are the arguments to \where. The LAT X commands described above can’t handle Novum Organum, Francis E this, but T X can: Bacon quoting Plato E \def\where#1(#2,#3){#1 in #2 #3} 3 TEX’s dictator and calling TEX has an all-purpose command for defining new \textit{% macros, namely \def. There are too many aspects \where{A nightingale sang}(Berkely,Square)} to this to cover them all in a short article; Knuth [5, results in ch. 20] provides the definitive explanation, but you A nightingale sang in Berkely Square TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 327
Perhaps you need a command that comes in two macro, \twoopt, that takes one required and two op- versions, as \newcommand does. The LATEX kernel in- tional arguments. The defaults for the two optional cludes a macro called \@ifnextchar, whose syntax arguments are to be ‘opt1’ and ‘opt2’, respectively is like this: and unimaginatively. \@ifnextchar char yes no \def\twoopt{% h i{h i}{h i} It looks to see if the next non-space character in the \@ifnextchar [{\@twoopt}{\@twoopt[opt1]}} input text is char . If it is it executes the yes \def\@twoopt[#1]{% argument, otherwiseh i it executes the no argument.h i \@ifnextchar [% The kernel also provides the next command:h i {\@@twoopt{#1}}{\@@twoopt{#1}[opt2]}} \@ifstar yes no \def\@@twoopt#1[#2]#3{% which looks{h toi}{h see ifi} the next character is a * and 1 (#1) 2 (#2) 3 (#3)} if it is it gobbles up the * and executes the yes Don’t forget that this has to be defined when LATEX argument, otherwise it executes the no argument.h i thinks that @ is a letter. Trying this out we get: It is defined as follows: h i \twoopt{no opts} 1 (opt1) 2 (opt2) 3 (no opts) \twoopt[foo]{one→ opt} 1 (foo) 2 (opt2) 3 (one \long\def\@firstoftwo#1#2{#1} → \def\@ifstar#1{% opt) \@ifnextchar *{\@firstoftwo{#1}}} \twoopt[bar][baz]{two opts} 1 (bar) 2 (baz) → Now you can define your own (un)starred com- 3 (two opts) mand pair, like this: \makeatletter % if not in a .cls or .sty file References \def\maybestar{% [1] Paul W. Abrahams, Karl Berry, and \@ifstar{\@maybestarS}{\@maybestar}} Kathryn A. Hargreaves. TEX for the % handle starred version Impatient. Addison-Wesley, 1990. Available on \def\@maybestarS#1#2{Star (#1) and (#2).} CTAN in info/impatient. % handle plain version \def\@maybestar#1#2{(#1) and (#2).} [2] Hendri Adriaens. The xkeyval package, \makeatother % if not in a .cls or .sty file 2005. Available on CTAN in latex/macros/ The end result is a macro with a starred and un- contrib/xkeyval. starred version that takes two arguments. A pair of [3] David Carlisle. The keyval package, 1999. example results are: Available on CTAN in latex/macros/ \maybestar*{1st}{2nd} Star (1st) and (2nd). required/graphics. → \maybestar{1st}{2nd} (1st) and (2nd). [4] Victor Eijkhout. TEX by Topic, A TEXnician’s → If you would like to use another character, say Reference. Addison-Wesley, 1991. ISBN a ?, in place of the *, here’s a way of doing it. 0-201-56882-9. Available at http://www. \def\maybeQ{% eijkhout.net/tbt/. \@ifnextchar ?{\@maybeQ}{\@maybe}} [5] Donald E. Knuth. The TEXbook. \def\@maybeQ#1#2#3{Query (#2) and (#3).} Addison-Wesley, 1984. ISBN 0–201–13448–9. \def\@maybe#1#2{(#1) and (#2).} [6] Heiko Oberdiek. The twoopt package: Unlike the starring code where \@ifstar got rid of Definitions with two optional arguments, the * the \@maybeQ macro has to discard the ? which 1999. Available on CTAN in latex/macros/ is the first character it will see; TEX treats a single contrib/oberdiek. character2 as an argument so \@maybeQ is defined [7] Paul Vojta. Re: New York Times headline such that it throws away its first argument. style. Post to comp.text.tex newsgroup, A pair of example results are: 10 July 2007. \maybeQ?{1st}{2nd} Query (1st) and (2nd). TUGboat \maybeQ{1st}{2nd} →(1st) and (2nd). [8] Peter Wilson. Glisterings. , → 28(2):229–232, 2007. Maybe you would like a LATEX command that takes two optional arguments and one required one. ⋄ Heiko Oberdiek has produced a comprehensive pack- Peter Wilson age for creating such macros [6] but as another T X 18912 8th Ave. SW E Normandy Park, WA 98166 example here is a simple method that might be use- USA A ful for the odd occasion. The result will be a LTEX herries dot press (at) 2 More precisely, a token, but now is not the time to get earthlink dot net into all that. 328 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
The Treasure Chest graphics automata in graphics/metapost/contrib/macros Draw finite state machines, graphs, trees, etc. bpolynomial in graphics/metapost/contrib/macros This is a list of selected new packages posted to Draw polynomial functions up to degree three. CTAN (http://www.ctan.org) from July 2007–May dot2tex in graphics 2008, with descriptions based on the announcements Convert Graphviz-format graphs to LATEX-friendly and edited for brevity. formats. Entries are listed alphabetically within CTAN graphicxsp in graphics directories. A few entries which the editors subjec- Embed graphics in PDF output once, and support tively believed to be of especially wide interest or the Adobe transparency imaging model. otherwise notable are starred; of course, this is not pgfplots in graphics/pgf/contrib intended to slight the other contributions! Normal and logarithmic plots using TikZ/PGF. Hopefully this column and its companions will pgf-soroban in graphics/pgf/contrib help to make CTAN a more accessible resource to the Draw a Japanese abacus using TikZ/PGF. TEX community. Comments are welcome, as always. pst-cox in graphics/pstricks/contrib Draw two-dimensional projections of complex reg- ular polytopes (after Coxeter). pst-diffraction in graphics/pstricks/contrib biblio Draw diffraction patterns for different geometric forms of apertures for monochromatic light. aichej in biblio/bibtex/contrib/misc pst-optexp in graphics/pstricks/contrib BibTEX style file for the American Institute of Chem- Facilitate sketching of optical experimental setups. ical Engineers Journal . pst-pad in graphics/pstricks/contrib bib2ml in biblio/bibtex/utils Draw attachment surfaces for friction and adhesion Perl script converting BibTEX databases to HTML, models. XML, or SQL. pst-solides3d in graphics/pstricks/contrib fbs in biblio/bibtex/contrib/misc Draw solids in three-dimensional perspective. BibTEX style file for Frontiers in Bioscience. pst-soroban in graphics/pstricks/contrib Draw a Japanese abacus using PSTricks. text2bib in biblio/bibtex/utils tableau-variations in graphics/metapost/contrib/ PHP script to references to BibTEX. macros Create variation tables in MetaPost. fonts * Asana-Math in fonts info An OpenType math font with almost all mathe- compact info/symbols/compact matical Unicode symbols and the MATH OpenType in Beamer-style list of common symbols, including the table supported by X TE EX and Word 2007. variations in txfonts. cyklop in fonts dtxgallery in info OpenType, Type 1, and support files for the Cyklop Collection of minimal .dtx examples. typeface, a very high contrast display design. l2tabues in info/l2tabu/spanish fge in fonts Spanish translation of l2tabu. A font for Frege’s Grundgesetze der Arithmetik. * latex-brochure in info gfsbaskerville in fonts/greek/GFS Publicity flyer for LATEX; please print and post wher- The venerable Baskerville design with complete sup- ever appropriate. port for Greek (only). lshort-slovenian in info/lshort/slovenian lshort hwkatakana in fonts Slovenian translation of . Half-width Katakana Type 1 fonts in the SJIS en- mpman-ru in info/metapost/doc/russian coding, based on the Wadalab fonts. Russian translation of the MetaPost user’s guide. * texbytopic in macros/latex/contrib * lxfonts in fonts Victor Eijkhout’s excellent TEX reference book TEX Revived LAT X slide fonts for both text and math. E by Topic, now available under the GNU Free Doc- umtypewriter in fonts umentation License. Four OpenType fonts supporting Latin, Greek, and xetexref in info Cyrillic scripts. Unofficial reference documentation for X TE EX. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 329
epspdfconversion in macros/latex/contrib language Do EPS-to-PDF conversion on the fly from within LAT X. mx in language/spanish/nonstandard E Babel support for typesetting Spanish with Mexi- errata in macros/latex/contrib A can conventions. Recording errata in LTEX documents and then high- lighting changes. ptex in language/japanese etoolbox in macros/latex/contrib A high-quality Japanese T X system by ASCII Co., E Programming facilities for LAT X class and package compatible with teT X-based systems. Released E E authors, including but not limited to support for under the modified BSD license. new ε-TEX primitives. euproposal in macros/latex/contrib macros/latex/contrib Support for FP7 proposals. fouridx in macros/latex/contrib addlines in macros/latex/contrib Enable left subscripts and supersets; alternative to Enhancements of \enlargethispage. \sideset and \leftidx. ametsoc in macros/latex/contrib frletter in macros/latex/contrib A Official American Meteorological Society LTEX tem- Typeset French-style letters (in any language). plate files. frontespizio in macros/latex/contrib boldtensors in macros/latex/contrib Typeset thesis frontispiece in Italian style. Provide bold Latin and Greek characters within gaceta in macros/latex/contrib \mathversion{normal}, by using ~ and " as pre- Support for the journal La Gaceta de la Real So- fix characters. ciedad Matem´atica Espa˜nola. catechis in macros/latex/contrib hexgame in macros/latex/contrib Support for catechisms: question-and-answer, com- Draw a hexagonal game board. ments on answers, etc. ifplatform in macros/latex/contrib changepage in macros/latex/contrib/misc Conditionals for testing the current operating sys- Locally changing text width or other page layout tem (using -shell-escape). based on odd/even pages; compatible with memoir, ijmart in macros/latex/contrib chngpage unlike . LATEX class for the Israel Journal of Mathematics. chemscheme in macros/latex/contrib image-gallery in macros/latex/contrib Support for a chemical scheme float type with au- Generate overview page of a photo gallery, possibly tomatic numbering. adjusting photo sizes. chemstyle in macros/latex/contrib isonums in macros/latex/contrib Formatting chemistry documents (successor to the Display numbers in math mode according to ISO- rsc bundle). 31-0, regardless of input format. confproc in macros/latex/contrib jsclasses in macros/latex/contrib Class for conference proceedings. Classes supporting Japanese, including jsarticle constants in macros/latex/contrib and jsbook. Label/reference system for (families of) constants, lcyw in macros/latex/contrib e.g., in a proof. LATEX support for the CM Cyrillic fonts. * datatool in macros/latex/contrib mathexam in macros/latex/contrib LAT X package for typesetting exams, including space Database operations and charts within LATEX, pos- E sibly created from external CSV, TSV, etc. files. for students to show work. dotarrow in macros/latex/contrib mciteplus in macros/latex/contrib Extendable dotted arrows (like \xrightarrow). Reimplementation of mcite with support for physics- style grouping of multiple citations; compatible with dprogress in macros/latex/contrib REVTEX4. Log LAT X’s progress through the document, out- E mfpic4ode in macros/latex/contrib putting section headers, equation numbers, etc. Draw direction fields and other differential equation ecclesiastic in macros/latex/contrib support. Typesetting Latin in an ecclesiastical style. newspaper in macros/latex/contrib ed in macros/latex/contrib Typesetting newsletters to resemble newspapers. A Editorial notes for LTEX documents. nostarch in macros/latex/contrib edmargin in macros/latex/contrib Official LATEX for No Starch Press. Support for endnote sections in critical editions. notes2bib in macros/latex/contrib environ in macros/latex/contrib Integrate footnotes, endnotes, and other notes in a Collect body text inside an environment. bibliography. 330 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
numname in macros/latex/contrib Convert a numerical number to the English spelled- macros/latex/exptl out name of the number. biblatex-dw in macros/latex/exptl/biblatex-contrib perltex in macros/latex/contrib Support for humanities-style citations and more, for A Define LTEX macros in terms of Perl code. biblatex. philex in macros/latex/contrib biblatex-mla in macros/latex/exptl/biblatex-contrib Dynamically cross-reference to names and contents Support for MLA-style parenthetical citations and of environments. bibliographies in biblatex. sagetex in macros/latex/contrib gcite in macros/latex/exptl Embed Sage code and plots into LATEX. German-style citations, providing a small amount sfmath in macros/latex/contrib of bibliographic information in a footnote on the Switch all mathematics typesetting to sans serif. page where each citation is made. show2e in macros/latex/contrib thmtools in macros/latex/exptl Support for \show variants suited to LATEX2ε’s com- Keyval interface to \newtheorem,a \listoftheorems mands and environments, and other debugging help. command, hyperref compatibility, and more theo- shipunov in macros/latex/contrib rem extensions. Bundle with support for field biologists, Russian- language authors, and much more. siunitx in macros/latex/contrib macros/omega Comprehensive package for typesetting values with tamil-omega in macros/omega/latex/contrib units. Typeset the Tamil script using Omega. stex in macros/latex/contrib (LA)TEX support for mathematical knowledge man- agement, via allowing semantic markup without leav- macros/xetex ing the document format. xecyr in macros/xetex/latex stringstrings in macros/latex/contrib Support for Cyrillic languages in X LE ATEX + babel. Large collection of expandable routines for string processing. subdepth in macros/latex/contrib support Unify math subscript height. acroweb in support tablor in macros/latex/contrib Scripts for creating interactive tests in AcroTEX Create tables for signs and variations using XCAS from web databases. for calculus and MetaPost for drawing. autolatex in support ted in macros/latex/contrib Automate generation of large-scale LATEX projects. Token list editor: substitutions and display of to- ctantools in support kens. Search LATEX packages on CTAN. theoremref macros/latex/contrib in delig in support Variants of \label and \ref for theorem-like envi- Java program to disable misplaced ligatures in LATEX ronments. documents, for example “Auflage” in German. thinsp in macros/latex/contrib fastpictex in support A stretchable \thinspace for LAT X. E Preprocessor for PiCTEX to ease creation of line * translator in macros/latex/contrib graphs, bar graphs, x-y graphs, etc. Open translation platform, compatible with babel. graphconv in support turnstile in macros/latex/contrib Windows program to convert Graph (http://www. Support for logicians’ turnstile sign. padowan.dk/graph/) files to PSTricks. upmethodology in macros/latex/contrib jlm in support/jed Support for Unified Process methodologies (UP or LATEX mode for the JED editor. RUP). miktex_update in support varsfromjobname in macros/latex/contrib Automate updating and installing of new packages Select hyphen-separated pieces of \jobname. of an existing MiKTEX installation. vxu in macros/latex/contrib texcount in support Classes for V¨axj¨oUniversity, Sweden. Count number of words in LATEX text, with color xargs in macros/latex/contrib output. Also available as a web service: http:// Define macros with many optional arguments. folk.uio.no/einarro/Comp/texwordcount.html. xskak in macros/latex/contrib vc in support Extensions to skak for chess typesetting, including Version control for (LA)TEX, supporting Subversion saving information for later use. and Git. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 331
font-specific dealing with glyphs on the output side, Reviews while other chapters find themselves in the middle ground, having to deal with font and encoding top- ics simultaneously. Some chapters are accessible to Book review: end users interested in installing and using fonts, Fonts & Encodings by Yannis Haralambous while others are of interest only to font designers or Ulrik Vieth developers of font-related software. The first part of the book starts with encoding- specific topics. Chapter 1 provides an overview of Yannis Haralambous, the history of encodings before Unicode, ranging translated by from 7-bit ASCII and various 8-bit ISO encodings P. Scott Horne, to 16-bit East-Asian encodings. Chapters 2–4 cover Fonts & Encodings, the Unicode standard, starting with an overview of O’Reilly Media, the symbols and scripts included in the standard 1016+xx pp., and moving on towards more and more complex first edition: implementation details. Chapter 5 completes this September 2007, part with a presentation of some useful tools for ISBN 0-596-10242-5, using Unicode input on various system platforms. US$59.99. http: The second part covers the topic of font man- //www.oreilly. agement on various system platforms and operates com/catalog/ somewhere in the gray area between fonts and en- 9780596102425 codings. Chapters 6–8 each cover similar topics for Yannis Haralambous is well-known in the interna- the Macintosh, Windows and Unix/X11 platforms. tional TEX community, not only as a co-founder of While the description of the Macintosh platform is the Omega project, but also for his numerous contri- rather detailed in discussing the differences of font butions as a developer of fonts for various languages. handling between MacOS 9 and Mac OS X, the de- It only seems fitting that Yannis has undertaken the scription of the Unix/X11 platform only covers some job of writing a comprehensive book on the topic of very basic and old-fashioned X11 tools. Here, one fonts and encodings. could have wished for some more extensive cover- The original edition, entitled Fontes & Codages, age of font management in modern Linux desktop appeared in 2004, but only in French. Now, a long- environments such as KDE or Gnome. awaited English translation as Fonts & Encodings, The following two chapters discuss platform- prepared by P. Scott Horne, has recently become independent usage of fonts in TEX/Omega systems available, published by O’Reilly Media Inc. and on the Web. Chapter 9 starts with an overview of high-level font selection in LATEX/NFSS2, followed Contents by a detailed description of low-level font installation Amounting to a bit more than 1000 pages, the book for dvips. The remainder of the chapter then dis- matches the size of The LATEX Companion, Second cusses numerous examples of creating virtual fonts Edition. It appears quite impressive, not only re- using fontinst to implement specific effects needed garding its sheer size, but also regarding the broad in various scripts. Chapter 10 concludes this part range of topics covered as well as the depth of the with a coverage of fonts on the Web using either coverage and the level of detail. In some cases the (X)HTML/CSS or alternatively SVG. author has spent dozens of pages documenting some The final part of the book covers font-specific arcane details of font formats, which have so far been topics. Chapter 11 covers various classifications of lacking a comprehensive or accessible documentation Latin typefaces and simultaneously provides a nicely- from other sources. illustrated overview of the history of the most impor- The book consists of a main body of 14 chap- tant typeface designs. Chapters 12–13 then discuss ters of some 600 pages, followed by an appendix of creating, editing and optimizing PostScript, True- 7 chapters amounting to another 400 pages. Type, and OpenType fonts using tools such as Font- As the author makes clear in the introduction, Lab and FontForge. Chapter 14 finally introduces the various groups of readers may benefit from different concepts of advanced typographic features provided parts of the book without having to read all of it: in OpenType or AAT fonts and discusses ways of Some chapters are mostly encoding-specific, dealing enriching fonts using these facilities. with characters on the input side, some are mostly The appendix of the book mostly consists of 332 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
the detailed descriptions of font formats. Starting project (which hasn’t progressed beyond the pro- from bitmap fonts and TEX-related font formats and totype stage), while the (by now) readily-available moving on to PostScript, TrueType, OpenType and newcomer X TE EX remains unmentioned. AAT fonts, practically all relevant font formats are To be fair, one has to admit that the success covered in detail in Appendices A–E. and importance of these recent developments in the Finally, Appendix F discusses the principles of TEX world could not have been foreseen at the time font design in METAFONT and derived systems such of writing in 2003. Nevertheless, it could have been as METAPOST, MetaFog and MetaType 1. possible to include some additions and/or revisions by the time of the English translation of 2007. Commentary It is rather unfortunate that the opportunity Considering the size of the book, it is understand- for updates was missed here; this would have made able that several years have passed from the time the book much more useful and valuable for TEX of writing the manuscript to the publication of the users interested in making use of the very latest of English translation. Unfortunately, because of this, developments in font technology. some chapters of the book are in risk of becoming Despite these shortcomings, the book remains a out-of-date rather quickly. For most of the material, valuable resource for TEX users and software devel- we have to assume that the English edition of 2007 opers, who are deeply interested in font technology only represents the state of the art of 2003. and encodings. There is no other book providing For many chapters serving as a reference, such a similar coverage in the broad range of topics and a delay is not much of a problem, as the descriptions the deep level of detail in a single volume. To get of encodings or font file formats remain unchanged anywhere near it, one would have to collect dozens of and permanently valid. On the other hand, it is references from a variety of sources — and one would regrettable that especially the chapter about TEX has still be left with some gaps to fill. completely missed or overlooked some very important In summary, this book is certainly recommend- developments of the last few years. able. Nevertheless, some additions and/or revisions As one example, when describing the details of would be very desirable for future editions. font installation, the author only covers TEX/Omega As a final remark, the reviewer would like to with dvips, while PDFTEX isn’t mentioned in this mention a little curiosity: like some other modern context, even though most of the description would textbooks, this book also features a separate index be applicable to both systems in TEX Live systems. of persons besides the usual general-purpose index. (In fact, PDFTEX isn’t mentioned anywhere at all in However, unlike other books, the author seems to the book, perhaps because it didn’t support Omega have been rather liberal as to which kinds of persons at that time.) are referenced in the index. As another example, H`anThˆe´ Th`anh, the prin- This way, authors of font software and tools not cipal author of PDFTEX, is mentioned only once in only find themselves in the glorious company of some the context of Vietnamese fonts, while his signifi- the most famous font designers of history, but also cant achievements regarding the implementation of in the vicinity of rather questionable political figures micro-typographic features of PDFTEX have been (e. g. Lenin, Hitler, Mao) as well as some fictional neglected completely. This is even more surprising or literary characters (e. g. Sherlock Holmes, James as the author spends some pages discussing an exam- Bond, James T. Kirk), which are only mentioned in ple where the effect of margin kerning, which would passing in some light-hearted comments. have been accessible in PDFTEX, is simulated in a While the reviewer (who at one time was a rather cumbersome way using virtual fonts created contributor to fontinst) wishes to express thanks by fontinst. for the opportunity of being included in this unique Regarding examples of extensions of Computer selection of people, he also wishes to express serious Modern fonts, the author suggests the CM-Super doubts as to whether it is really helpful to the reader fonts, while the (by now) much more popular Latin to include fictional characters in the person index in Modern fonts are mentioned only in passing as an the same way as technical people. example of a MetaType 1 application. Finally, when it comes to discussing ways of ⋄ Ulrik Vieth using advanced typographic features of OpenType Vaihinger Straße 69 70567 Stuttgart or AAT fonts in T X, the author only offers some E Germany hints about his own research work in the Omega 2 ulrik dot vieth (at) arcor dot de TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 333
• CAD Software review: TEXCAD for Windows Except for some text, TEX for Windows shows a picture that is what LATEX will produce. Bernd S.W. Schroeder • Graphical editing features such as mirror copy Overall Rating: 5.0 (highest rating possible) and rotated copies. • For Bezier curves the two tangent lines that de- 1 Description termine the curve are displayed. This program is a well-done adaptation of the classic • Circles of any size can be drawn with TEXCAD DOS TEXCAD to the Windows platform. TEXCAD (this feature of TEXCAD32 was not accessible for Windows is a drawing program that provides a in recent Windows versions because TEXCAD32 visual way to produce pictures in LATEX picture envi- would not run). ronments. It virtually eliminates the need to remem- A 2.2 Concern(s): ber the way LTEX encodes pictures as most types of pictures can be generated quickly with TEXCAD. • A feature for connecting objects so that when TEXCAD for Windows is freely available for down- one is dragged the others adjust would be nice. load. This can clash with the limited number of slopes The review below considers three categories and of lines that LATEX allows though, so it is un- assigns a rating in each. derstandably not available. • For fine tuning, it would be nice if one could move the cursor one step at a time with the cursor keys. (This was helpful in the original TEXCAD.)
3 Category: Potential effectiveness as a 2 Category: Content quality teaching tool Rating: 5.0 Rating: 5.0 2.1 Strength(s): 3.1 Strength(s): • Grid-based drawing program with a default grid • Generation of LATEX picture environments that in millimeters. Step length for the mouse can are sufficient for many mathematical graphics be adjusted under Options (Zoom Factor). A and very compact. zoom factor of 10 provides steps of length 1/10 • mm. Several functions (lines with any slope, bezier vectors) are geared towards eradicating some of • Supports all functions that are available via the A the LTEX picture environment’s limitations. LAT X picture environment. Functions are se- E • T XCAD for Windows interfaces with MiKT X lected via self-explanatory pull-down menus. E E to allow preview of the actual LATEX picture in Editor’s note: This is a peer review by the MERLOT a very efficient edit-view-edit cycle. Mathematics Review Panel, published online January 16, 2004 (www.merlot.org). Reprinted by permission. TEXCAD 3.2 Concern(s): is written by Gautier de Montmollin, who maintains a site • at www.mysunrise.ch/users/gdm/texcad.htm. Adapted for The tips of Bezier vectors sometimes completely TUGboat and screenshots provided by Steve Peter. cover the end of the Bezier curve, and a little 334 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
stub sticks out of the triangle that is the tip of the arrow. This occurs only for high curvature Warnings near the tip of the vector and going into the code for the picture environment can fix this problem easily. (Note: Gautier de Montmollin \looseness on the loose says this has been fixed.) Frank Mittelbach 4 Category: Ease of use for both students Question: and faculty This paragraph was set twice with a small value Rating: 5.0 for \emergencystretch. The first time it was 4.1 Strength(s): set without any other special adjustments, the second time we also used -1 as the value for • Simple, matter-of-fact documentation included the \looseness parameter. Can you explain in English (dvi format). why the two paragraphs are broken differently • Once it is started the interface is highly intu- into lines even though the use of \looseness itive. Mouse movements plus the left button couldn’t shorten the paragraph? (select) and the right button (escape/cancel) are all that is needed to run the whole appli- This paragraph was set twice with a small cation. value for \emergencystretch. The first time it was set without any other special adjust- • TEXCAD is an executable that can be started through Windows Explorer, My Computer or ments, the second time we also used -1 as the on the command line. Shortcuts can be created. value for the \looseness parameter. Can you explain why the two paragraphs are broken 4.2 Concern(s): differently into lines even though the use of None. \looseness couldn’t shorten the paragraph? 5 Other issues and comments Answer: When \looseness has a non-zero value, TEX always runs through all line breaking passes: The original TEXCAD is a program back from the breaking without hyphenation, breaking with hy- days when DOS was the operating system on PCs. phenation, and (if \emergencystretch is non-zero TEXCAD was firmly ahead of its time. The limita- as it is, for example, inside multicols) with the emer- tions of TEXCAD are mostly the limitations of the A gency stretch. But adding \emergencystretch to LTEX picture environment, so they cannot be held every line means that the line breaks chosen in the against this program. The new Windows version first paragraph may fall in different fitting classes so eradicates just about all problems that the review- that at different places \adjdemerits are charged, ers saw in the original program. thus making the original solution less attractive. Gautier de Montmollin is planning to further In fact the situation could even be worse: if a improve the program and add some of the features long paragraph can be broken into lines by just us- mentioned in this review. ing \pretolerance, then a setting of \looseness to ⋄ Bernd S. W. Schroeder +1 might in fact result in a paragraph with one line Edmondson/Crump Professor and less — all that would be required is that breaking us- Program Chair ing \tolerance to get a default line count two lines Program of Mathematics and less than with \pretolerance (a real life example Statistics is left to the reader). Louisiana Tech University Ruston, LA 71272 ⋄ Frank Mittelbach http://www.latex-project.org
First published in Die TEXnische Komödie 2007/4, p. 41. TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 335
External graphics for LATEX, Siep Abstracts Kroonenberg; pp. 18–26 In this article, we discuss graphics file formats, software to create graphics, and procedures to con- MAPS 35 (Spring 2007) vert them to LATEX and pdfLATEX-compatible for- mats. MAPS is the publication of NTG, the Dutch language TEX user group. Their web site is http://www.ntg. Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater, Review: nl. Alphabetgeschichten; pp. 27–29 [Printed in TUGboat 28:2.] Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater, The MPlib Project; p.4 Richard Hirsch, Folding Sheets for a Modular MetaPost as a reusable component. Origami Dodecalendar; pp. 30–36 Twelve square sheets of paper can be folded in Hans Hagen, Tokens in LuaTEX; pp. 5–8 such a way that they can be assembled to a pentagon Discussion of token parsing in LuaTEX. dodecahedron (origami). The single units are called Taco Hoekwater, Integrating the pool file; modules, hence the name modular. If the sheets pp. 9–10 bear calendrical information at the right places, the This short article discusses the method that is dodecahedron shows the calendar for each month on used in MetaPost and LuaTEX (since adopted in all its faces: the dodecalendar. other TEX family programs) to integrate the string In this article we let MetaPost calculate piece pool file into the program. by piece the information that needs to be printed on This method allows the redistribution of a single the module paper to enable us to fold the modules updated executable in place of both a program and and assemble the dodecahedron. a data file, and this makes updating those programs Mojca Miklavec, ConTEXt user meeting 2007; easier on both the user and the developer. pp. 37–42 Willi Egger, PGF/TikZ; pp. 11–17 [Printed in TUGboat 28:2.] For those who are looking for an alternative to Michael Guravage, EuroBachoTeX 2007; external graphic drawing tools, PGF/TikZ offers a pp. 43–50 wealth of possibilities. PGF is a macro package that, [Printed in TUGboat 28:2.] together with its user interface TikZ, comprises a kind of ‘graphics language’ to build graphics inside Frans Goddijn, MiKTEX installeren valt erg the text as inline graphics or as pictures of larger size. mee [Installing MiKTEX easier than expected]; PGF was originally written for LATEX, but it is now pp. 51–54 also available for use within ConTEXt. The package The author’s personal experiences installing MiK- comes with a large set of libraries for different kinds TEX. of graphics. There is extensive documentation and a tutorial. For support a mailing list and web site are [Received from Taco Hoekwater] available. Users of the package with ConTEXt have to install the xkeyval package version 1.8. PGF and TikZ are distributed under the GNU Public License version 2. 336 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Die TEXnische Kom¨odie Stephan Hennig and Herbert Voß, The font Contents of issues 2007/2–2008/1 package initials; pp. 27–40 This article shows how the font package initials Editor’s note: A Die TEXnische Kom¨odie is the jour- can be used in LTEX documents. nal of DANTE e.V., the German-language T X user E Frank Mittelbach, looseness on the loose; group. The journal’s web site is p. 41 \ http://www.dante.de/dante/DTK/. (Published in this issue of TUGboat.) 2007/2 Herbert Voß, The listings package and Andre´ Miede, Academic final theses with UTF-8 encoding; pp. 45–56 classicthesis; pp. 39–44 The listings package is the de facto standard There are dozens of college-specific templates for the output of program code. The package has for a final thesis out there, each describing a special excellent possibilities to format code sequences, but set of formal requirements. This article describes a it does not support UTF-8 encoding. Using a trick, solution, which emphasizes typographic beauty and however, it is possible to get around this problem offers a formal base for a thesis. for single tokens. Joachim Schlosser, Large documents with Markus Kohm, How to process the contents of a LATEX — versioning, variants, automation and KOMA-Script variable as macro; pp. 48–59 change tracking; pp. 45–67 The KOMA-Script class scrlttr2 offers a new A LATEX has always supported large documents, LTEX element: variables. The defined interfaces but work-flows can be simplified and automated to to the variables are the commands \newkomavar, a higher degree regarding modularisation, change \setkomavar, \usekomavar and \ifkomavarempty. tracking and preprint processing. This article aims But what to do when, e.g., you would like to test if to inspire without claiming to be the only feasible a variable has a certain non-empty content? solution. Jurgen¨ Fenn, Anselm Lingnau: LATEX Hacks; Rolf Niepraschk, Tips and Tricks: pdfLATEX, pp. 56–58 bitmap graphics and dimension px; pp. 68–69 Review of the new publication LATEX Hacks. pdfTEX supports a new length unit called px. Tipps & Techniken f¨ur professionellen Textsatz by A px is the distance between two screen dots of the Anselm Lingnau (O’Reilly: K¨oln u. a. 2007). resolution presumed by pdfTEX. Jurgen¨ Fenn, M.Goossens, F.Mittelbach, A 2007/3 S. Rahtz, D. Roegel, H. Voß: The LTEX Graphics Companion; pp. 59–61 Frank Mittelbach, Robin Fairbairns, Review of the LAT X Graphics Companion, sec- A E Werner Lemberg,LTEX font encoding; ond edition. pp. 22–59 The article describes the font encoding support 2008/1 A in LTEX and the resulting imitations for new encod- Stephan Hennig, Some remarks on the article ings. Furthermore it includes a detailed description ‘Hyphenation Exception Log for German of all the currently registered encodings. hyphenation patterns, version 1’; pp. 7–17 An English version (encguide.tex) is part of This article raises some questions not answered the LAT X distribution. E by Werner Lemberg’s articles (in DTK 2/2003 and Jurgen¨ Fenn, Joachim Schlosser: Writing 2/2005) on hyphenation patterns and exceptions. scientific papers with LAT X; pp. 65–68 E Volker RW Schaa, Herman Zapf received the Review of Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten mit LAT X E Goethe medallion; pp. 18–21 schreiben. Leitfaden f¨ur Anf¨anger, by Joachim On December 11, 2007, in the Wiesbadener Schlosser (Verlag, Readline: Heidelberg 2007). Staatskanzlei, our honorary member Prof. Dr. h.c. 2007/4 Hermann Zapf was awarded the Goethe-Plakette (‘badge of honor’), the highest award of the Hessian Jurgen¨ Fenn , Bibliography management with Ministry of Science and the Arts. Firefox, Zotero and BibTEX; pp. 20–26 The article presents the new bibliography man- Ulrik Vieth, Yannis Haralambous: Fonts & agement tool Zotero, which can be integrated as a Encodings; pp. 22–25 Firefox plugin. Zotero can handle BibTEX data. (Published in this issue of TUGboat.) TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 337
Eutypon 16–20 needed to typeset Greek with ConTEXt. It discusses the most frequently used input methods (Unicode Editor’s note: Eutypon is the journal of the Greek and transliterated ASCII babel input), fonts and en- TEX Friends, the Greek TEX user group. The jour- codings and some of the problems that had to solved. nal’s web site is http://www.eutypon.gr/eutypon. It also describes some of the challenges and new pos- sibilities which luaTEX, the designated successor to Eutypon 16–19 triple issue, October 2007 pdfTEX, is bringing. (Article in English.) Erik Meijer , Citations, reference list, and author Apostolos Syropoulos, The X TE EX typesetting index with apacite; pp. 1–31 machine; pp. 69–74 A The apacite package can be used with LTEX X T X is a new typesetting machine with many Bib E E and TEX to generate citations and a reference list, elements borrowed from ε-TEX and Ω. X TE EX allows formatted according to the rules of the American the direct use of TrueType and OpenType fonts. apacite Psychological Association. Furthermore, This paper is a short presentation of X TE EX and its contains an option to (almost) automatically gener- capabilities as well as a presentation of the xgreek ate an author index as well. A recent addition is package. (Article in Greek.) the support of different languages. The package can be customized in many ways. This paper describes Dimitrios Filippou, Half a century of Helvetica the apacite package, paying special attention to its and one century of grotesque; pp. 75–84 idiosyncrasies and how the problems associated with This year [2007] marks the 50th anniversary these have been solved. (Article in English.) since the Helvetica fonts were put into circulation, and the event has received considerable attention Athanassios Protopapas, apa.cls: A genuine from media of all kinds: the printed media, the elec- LAT X solution for psychological research articles; E tronic media, even from cinematographers. However, pp. 33–52 behind the media noise, one easily discovers that Psychological research manuscripts must usually Helvetica did not fall from the heavens half a century conform to the guidelines of the American Psycho- ago. The roots of Helvetica lie in the German realis- logical Association (APA) publication manual. The tic grotesque typefaces of the end of the 19th century, LAT X document class apa.cls implements the struc- E which in turn have their roots in the first British tural requirements of the manual, so that authors jobbing typefaces of 1816–1834. This article is a have to concern themselves only with manuscript short presentation of Helvetica, from its ancestors to content. By separating appearance from content, its imitators. (Article in Greek.) in LATEX fashion, apa.cls can provide visually dis- tinct outputs from the same manuscript file, thus Eutypon 20, April 2008 producing manuscript-format or journal-style docu- ments by switching a processing option. This article Vassilios Tsagkalos, The Greek Font Society presents a bit of history and context for the devel- and Georgios D. Matthiopoulos; pp. 1–9 opment of apa.cls, noting the critical importance (Published in this issue of TUGboat.) of an active online community of developers and Dimitrios Filippou, Jean Kefalinos and users. There are several technical issues involved in Emmanuel Ch. Kasdaglis: two fighters for quality APA handling the requirements of the manual, and typography; pp. 11–21 these are discussed here along with their solution pro- Jean Kefalinos (b. Alexandria, Egypt, in 1894; vided in apa.cls. The special macros and options of d. Athens, Greece, in 1957) is considered as one of apa.cls are presented, with examples, on the topics the best engravers of Modern Greece. But, beyond of titles/headers, sectioning, lists, floats, typefaces, being a unique engraver, Kefalinos was also an excep- appendices, internationalization, and conditionals. tional book designer and decorator. Emmanuel Ch. Article in English. ( ) Kasdaglis (b. Piraeus, Greece, in 1924; d. Athens, Thomas A. Schmitz, Greek support for the Greece, in 1998) was the man who brought into light ConTEXt macro package; pp. 53–67 the work and contribution of Jean Kefalinos in Greek This paper describes the implementation of sup- typography. Kasdaglis started as a print shop cor- port for typesetting ancient (polytonic) Greek in rector to help his meager family income. In 1966, ConTEXt. ConTEXt is a macro package for TEX. It he became the first director of the National Bank allows for a great deal of flexibility and customiz- of Greece Cultural Foundation, now an institution ability. Support for typesetting polytonic Greek was renowned for its outstanding publications. As a book lacking. The article describes in detail what was editor for nearly five decades, Kasdaglis contributed 338 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
enormously in the preservation and institutionalisa- Claudio Beccari and Andrea Guadagni, tion of book æsthetics in Greece, in a period when La progettazione di un’opera di consultazione: the low-cost sloppy print became the norm of Greek l’edizione del Prontuario dell’ingegnere con LATEX typographers. (Article in Greek.) [The design of a reference book: The production of the Engineer’s Quick Reference Book with LAT X]; Werner Lemberg, Unicode support for the Greek E pp. 16–24 LGR encoding; pp. 23–36 (Published in this issue of TUGboat.) Up to now, only the ucs package has provided Unicode support for Greek. This article describes Massimo Caschili, Introduzione a PSTricks [An new support files for the LGR encoding which does the introduction to PSTricks]; pp. 25–44 same (and even more) for LAT X’s default inputenc E PSTricks is a powerful graphic system estab- mechanism. The files described in this article can lished by a large number of extensions; it offers many be downloaded from http://www.latex-project. tools to produce pictures, graphical representations org/cgi-bin/ltxbugs2html?pr=babel/4015. (Ar- and figures with high-quality effects and an high- ticle in English.) quality typographical performance. Ioannis K. Dimakos, TEX in the field of statistics: The power of free software; pp. 37–47 Luciano Battaia,LATEX nella Scuola Media The statistical programming environment named Superiore: applicazioni didattiche con PSTricks R, a free software package, is presented in this article. [LATEX in secondary high school: didactic use of This environment, in conjuction with the flexibility, PSTricks]; pp. 45–50 ease of use and capabilities of TEX and its associated The aim of this paper is to promote the use of programs, offers every author the ability to create LATEX, and in particular PSTricks with its extensions, high fidelity mathematical and statistical texts, along in secondary high school and to debate the positive with the necessary graphics. (Article in Greek.) influences of this fact on math teaching. Georgios Georgiou, Experiences with X T X; The paper is not a technical introduction to E E PST pp. 49–51 ricks: rather it reflects the author’s ideas con- A cerning the real possibility of reconciling both “old First experiences of using X E LTEX for typeset- A ting Greek texts. (Article in Greek.) fashioned” school programs and LTEX strategies. The techniques discussed here have been used in a Apostolos Syropoulos, TEXniques; pp. 53–55 course at Liceo Scientifico Grigoletti, Pordenone. Practical solutions for the common TEXxie: de- tecting the appropriate compiler for a given .tex file; Agostino De Marco, Illustrazioni tridimensionali putting diagonal lines in table cells; fixing overfull con Sketch/LATEX/PSTricks/TikZ nella didattica paragraphs. (Article in Greek.) della Dinamica del Volo [Three-dimensional illustrations with Sketch/LATEX/PSTricks/TikZ in the teaching of flight dynamics]; pp. 51–68 This article shows how combining LATEX with ArsTEXnica the package PSTricks or with TikZ can be used to Contents of issue #4 (October 2007) produce advanced, nice-looking illustrations. As a matter of fact, the creation of drawings representing Editor’s note: ArsTEXnica is the journal of g It, u three-dimensional scenes with scientific or non-trivial the Italian TEX user group. The journal’s web site A annotations is possible with LTEX. One of the goals is http://www.guit.sssup.it/arstexnica. of the article is introducing the program Sketch, by Eugene Ressler, and how one can manipulate and Massimiliano Dominici, Editoriale [From the put in place objects in a three-dimensional scene by editor]; p. 3 means of its intuitive scripting language. The output A short overview of the present issue. of Sketch is a set of PSTricks or TikZ commands that can be included by a master LATEX document to pro- Lapo F. Mori and Maurizio W. Himmelmann, duce the final picture. The technique proposed here Scrivere il curriculum vitæ con LATEX [How to write enables overcoming the limitations encountered by a curriculum vitæ with LATEX]; pp. 5–15 PSTricks or TikZ users when it comes to representing This paper presents the tools that are currently non-trivial three-dimensional scenes. available to prepare a curriculum vitæ with LATEX, As a teacher of engineering subjects related to with a critical analysis of packages and classes. flight dynamics, I report some concrete examples TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 339
that may help to better understand the potential of this purpose, the paper shows the installation of a Sketch and of the workflow proposed in the article. collection of fonts, the Fell Types, full of nonstandard features that T X can be taught to manage in a Norbert Preining, T X Live’s new infrastructure; E E transparent way for the user. pp. 69–73 Since the release of TEX Live 2007 a new infra- Jean-Michel Hufflen, Guidelines for A structure for TEX Live distribution and management Bibliographical Citations in LTEX; pp. 103–110 has been developed. This article presents the reasons After a short overview of the schemes used for for this switch, the ideas behind the new infrastruc- bibliographical citations, we give some guidelines for ture, software developed, and ways to incorporate using some packages of LATEX 2ε and bibliography this new infrastructure. We will close with a look styles of BibTEX in order to write adaptable citations, at what new features this new infrastructure could i.e., texts where switching one citation scheme to bring to the TEX (Live) world. another is easy. Klaus Hoppner¨ , Typesetting tables with LATEX; pp. 74–77 From a LATEXoligist’s point of view, LATEX is a perfect tool to typeset nearly everything in a beauti- ful manner. Without any doubt, LATEX can typeset tables, but it is easy to produce bad tables with The PracTEX Journal 2007-3–2008-1 ugly lines and text touching the lines. This talk is intended to introduce how to typeset tables with The PracTEX Journal is an online publication of the A T X Users Group. Its web site is http://tug.org/ LTEX on a beginners’ level, mentioning some typo- E graphic aspects, showing some packages that help pracjourn. All articles are available there. the author in formatting tables and concluding with The PracTEX Journal 2007-3, August 2007 how to typeset tables with page breaks. [This article A was published in TUGboat 28:3, http://tug.org/ Issue theme: Tools for TEX and LTEX users. TUGboat/Articles/tb28-3/tb90hoeppner.pdf.] Francisco Reinaldo, From the Editor Gianluca Gorni and Stphane Matiz, Inserire The Editors, News from Around: Upcoming equazioni LAT X in grafici di Mathematica E conferences in Pisa and Cluj (Romania); LAT X [Including LAT X equations in graphics generated E E workshop in Berkeley through Mathematica]; pp. 78–81 In this article we introduce a solution for creat- From the Readers, Feedback ing graphics with the LATEX fonts. This solution is meant for users who create pictures in Mathematica Theresa Song Loong, The beginner’s forest of A to be included in LATEX documents. With a single LTEX command within the Mathematica front end Images kept floating away, and keeping the style A within one project both beautiful and consistent took TeXClipping[LTEX syntax, options] up a lot of time. I have never been really content we get a graphical object Graphics for Mathematica: with a word processor. For a large project containing a simple set of polygons that gives the same impres- lots of math formulas, I assumed that learning to sion as its corresponding font and that integrates A use LTEX would take as much time as trying to perfectly in the Mathematica context. input the maths in a word processor. The final Claudio Beccari, I font per le slide LATEX result was beautiful, but I was very wrong about resuscitati [LATEX slide fonts revived]; pp. 82–87 how much time it would consume: using Greek fonts, (Published in this issue of TUGboat.) making tables, using some packages, and trying to solve issues by reading incomprehensible package Massimiliano Dominici , Utilizzo di caratteri documentation (some of which didn’t even explain A TrueType con LTEX. Un esempio pratico: i how to use the package, only how it was coded) was A Fell Types [TrueType fonts in LTEX, a concrete very time-consuming indeed. example: the Fell Types]; pp. 88–102 This paper explains how TEX can make the Antero Neves, A minha experiˆencia em LATEX best use of the features of a TrueType font. For [Article is in Portuguese.] 340 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Arne Henningsen, Tools for collaborative writing and configure a Linux-like LATEX 2ε environment in of scientific LATEX documents Mac OS X, using Fink, teTEX and Kile. Collaborative writing of documents requires a Jer´ omeˆ Laurens, Will T X ever be WYSIWYG strong synchronisation among authors. This paper E or the pdf synchronization story describes a possible way to organise the collabora- Why can editing Plain, LAT X or ConT Xt doc- tive preparation of scientific LAT X documents. The E E E uments be such a pain? Of course, we can use ded- presented solution is primarily based on the version icated text editors and environments that are very control system Subversion. The paper describes how handy, but we are far from the efficient graphical Subversion can be used together with several other user interface of a modern word processor. In this software tools and LAT X packages to organise the E article, we will point out some of the reasons why collaborative preparation of LATEX documents. TEX has no WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Arthur Buchsbaum and Francisco Reinaldo, Get) user interface and we will discuss the possible A tool for logicians remedies. One of them is the pdf synchronization turnstile is a LATEX package that allows typeset- implemented in the pdfsync package. This technol- ting of the mathematical logic symbol, “turnstile”, ogy will be explained, and we will see its benefits in all of the various ways it is used. This package was and its limitations. Finally, we consider routes to- developed because there was no easy way in LATEX wards a better user experience. Here, we are mainly to typeset this symbol in its various forms, and place concerned with LATEX and pdf output. expressions above and below the crossbar. Alexander Tsyplakov, TpX—a drawing tool Charilaos Skiadas Thomas Kjosmoen A and , for LTEX LATEXing with TextMate This article describes TpX, a lightweight, easy- This article discusses the TextMate text edi- to-use graphical editor for the Windows platform, tor and its many capabilities that make working presents guidelines for its use, and discusses some with LATEX documents a lot easier. Some of its fea- features and limitations. tures include syntax highlighting, various methods Duvvuri Venugopal, Tools for creating for automatic insertion of text (such as the begin- bibliographic databases for use with BibT X end blocks in environments and automatic labels for E By using BibT X we can easily change the style section commands), lookup of labels and cite keys E of bibliography/references according to the style of based on partial matches, as well as tools for dealing the journal. But creating bibliographic databases for with large projects. use with BibT X is very cumbersome. This article TextMate is designed with the user in mind, E describes the various software tools available for cre- so it is easy to customize it to your needs. During ating bibliographic databases easily, particularly for its short lifetime (about two and a half years) it the Windows platform. has gained many supporters and has become a very popular text editor for the Mac OS X platform, and Uwe Ziegenhagen,LATEX document management especially among LATEX users, as can be seen from with Subversion the large number of LATEX related questions on the From the single-author composition of a bache- TextMate mailing list. lor’s thesis to the creation of a book by a team, there In addition to this article, the first author’s are many occasions where version management of a weblog can be used as a starting point for learning document may be helpful. With the aim of overcom- more about using TextMate for LATEX: ing the shortcomings of CVS (Concurrent Version http://skiadas.dcostanet.net/afterthought System) the Subversion version control system was implemented. Vinicius Provenzano,A LAT X 2ε “Linux-like” E In this article I will describe the Subversion environment on Mac OS X setup on Windows and Linux systems, the elementary Free and commercial LAT X 2ε implementations E steps of document management and various LAT X for Mac OS X are available on the Internet. If you E packages working hand in hand with Subversion. have always used a Mac, the best starting point is to download and install one of these systems. However if Martin Scharrer, Version control of LATEX you have always used Linux and now find yourself in documents with svn-multi front of a brand new Mac OS X machine and have no This paper describes how to use the Subversion time to learn new tools from scratch, your best option software to version control your LATEX files while also would be to use your familiar Linux applications on placing the current revision information in your doc- Mac OS X. This paper aims to show you how to install ument using the package svn-multi (v1.3 or later). TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 341
It covers all steps needed to set up and use Subver- membrane proteins and in the analysis of DNA or sion, and to manage multi-file documents. Usage amino acid sequences by multiple sequence align- examples are provided for both basic and advanced ment. I will discuss with examples some of the LATEX features, to allow the reader to get the most out of packages and tools that are presently available for the package. the biologists. Some scientific journals (for biological research) now accept (LA)T X formatted manuscripts, David Walden, Travels in TEX Land: Fonts, E although they are still a rarity. This article will self-publishing and another reason I like TEX In this column in each issue I muse on my wan- provide references for those sources that might be helpful to prospective authors from life sciences who derings around the TEX world. Section 1 of this A column describes some work I did organizing my want to submit manuscripts in (L )TEX format. This article is written from the perspective of a biologist experiences of using different fonts within TEX. Sec- tion 2 describes use of an external processor in com- who might be interested in creating better documents using LAT X & friends. bination with TEX. Section 3 gives an update on my E self-publishing efforts using TEX. Rohit Vishal Kumar, Using LATEX for writing a The Editors, Ask Nelly: How do I create inline thesis A numbered lists the LATEX way? LTEX has been successfully used for typeset- ting widely different document formats. However, The Editors , Distractions — Alea iacta est! the complexity of typesetting some commonly used The PracTEX Journal 2007-4, December 2007 documents acts as a deterrent for some people who A A would like to use LTEX for their work. Over the Issue theme: Teaching LT X and T X. A E E years, I have noticed students who come to LTEX Paul Blaga and Lance Carnes, From the eager in their anticipation of using LATEX, lose their Editor enthusiasm midway, and revert back to using Word. In this article, I have tried to described my own expe- The Editors, News from Around: Conferences riences of typesetting a doctoral thesis using widely in Pisa and Cluj (Romania); LAT X workshop in E available packages, in the hope that students can see Berkeley; Helvetica — the movie the ease with which LATEX can be used for complex A Paul Blaga, Teaching LTEX: Why and how? work. We discuss some of the problems related to the A Wybo Dekker, The ctable package process of learning LTEX and the opportunities pre- A The ctable package provides a \ctable com- sented by a LTEX course. We also propose a syllabus for such a course and briefly mention some of the mand for typesetting table and figure floats. You A will not need to type the usual nested begin...end LTEX books which, in our opinion, are suitable to be adopted as course material. sequences, as \ctable is a command, not an environ- ment. \ctable takes only four arguments, but the Vincent Verfaille , A new package for conference optional first one may hold many key=value pairs proceedings and makes ctable very flexible and extensible. It The new confproc package is a simple and effi- uses Simon Fear’s booktabs package for better verti- cient solution to build conference proceedings. Built cal spacing around horizontal rules and it provides DAF from scripts developed for the x-06 proceedings, facilities for making table footnotes. it deals with various aspects: layout issues, table of contents, index of authors, maybe a general bib- Nicola Talbot, Teaching LATEX for a staff liography, etc. It combines the pdfpages package development course (to include PDF papers), the hyperref package (to I taught LATEX at the University of East Anglia provide hyperlinks) and other packages; and it runs from 1997 to 2004 as part of the staff development pdfLATEX. course. In this article I will describe the headaches and lessons I learnt which helped me improve the Kumar M Senthil,LAT X tools for life scientists E course. This article is intended to assist those who (BioT Xniques?) E are planning to teach LAT X in a practical environ- LAT X has been a long time favorite of mathe- E E ment. maticians and physicists. However, many packages are now available that have tremendously extended S. Parthasarathy, Brevity is the soul of wit: the capabilities of LATEX beyond routine typesetting How LATEX can help and provide biologists new avenues to not only type- This essay is about using “lists” in LATEX. Lists set documents, but also help in the visualization of are very useful, in presenting material in a crisp 342 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
and compact form. This makes technical documents, arise while writing a thesis with LATEX and suggests less verbose, and easier to follow. The author hopes improved solutions by handling easy packages. Many that this paper will make LATEX enjoyable for more suggestions can be applied to book and article styles, people. as well. Keith Jones, Writing your dissertation using Jim Hefferon,LATEX goes with the flow LATEX One advantage of TEX and friends is that they The old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, fit naturally into a work flow where there are many but you can’t make it drink,” applies when trying to tools, each good at its own job. This paper gives an convince students to change to LATEX for writing their example involving a system for doing class evalua- thesis or dissertation. Students like to stay in their tions online. “comfort” zone and do not look favorably toward the Ista Zahn, Learning to Sweave in APA style work of learning a new software system. To date I Until recently I used Microsoft Word and clones have convinced one professor and two students to use such as OpenOffice to write academic manuscripts, as LAT X as their primary document formatting system. E do most in my field. The standard software toolkit for Jonathan Fine, Interactive TEX training and many psychology professors and graduate students support also includes SPSS for performing statistical analyses, It is today practical and helpful to provide TEX and perhaps EndNote or similar reference manager as a web service. This allows us a new approach to software for generating bibliographies. These tools A learning TEX. work, but my experience suggests that LTEX-based solutions have significant advantages. This article Lapo Mori and Maurizio Himmelmann, Writing A A describes how to use Sweave to write LTEX docu- curriculum vitæ with LTEX ments in APA style, complete with results, tables, This paper presents the tools that are currently and figures generated by R. available to prepare the curriculum vitæ with LATEX with a critical analysis of packages and classes. Yogeshwarsing Calleecharan, Using BibTEX to produce customized layouts David Walden, Travels in T X Land: Benefits of A E Normal LTEX and TEX usage does not require thinking a little bit like a programmer touching existing .bst files nor creating new ones. In this column in each issue I muse on my wan- However, BibTEX offers several interesting commands derings around the TEX world. Section 1 of this which can be used to do many things apart from column provides another illustration of the benefit bibliography generation. In this article, it is demon- of defining a few simple macros for a particular TEX strated how customized layouts for a database can project. Section 2 gives another example of using be created without much trouble. an external processor in combination with TEX. Sec- tion 3 gives another example. David Walden, Travels in TEX Land: Another ornament for “thought breaks” The Editors , Ask Nelly: How do I write matrices In this column in each issue I muse on my wan- in the text? derings around the TEX world. I suggested at the The Editors, Distractions — Music scores with end of section 2 of my last column that I would con- LATEX tinue my investigation of colors and TEX in this issue. However, I was distracted for much of the period The PracTEX Journal 2008-1, April 2008 between issues by a health problem (now resolved). Thus, in this issue I only have time to touch briefly Issue theme: LAT Xniques. E again on a topic from my column in TPJ 2005-4 — Yuri Robbers, From the Editor another ornament to use for “thought breaks”. The Editors The Editors, News from Around: TEX program , Ask Nelly: How do I find the files updates; Bigelow introduces Grotesque; Day of required to compile my document? A LTEX; Keming (?) The Editors, Distractions — Spirograph with A PST Lapo Mori, Writing a thesis with LTEX ricks This article provides useful tools to write a thesis with LATEX. It analyzes the typical problems that TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 343
expenses are up about $3K, the net income is down a TUG Business little under $3K in 2007 — down $2,683, to be exact. Typically we have a prior year adjustment that takes place early in the year to compensate for some- TUG financial statements for 2007 thing that had to be estimated at the time the books David Walden, TUG treasurer were closed for the year on December 31. We had a small positive prior year adjustment in 2007 versus a This financial report for 2007 has been reviewed by larger negative adjustment in 2006, and year to year the TUG board but has not been audited. It may the difference is $2,244. Netting ‘Prior Year Adjust- change slightly when the final 2007 tax return is ments’ with ‘Net Ordinary Income’, the overall net filed. As a tax-exempt organization, TUG’s annual income for 2007 is a very positive gain of $15,408 information returns are publicly available on our web (though down 2.8 percent from 2006). site: http://www.tug.org/tax-exempt. Balance sheet highlights Revenue (income) highlights Thus, for the second year in a row, TUG’s end-of-year Membership dues revenue was slightly up (at the asset level is much higher than the previous year’s end of December 2007 we had 1567 paid members, level — up over $26K from 2006 to 2007. about 75 more than in 2006); conference income The ‘Committed Funds’ come to TUG specifi- was substantially up; and interest income was up cally for designated projects: the LATEX project, the somewhat. However, product sales and contributions TEX Development fund, and so forth. They have income were down more substantially (much of the been allocated accordingly and are disbursed as the decrease in contributions was because 2006 income projects progress. TUG charges no overhead for ad- included an atypical, one-time contribution of $5K). ministering these funds. So altogether, revenue decreased 4 percent from 2006 ‘Prepaid Member Income’ is member dues that to 2007. were paid in 2007 for 2008 and beyond. Most of this liability (the 2008 portion) was converted to Cost of Goods Sold and Expenses highlights ‘Membership Dues’ for 2008 on January 2008. The Payroll, office expenses, and TUGboat production payroll liabilities are for 2006 state and federal taxes and mailing continue to be the major expense items. due January 15, 2007. The shipping expense of the 2007 TEX Collection software was budgeted in 2006 (when, as it turned Summary out, no software was shipped). However, we had TUG was in essentially the same financial condition significant postage/delivery expenses as we shipped at the end of 2007 as at the end of 2006 and is in a rel- TUGboat issues to many individuals who joined TUG atively strong position overall. However, there is no after the normal mailings had been made. TUG- fee increase for 2008 despite inflationary tendencies, boat expenses were nevertheless down in 2007 from and the TUG board is planning to increase direct 2006 because we produced three normal issues in TUG contributions (fund more TEX development) in 2007, and no extra-expensive EuroTEX proceedings 2008 as well as cover the cost of producing and ship- as happened in 2006. ping the software and another expensive EuroTEX Overall, expenses are up about $3K in 2007 proceedings in 2008 (already shipped as TUGboat because of a modest cost-of-living increase in payroll 29:1). In other words, we will be using some of the and increased contributions made by TUG. 2006-to-2007 asset increase in 2008 to further our fundamental goals and benefits. The bottom line TUG continues to work closely with the other Subtracting ‘Cost of Goods Sold’ from ‘Income’, we TEX user groups and ad hoc committees on many are essentially flat from 2006 to 2007 — the savings activities to benefit the TEX community. in COGS mostly offsets the decrease in revenue. As 344 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
TUG 12/31/2007 (versus 2006) Balance Sheet TUG 2007 (versus 2006) Revenue and Expenses
Jan - Dec 07 Jan - Dec 06 Dec 31, 07 Dec 31, 06 Ordinary Income/Expense ASSETS Income Current Assets Membership Dues 101,956 101,669 Total Checking/Savings 160,490 133,790 Product Sales 7,667 11,776 Accounts Receivable 254 395 Contributions Income 5,423 11,376 Other Current Assets 1,327 Practical TeX Conference 2,909 Total Current Assets 162,071 134,185 Conference Classes 965 Fixed Assets 3,726 5,224 Annual Conference 6,827 -275 TOTAL ASSETS 165,797 139,409 Interest Income 5,901 4,589 Advertising Income 230 370 Total Income 128,004 133,379 LIABILITIES & EQUITY Liabilities Cost of Goods Sold Software Delay until 2007 6,500 TUGboat Prod/Mailing 25,130 28,998 Committed Funds 24,413 9,322 Software Production/Mailing 1,111 6,500 Prepaid member income 4,075 1,710 Postage/Delivery - Members 6,296 2,702 Payroll Liabilities 1,080 1,057 Conf Expense, office + overh 1,164 1,651 Total Current Liabilities 29,568 18,589 Member Renewal 335 Copy/Printing for members 55 60 TOTAL LIABILITIES 29,568 18,589 Total COGS 34,091 39,911 Equity Gross Profit 93,913 93,468 Unrestricted 120,820 104,972 Net Income 15,409 15,848 Expense Total Equity 136,229 120,820 Contributions made by TUG 5,750 3,000 Office Overhead 11,653 12,229 TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY 165,797 139,409 Payroll Exp 59,863 58,622 Professional Fees 200 318 Depreciation Expense 1,498 1,667 Total Expense 78,964 75,836
Net Ordinary Income 14,949 17,632
Other Income/Expense Other Income Prior year adjust 459 -1,785 Total Other Income 459 -1,785 Net Other Income 459 -1,785
Net Income 15,408 15,847
IBM Corporation, Springer-Verlag Heidelberg, TUG T J Watson Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany Yorktown, New York Institutional Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Institute for Defense Analyses, (SLAC), Stanford, California Members Center for Communications Stanford University, Research, Princeton, New Jersey Computer Science Department, Aalborg University, Department MacKichan Software, Stanford, California Washington/New Mexico, USA of Mathematical Sciences, Stockholm University, Department Aalborg, Denmark Marquette University, of Mathematics, Stockholm, Sweden Department of Mathematics, Aware Software, Inc., University College, Cork, Statistics and Computer Science, Midland Park, New Jersey Computer Centre, Cork, Ireland Milwaukee, Wisconsin American Mathematical Society, University of Delaware, Masaryk University, Faculty of Providence, Rhode Island Computing and Network Services, Informatics, Brno, Czech Republic Banca d’Italia, Roma, Italy Newark, Delaware Moravian College, Department Universit´eLaval, Center for Computing Sciences, of Mathematics and Computer Ste-Foy, Qu´ebec, Canada Bowie, Maryland Science, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Universiti Tun Hussein Certicom Corp., MOSEK ApS, Copenhagen, Onn Malaysia, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Denmark Pusat Teknologi Maklumat, CSTUG, Praha, Czech Republic New York University, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia Academic Computing Facility, Florida State University, University of Oslo, New York, New York School of Computational Science Institute of Informatics, and Information Technology, Princeton University, Blindern, Oslo, Norway Tallahassee, Florida Department of Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, Princeton, New Jersey Nashville, Tennessee TEX Users Group TUG membership rates are listed below. Please check the appropriate boxes and Membership Form mail the completed form with payment (in US dollars) to the mailing address at left. If paying by credit/debit card, you may alternatively fax the form to the 2008 number at left or join online at http://tug.org/join.html. The web page also provides more information than we have room for here. Status (check one) New member Renewing member Automatic membership renewal in future years Using the same payment information; contact office to cancel. Rate Amount Regular membership for 2008 $85 Special membership for 2008 $55 You may join at this special rate if you are a senior (62+), student, new graduate, or from a country with a modest economy. Please circle accordingly. Subscription for 2008 (non-voting) $95 Institutional membership for 2008 $500 Includes up to eight individual memberships. Don’t ship any physical benefits (TUGboat, software) deduct $20 TUGboat and software are available electronically. Promoting the use Purchase last year’s materials: TUGboat volume for 2007 (3 issues) $20 of TEX throughout TEX Collection 2007 $10 the world. DVD with proTEXt, MacTEX, TEX Live, CTAN. TEX Live CD 2007 $10 proTEXt CD 2007 $10 CTAN 2007 on CD $15 mailing address: P.O. Box 2311 Voluntary donations (see https://www.tug.org/donate.html) Portland, OR 97208-2311 USA General TUG contribution Bursary Fund contribution shipping address: TEX Development Fund contribution 1466 NW Naito PKWY, Suite 3141 CTAN contribution Portland, OR 97209-2820 USA TEX Gyre fonts contribution phone: +1 503-223-9994 LATEX 3 contribution fax: +1 206-203-3960 LuaTEX contribution email: [email protected] MacTEX contribution web: http://www.tug.org Total $ Tax deduction: The membership fee less $35 is generally deductible, at least in the US. Multi-year orders: To join for more than one year at this year’s rate, just multiply. President Karl Berry Payment (check one) Payment enclosed Visa MasterCard AmEx Vice-President Kaja Christiansen Treasurer David Walden Account Number: Exp. date: Secretary Susan DeMeritt Executive Director Robin Laakso Signature:
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Name Department Institution Address
City State/Province Postal code Country Email address Phone Fax Position Affiliation 346 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
Calendar
2008 Sep 17 – 21 Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) annual conference, May 15 – 16 Seventh annual Friends of “The Old · The New”, St. Petersburg, St Bride Library Conference, “Seeking Russia. www.atypi.org inspiration: Creative thinking around the Oct 4 – 5 Oak Knoll Fest XV, “Celebrating a design process”, London, England. ‘Hot Metal Man’ ”, honoring stbride.org/events_education/events Henry Morris and his 50th anniversary May 28 – 31 DANTE: Exhibitor at LinuxTag, Berlin, in printing, New Castle, Delaware. Germany. www.dante.de www.oakknoll.com/fest Jun 24 – 28 SHARP 2008, “Teaching and Text”, Oct 6 Journ´ee GUTenberg & Assembl´ee Society for the History of Authorship, g´en´erale, Paris, France. Reading and Publishing, Oxford www.gutenberg.eu.org/manifestations Brookes University, Oxford. Oct 10 – 12 American Printing History Association ah.brookes.ac.uk/conference/sharp2008 2008 annual conference, “Saving the Jun 25 – 29 Digital Humanities 2008, Association of History of Printing”, Grolier Club Literary and Linguistic Computing / and Columbia University, New York, Association for Computers and New York. www.printinghistory.org the Humanities, Oulu, Finland. Oct 16 – 18 Guild of Book Workers, www.ekl.oulu.fi/dh2008 Standards of Excellence Jul 6 – Wells College Book Arts Center, Annual Seminar, Toronto, Ontario. Aug 2 Summer Institute, Aurora, New York. palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/gbw www.wells.edu/bkarts/info.html Oct 25 – 27 The Sixth International Conference on Jul 15 – 20 TypeCon 2008: Punkt (10th anniversary), the Book, “Save, Change or Discard: Buffalo, New York. www.typecon.com Tradition and Innovation in the World of Books”, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. b08.cgpublisher.com TUG2008—TEX’s 30th birthday University College Cork, Ireland Dec 8 – 10 XML 2008 Conference, Arlington, Virginia. xmlconference.org Jul 20 Workshops th Jul 21 – 24 The 29 annual meeting of the TEX Users Group. www.tug.org/tug2008 2009
Jan 8 – 10 College Book Art Association Biennial Aug 11 – 15 SIGGRAPH 2008, “Evolve”, Los Angeles, California. Conference, “Art, Fact, and Artifact: The www.siggraph.org/events/s2008 Book in Time and Place”, University of Iowa Center for the Book, Iowa City, Aug 12 – 15 Balisage: The Markup Conference, Iowa. www.uiowa.edu/~ctrbook/ Montr´eal, Qu´ebec. www.balisage.net events/CBAA_conference.shtml Aug 20 – 25 Second International ConTEXt User Meeting, Bohinj, Slovenia. meeting.contextgarden.net TUG 2009 University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana ´ Sep 1 – 4 Book history workshop, Ecole de th l’institut d’histoire du livre, Jul 27 – 31 The 30 annual meeting of the TEX Lyon, France. ihl.enssib.fr Users Group. www.tug.org/tug2009 Sep 16 – 19 ACM Symposium on Document Aug 31 – EuroT X 2009, The Hague, Engineering, S˜ao Paolo, Brazil. E Sep 4 The Netherlands. www.documentengineering.org www.ntg.nl/EuroTeX2009
Status as of 15 May 2008 For additional information on TUG-sponsored events listed here, contact the TUG office (+1 503 223-9994, fax: +1 206 203-3960, e-mail: [email protected]). For events sponsored by other organizations, please use the contact address provided. TEX Users Group 2008 Conference
University College Cork TEX’s 30th birthday Cork, Ireland Interfaces to TEX 21–24 July 2008 Workshops http://tug2008.ucc.ie/ Presentations
✁
Hosted by the Human Factors Research Group (http://hfrg.ucc.ie) 348 TUGboat, Volume 29 (2008), No. 2
TEX Consultants
The information here comes from the consultants technical typesetting using TEX, LATEX, and ConTEXt, themselves. We do not include information we know I have typeset books for Oxford University Press, to be false, but we cannot check out any of the Routledge, and Kluwer, and have helped numerous information; we are transmitting it to you as it was authors turn rough manuscripts, some with dozens of given to us and do not promise it is correct. Also, this languages, into beautiful camera-ready copy. I have is not an official endorsement of the people listed here. extensive experience in editing, proofreading, and We provide this list to enable you to contact service writing documentation. I also tweak and design fonts. providers and decide for yourself whether to hire one. I have an MA in Linguistics from Harvard University and live in the New York metro area. TUG also provides an online list of consultants at http://tug.org/consultants.html. Veytsman, Boris 2239 Double Eagle Ct. Martinez, Merc`eAicart Reston, VA 20191 Tarragona 102 4o 2a +1 703 860-0013 08015 Barcelona, Spain Email: borisv (at) lk.net +34 932267827 Web: http://borisv.lk.net Email: m.aicart (at) menta.net T X and LAT X consulting, training and seminars. Web: http://www.edilatex.com E E Integration with databases, automated document We provide, at reasonable low cost, T X and LAT X E E preparation, custom LAT X packages, conversions and typesetting services to authors or publishers world- E much more. I have about twelve years of experience in wide. We have been in business since the beginning of T X and twenty-five years of experience in teaching & 1990. For more information visit our web site. E training. I have authored several packages on CTAN Peter, Steve and published papers in TEX related journals. 310 Hana Road Edison, NJ 08817 +1 732 287-5392 Email: speter (at) dandy.net Specializing in foreign language, linguistic, and olume 29, Number 2 2008 TUGBOAT Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 Table of Contents (ordered by difficulty) Introductory 303 Edward Barrett / Porting TEX Live to OpenBSD • history, process, and fruition of porting TEX Live to a system distribution 232 Barbara Beeton / Editorial comments • typography and TUGboat news 231 Karl Berry / From the President • TUG at the JMM; Google Summer of Code; interviews; The PracTEX Journal; conferences 240 Peter Flynn / Typographers’ Inn • METAFONT fonts; Type 1 (PostScript) fonts; new forum, old forum; 2008 TUG meeting in Cork 283 Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater and Volker RW Schaa / Reshaping Euler: A collaboration with Hermann Zapf • illustrated report of updating the Euler math font 315 Aditya Mahajan / ConTEXt basics for users: Indentation • overview of controlling paragraph indentation in ConTEXt 333 Bernd Schroeder / Software review: TEXCAD for Windows • review of this GUI program for the LATEX picture environment 242 Vassilios Tsagkalos / The Greek Font Society • background, goals, and accomplishments of the GFS; interview with Georgios Matthiopoulos, type designer 331 Ulrik Vieth / Book review: Fonts & Encodings by Yannis Haralambous • review of this multi-faceted book which is now available in English Intermediate 278 Claudio Beccari / lxfonts: LATEX slide fonts revived • a greatly revised and expanded sans serif font collection for presentations 246 Claudio Beccari and Andrea Guadagni / Designing and producing a reference book with LATEX • issues in designing a reference book for screen and print publication 328 Karl Berry / The treasure chest • selected new CTAN packages from July 2007 through May 2008 288 John Bowman and Andy Hammerlindl / Asymptote: A vector graphics language • discussion of this powerful graphics program, with extensive comparisons to MetaPost 270 Victor Eijkhout / Character encoding • introduction to character encodings, emphasizing Unicode and UTF-8 255 Massimo Guiggiani and Lapo Mori / Suggestions on how not to mishandle mathematical formulæ • best practices for composing math, especially for non-mathematicians 264 John Rankin / Wikipublisher: A Web-based system to make online and print versions of the same content • a free software system for creating high-quality printed documents from PmWiki markup 317 Denis Roegel / Kanji-Sudokus: Integrating Chinese and graphics • using the CJK package and MetaPost to produce Sudoku grids Intermediate Plus 295 Hans Hagen / The Luafication of TEX and ConTEXt • progress report on the LuaTEX implementation and its use in ConTEXt 334 Frank Mittelbach / \looseness on the loose • altered line breaks even when \looseness has no effect of its own 305 Scott Pakin / Good things come in little packages: An introduction to writing .ins and .dtx files • a tutorial on creating LATEX package files 324 Peter Wilson / Glisterings • more on paragraphs regular; LATEX’s defining triumvirate; TEX’s dictator Advanced 233 Donald Knuth / The TEX tuneup of 2008 • the 2008 updates to TEX, METAFONT, Computer Modern, et al. 320 Paweł Jackowski / Interesting loops and iterations — second helping • review of loop definitions from the original to fully expandable ones via ε-TEX Contents of other TEX journals 338 ArsTEXnica: Contents of issue 4 (2007) 336 Die TEXnische Kom¨odie: Contents of issues 2007/2–2008/1 337 Eutypon: Contents of issues 16–20 (2007–2008) 335 MAPS: Contents of issues 35 (2007) 339 The PracTEX Journal: Contents of issues 2007-3–2008-1 Reports and notices 239 Barbara Beeton / Hyphenation exception log 343 David Walden / TUG financial statements for 2007 344 Institutional members 345 TUG membership form 346 Calendar 347 TUG 2008 announcement 348 TEX consulting and production services TUGBOAT
Volume 29, Number 2 / 2008
General Delivery 231 From the president / Karl Berry 232 Editorial comments / Barbara Beeton TEX 3.1415926 is here, and other Knuthian references; Phyllis Winkler, RIP; New domain name for CervanTEX; Interactive typography courses by Jonathan Hoefler; A helpful CTAN feature: “get”; Recreating the Gutenberg press; Copy-editing the wayward apostrophe; A font game for your amusement 233 The TEX tuneup of 2008 / Donald Knuth 239 Hyphenation exception log / Barbara Beeton Typography 240 Typographers’ Inn / Peter Flynn 242 The Greek Font Society / Vassilios Tsagkalos 246 Designing and producing a reference book with LATEX: The Engineer’s Quick Reference Handbook / Claudio Beccari and Andrea Guadagni 255 Suggestions on how not to mishandle mathematical formulæ / Massimo Guiggiani and Lapo Mori Electronic Documents 264 Wikipublisher: A Web-based system to make online and print versions of the same content / John Rankin 270 Character encoding / Victor Eijkhout Fonts 278 lxfonts:LATEX slide fonts revived / Claudio Beccari 283 Reshaping Euler: A collaboration with Hermann Zapf / Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater and Volker RW Schaa Software & Tools 288 Asymptote: A vector graphics language / John Bowman and Andy Hammerlindl 295 The Luafication of TEX and ConTEXt / Hans Hagen 303 Porting TEX Live to OpenBSD / Edward Barrett LATEX 305 Good things come in little packages: An introduction to writing .ins and .dtx files / Scott Pakin ConTEXt 315 ConTEXt basics for users: Indentation / Aditya Mahajan Multilingual MetaPost 317 Kanji-Sudokus: Integrating Chinese and graphics / Denis Roegel Hints & Tricks 320 Interesting loops and iterations — second helping / Pawe lJackowski 324 Glisterings: More on paragraphs regular; LATEX’s defining triumvirate; TEX’s dictator / Peter Wilson 328 The treasure chest / Karl Berry Reviews 331 Book review: Fonts & Encodings by Yannis Haralambous / Ulrik Vieth 333 Software review: TEXCAD for Windows / Bernd Schroeder Warnings 334 \looseness on the loose / Frank Mittelbach Abstracts 335 MAPS: Contents of issue 35 (2007) 336 Die TEXnische Kom¨odie: Contents of issues 2007/2–2008/1 337 Eutypon: Contents of issues 16–20 (2007–2008) 338 ArsTEXnica: Contents of issue 4 (2007) 339 The PracTEX Journal: Contents of issues 2007-3–2008-1 TUG Business 343 TUG financial statements for 2007 / David Walden 344 TUG institutional members 345 TUG membership form News 346 Calendar 347 TUG 2008 announcement Advertisements 348 TEX consulting and production services TUGBOAT Volume 29 (2008), No. 2 Table of Contents (ordered by difficulty) Introductory 303 Edward Barrett / Porting TEX Live to OpenBSD • history, process, and fruition of porting TEX Live to a system distribution 232 Barbara Beeton / Editorial comments • typography and TUGboat news 231 Karl Berry / From the President • TUG at the JMM; Google Summer of Code; interviews; The PracTEX Journal; conferences 240 Peter Flynn / Typographers’ Inn • METAFONT fonts; Type 1 (PostScript) fonts; new forum, old forum; 2008 TUG meeting in Cork 283 Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater and Volker RW Schaa / Reshaping Euler: A collaboration with Hermann Zapf • illustrated report of updating the Euler math font 315 Aditya Mahajan / ConTEXt basics for users: Indentation • overview of controlling paragraph indentation in ConTEXt 333 Bernd Schroeder / Software review: TEXCAD for Windows A • review of this GUI program for the L TEX picture environment 242 Vassilios Tsagkalos / The Greek Font Society • background, goals, and accomplishments of the GFS; interview with Georgios Matthiopoulos, type designer 331 Ulrik Vieth / Book review: Fonts & Encodings by Yannis Haralambous • review of this multi-faceted book which is now available in English Intermediate A 278 Claudio Beccari / lxfonts:L TEX slide fonts revived • a greatly revised and expanded sans serif font collection for presentations A 246 Claudio Beccari and Andrea Guadagni / Designing and producing a reference book with L TEX • issues in designing a reference book for screen and print publication 328 Karl Berry / The treasure chest • selected new CTAN packages from July 2007 through May 2008 288 John Bowman and Andy Hammerlindl / Asymptote: A vector graphics language • discussion of this powerful graphics program, with extensive comparisons to MetaPost 270 Victor Eijkhout / Character encoding • introduction to character encodings, emphasizing Unicode and UTF-8 255 Massimo Guiggiani and Lapo Mori / Suggestions on how not to mishandle mathematical formulæ • best practices for composing math, especially for non-mathematicians 264 John Rankin / Wikipublisher: A Web-based system to make online and print versions of the same content • a free software system for creating high-quality printed documents from PmWiki markup 317 Denis Roegel / Kanji-Sudokus: Integrating Chinese and graphics • using the CJK package and MetaPost to produce Sudoku grids Intermediate Plus 295 Hans Hagen / The Luafication of TEX and ConTEXt • progress report on the LuaTEX implementation and its use in ConTEXt 334 Frank Mittelbach / \looseness on the loose • altered line breaks even when \looseness has no effect of its own 305 Scott Pakin / Good things come in little packages: An introduction to writing .ins and .dtx files A • a tutorial on creating L TEX package files 324 Peter Wilson / Glisterings A • more on paragraphs regular; L TEX’s defining triumvirate; TEX’s dictator Advanced 233 Donald Knuth / The TEX tuneup of 2008 • the 2008 updates to TEX, METAFONT, Computer Modern, et al. 320 Paweł Jackowski / Interesting loops and iterations — second helping • review of loop definitions from the original to fully expandable ones via ε-TEX Contents of other TEX journals 338 ArsTEXnica: Contents of issue 4 (2007) 336 Die TEXnische Kom¨odie: Contents of issues 2007/2–2008/1 337 Eutypon: Contents of issues 16–20 (2007–2008) 335 MAPS: Contents of issues 35 (2007) 339 The PracTEX Journal: Contents of issues 2007-3–2008-1 Reports and notices 239 Barbara Beeton / Hyphenation exception log 343 David Walden / TUG financial statements for 2007 344 Institutional members 345 TUG membership form 346 Calendar 347 TUG 2008 announcement 348 TEX consulting and production services