Subject: TeXhax Digest V95 #18
From: Majordomo list server <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 17:57:08 +0000

TeXhax Digest             Sunday, 17 December 1995      Volume 95 : Number 018

(incorporating UKTeX Digest)

Today's Topics:

    Re: TeX with an SGML syntax?
    Re: invisible printing / figure separations (TeXhax Digest V95 #16-17)
    Chemical TeX/LaTeX
    Black boxes output by LaTeX
    Re: TeX with an SGML syntax?
    December LaTeX Release
    Re: December LaTeX Release

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Ian Moor <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 12:46:56 +0000
Subject: Re: TeX with an SGML syntax?

>if anyone is working on grafting an SGML syntax onto a new
>version/implementation of TeX.
To add syntax to latex so the structure of a  document is checked
would require somebody with deep programming understanding of TeX
macros. A better way is to write documents in SGML and
check and translate to latex.  For the last year I have been
using the QWERTZ DTD by Tom Gordon, ([email-masked])
with some of the code from the Linuxdoc-SGML system. The
input looks like LaTeX with SGML marking : so for example 
 <article opts=11pt>
 <titlepag>
 <title>Constructing a Compiler 
 ...

The 'format' program parses the input using the sgmls parser and generates
latex, or html. The advantage is having one source to generate 
both printed and and web documents. It does mean that you
cannot add your own macros, and maths and pictures have to be
treated specially.

Ian W Moor
  Internet: [email-masked]   Department of Computing,     
  JANET: [email-masked]      Imperial College.            
  +44 71 589 5111 x 48352        180 Queensgate               
                                London SW7 UK.               

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Pierre MacKay)
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 11:00:54 -0800
Subject: Re: invisible printing / figure separations (TeXhax Digest V95 #16-17)

Bruce Leban (texhax 95#16) writes:
 
> I want to be able to print a TeX file with all of the text omitted.

to which Robin Fairbairns gives some interesting answers.

One very effective way, if you use dvips, is the following
which I used for a three-color map and accompanying page of legend text.

\input colordvi
 
\textWhite
%\textBlack
\let\Red=\White
\let\textRed=\textWhite
\let\Green=\Black
\let\textGreen=\textBlack
\let\Black=\White
\let\BottomColor=\Green

In this case the Green overlay is being printed, and the Black
and Red are invisible.

There is, of course a lot more to it than that, but it is pretty
easy to figure out.

If you want to see the results, look at
   Lawrence J. Bliquez, {\it Roman Surgical Instruments and Other
      Minor Objects in the National Museum of Naples}, 1994, 
      Philip von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.  ISBN 3-8053-1677-1.
      Map at page 98.  The map itself is done with TeXdraw.
	
      Fonts are Monotype Baskerville for the legend and Gill Sans
	and Castellar for the map.
- -- 
%=======================================================================%
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Email concerned with UnixTeX distribution software may be sent 
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	Denny Hall, Mail Stop DH-10		Unix-flavored TeX
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	Seattle, WA 98195
	(206) 543-2268 (Message recorder)

------------------------------

From: Andre HECK <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 95 17:25:31 +0100
Subject: Chemical TeX/LaTeX

My daughter heard that specific chemistry-oriented TeX/LaTeX packages
were available, without more details unfortunately. My search in the
ctan archives were unsuccessful.
Anyone knows more about this matter? If so, is there any shareware 
available?
Thanks in advance for time, attention and assistance.
ah.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Prof.) Andre HECK        -+-  *    Phone (direct)       +33-88.15.07.43  
Observatoire Astronomique    *      Phone (Secretary)    +33-88.15.07.10
11, rue de l'Universite   -+-   *   Fax (direct/private) +33-88.49.12.55
F-67000 Strasbourg      *    -+-    Fax (Secretary)      +33-88.25.01.60
France               -+-   *    *   e-mail:      [email-masked]
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 WWW:           http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/~heck
 StarWorlds:    http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/starworlds.html
 StarBits:      http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/starbits.html
 StarHeads:     http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/starheads.html
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

From: dejmer Marcus <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 13:03:50 +0100
Subject: Black boxes output by LaTeX

To whomever can help me immediately!
PLEASE!

Problem: My document now prints a HUGE BLACK BOX on the bottom half of EACH
PAGE In my report DUE MONDAY! I have NO IDEA what I have done to INSTIGATE
this reaction from my (up to this morning) loving LATEX complier!

IF anyone knows how to RECTIFY this SITUATION please help me!~

I am extremely GRATEFUL to anyone who can reply!

The success of my document lies in the hands of those knowledgeable few out
there!

Extremely desperate,

Marcus DEJMEK ([email-masked])

------------------------------

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 95 17:10:00 -0800
Subject: Re: TeX with an SGML syntax?

	From: "Nelson H. F. Beebe" <[email-masked]>
	Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 09:13:39 -0700 (MST)
	Subject: Re: TeX with an SGML syntax?
	
	J. Greg Davidson <[email-masked]> asks about using SGML as a markup
	language in place of TeX's macro language.

No, I didn't.  I hate being misquoted :-(.  I said:

	Date:    Thu, 26 Oct 1995 14:15:28 -0700
	From:    [email-masked]
	Subject: TeX with an SGML syntax?

	I ... wonder if anyone is working on grafting an SGML syntax onto a new
	version/implementation of TeX.			      ^^^^^^

(elision and emphasis added) and I also said:

	A new syntax would present a good opportunity to revamp the macro
	system, either replacing it with a more robust macro system (no
	fragile macros) or replacing it with a tcl-like functional language;
	the point being to make writing TeX extensions less of a black art.

I find that most people I show TeX to dislike it on sight and decline
my offer to help them learn to use it.  At the same time, they're
interested in SGML and planning to convert existing documents to and
write new documents in that form.  This is the source of our big opportunity.

My biggest gripe about TeX is that I find writing and understanding
TeX macros to be difficult.  It's especially difficult to parse TeX
source mechanically.  I would like a programming interface with
delimiters and programming symbols clearly distinguished from literal
text without reference to the definitions of the macros or functions
used.  I would like no such thing as fragile macros.  A well designed
SGML-TeX would describe the syntax of its programming language in an
SGML DTD, along with an initial set of formatting markups.  This would
go a long way towards eliminating these problems.

Of course, the existing TeX is not going to go away, even if something
much nicer comes along, so older documents would not need to be
converted to the new syntax.

As people move towards keeping documents in SGML form, they will be
looking for a good text formatter to use in conjunction with their SGML
documents.  Although they can process SGML into TeX source, that
transformation is a mysterious and fragile process.  Someone trained
only in SGML will be put off when they try to debug any problems that
arise and they will never learn to write new macros.  Thus, the power
and advantages of TeX will be lost to them.  As soon as they can, they
will get rid of TeX.

I do not expect anyone in the TeX community to make such a radical new
version of TeX, and I am not offering to do it.  Because of this I
think that systems with much less power will continue to dominate, and
TeX will fade away.  But it doesn't have to be that way.

_Greg

J. Greg Davidson	Institute for Software Research and Development
+1 (619) 452-8059       6231 Branting Street  San Diego, CA  92122  USA
 
[email-masked] (or [email-masked])
[email-masked]

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- ------- End of Forwarded Message

------------------------------

From: David Carlisle <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 20:00:38 GMT
Subject: December LaTeX Release

December 1995 LaTeX Release
============================

The LaTeX3 Project is pleased to announce that the December Release is
now available from the ctan hosts and will reach mirrors in due course.

The following ctan directories are updated

tex-archive/macros/latex/base             %  The core LaTeX sources
tex-archive/macros/latex/unpacked         %  The core LaTeX sources, 
`unpacked'

tex-archive/macros/latex/packages/tools   %  The `tools' `graphics' and
tex-archive/macros/latex/packages/graphics%  `mfnfss' collections of
tex-archive/macros/latex/packages/mfnfss  %  Standard LaTeX packages.

As usual the main features of the new release are documented in the
newsletter ltnews04.tex.

Two points deserve special mention here:

* Unpacking this release should take significantly less time than has
  been the case for previous LaTeX releases.
  This is due to a new implementation of the docstrip utility that has
  been contributed by Marcin Woli\'nski.

* When using Computer Modern Fonts in the `T1' (`Cork') encoding,
  LaTeX will now assume the font names of release 1.2 of the dc fonts
  which occurred earlier this year.

  If you still have the old dc fonts then you must unpack the file
  olddc.ins
  to produce suitable fd files using the old font names.
  This is documented in the installation guide, install.txt, but is
  mentioned here as it differs from previous releases.
  The test document ltxcheck.tex will report any problems with dc
  fonts if the LaTeX format does not appear to match the fonts you
  have installed at your site.

David Carlisle
For the LaTeX3 Project

------------------------------

From: David Carlisle <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 18:54:54 GMT
Subject: Re: December LaTeX Release

I said

>  As usual the main features of the new release are documented in the
>  newsletter ltnews04.tex.

If you were very quick to pick up the release then unfortunately the
file ltnews04.tex was missing.

It was added `this morning' to all the main ctan hosts.

(That is `this morning' here: The first two people to report this file
 missing were in Australia....)

Sorry for any confusion that this caused.

David

------------------------------

End of TeXhax Digest V95 #18
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