UKTeX Digest Friday, 25 Sep 1992 Volume 92 : Issue 35 ``The UKTeX Digest is brought to you as a free, unfunded and voluntary service of the UK TeX Users Group and the UK TeX Archive.'' Today's Topics: {Q&A}: Re: MAKEINDX problem Re: MAKEINDX problem Dotted lines in LaTeX tabular environment Re: Dotted lines in LaTeX tabular environment Unwanted Page Numbers Re: Unwanted Page Numbers Re: Re: Unwanted Page Numbers Re: UKTeX V92 N33 Font packing. Re: Font packing. Spacey .LOG files in square brackets RE: Spacey .LOG files in square brackets Re: Punk fonts Fancy Headings Re: Printer drivers macros and catcodes Re. macros and catcodes RE: Re. macros and catcodes {Archive News}: !!!! major change to layout of LaTeX directory in uk tex archive!! update to Mainz packages in UK TeX Archive musictex update Excalibur 1.2 - LaTeX Spelling Checker for the Macintosh {Announcements}: Announcing a Mailbase list for SGML (fwd) LaTeX3 Call for Volunteers LaTeX3 Call for Volunteers (LaTeX version) Administrivia: Moderators: Peter Abbott (Aston University) and David Osborne (University of Nottingham) Contributions: UKTeX@uk.ac.tex Administration, subscription and unsubscription requests: UKTeX-request@uk.ac.tex ------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 14:52:32 +0000 From: Malcolm Clark Subject: Re: MAKEINDX problem i had a similar problem, but on a different system. i solved it (clumsily) by sorting the entries (most systems have some system primitive to do this), then splitting the master file into parts, which i then put through makeindex. then stick it back together. i would note that makeindex (in my view) needs some handwork. malcolm clark ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 17:20:55 +0100 From: Eberhard Mattes Subject: Re: MAKEINDX problem David Harvey posts this for a colleague: > "I am currently writing a book using EMTEX, with an extensive index > On using MAKEINDX my system responds with > 'Scanning input file book5.idx.....Not enough core...abort' > The version of MAKEINDX is the portable version 2.9 [13-Dec-1989]. > " Your college should use MakeIndex 2.11 instead -- since June, emTeX comes with MakeIndex 2.11. Eberhard Mattes (mattes@azu.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de) ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 92 14:17:24 +0000 From: pm1mjp%hicks1.shef@uk.ac.sheffield.sunc Subject: Dotted lines in LaTeX tabular environment Does anyone know how to obtain vertical separators which consist of dotted/ dashed lines in LaTeX' array and tabular environments? Using &$\vdots$& looks ugly. The dots do not join up correctly. Mike Piff ------------------------------ Date: 21 Sep 92 07:59:26 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: Re: Dotted lines in LaTeX tabular environment LIST_SERVER@TEX.AC.UK writes: > > Does anyone know how to obtain vertical separators which consist of dotted/ > dashed lines in LaTeX' array and tabular environments? > > Using > &$\vdots$& > looks ugly. The dots do not join up correctly. > if you wait a couple of days, I will put on the archive a (plain TeX) package by Kees van der Laan which demonstrates what you are talking of. might give you some starting points. order a copy of the Prague Eurotex proceedings to read all about it.. sebastian ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 10:07:14 +0000 From: Ivan Fabian Subject: Unwanted Page Numbers I am trying to find out how to suppress page numbers with \documentstyle{article}. \pagestyle{empty} seems to do the trick but if I use \maketitle all pages are numbered. I found a similar problem reported in LATEX.BUG distributed with our version. Does a fix exist for the \maketitle problem? Can anyone help? FROM LATEX.BUG 43. With \pagestyle{empty}, a \chapter command still produces a page number on the first page of a chapter. (Reported by Peter Schilling 3 June 88. Deemed not worth correcting.) Thanks Ivan Fabian +-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+ | Central Computing Department | IGBF@UKACRL | | R27, Room G37, Chilton, Didcot | IGBF@UK.AC.RL.IB | | Oxon. OX11 0QX | GB3FFQjF at IBMMAIL | +-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 21 Sep 92 08:47:32 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: Re: Unwanted Page Numbers > I am trying to find out how to suppress page numbers with > \documentstyle{article}. \pagestyle{empty} seems to do the trick > but if I use \maketitle all pages are numbered. just edit the style file and remove the \pagestyle{plain} from the definition of maketitle s ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 92 14:08:59 +0100 From: schoepf%de.zib-berlin.sc@uk.ac.uknet-relay Subject: Re: Re: Unwanted Page Numbers > I am trying to find out how to suppress page numbers with > \documentstyle{article}. \pagestyle{empty} seems to do the trick > but if I use \maketitle all pages are numbered. Put \pagestyle{empty} IMMEDIATELY after \maketitle Rainer Schoepf Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum ,,Ich mag es nicht, wenn fuer Informationstechnik Berlin sich die Dinge so frueh Heilbronner Strasse 10 am Morgen schon so W-1000 Berlin 31 dynamisch entwickeln!'' Federal Republic of Germany or ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 16:06:03 +0000 From: Brian {Hamilton Kelly} Subject: Re: UKTeX V92 N33 Readers (not to mention the Editor) may be interested to know that there's a spurious Ctrl/N character towards the end of the announcement of EuroTeX'92 in the above-mentioned digest. When the output is directed to a DEC printer, one ends up with an interesting collection of characters from the VT100 Line Drawing character set --- not very useful! Brian {Hamilton Kelly} +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + JANET: tex@uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs + + BITNET: tex%uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs@ac.uk + + INTERNET: tex%uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk + + UUCP: {mcsun,uknet,uunet}!rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk!tex + + Smail: School of Electrical Engineering & Science, Royal Military + + College of Science, Shrivenham, SWINDON SN6 8LA, U.K. + + Phone: Swindon (0793) 785252 (UK), +44-793-785252 (International) + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 92 14:56:38 +0700 From: Allan Reese Subject: Font packing. I've been asked for Euler (AMS2) fonts, so ran the mfjob supplied with emTeX. That's fine, but it puts each .pk in a separate file under texfonts. Should I now pack the .pk's into .fli libraries, and if so, how should these be arranged? Options seem to me, 1) leave .pk files in RRRdpi\ directories for all but canonical TeX fonts. At the moment these contain the Euler fonts and a few fonts generated by my own use of seminar.sty (large LaTeX symbols). 2) add 300dpi\*.pk fonts into existing lj_0.fli etc 3) make new .fli files for Euler fonts. Perhaps the name should be lj_e0.fli etc, to indicate the mode. Is it necessary to have each magnification in a separate library or is this just a convenient way of chunking the canonical fonts? General opinions on font management, especially using fontlib, would be welcomed. I think all three options have pros and cons. In the absence of specific advice or apparent problems here, I am currently opting for (1). - -- (R.) Allan Reese Janet: r.a.reese@uk.ac.hull Head of Applications Direct voice: +44 482 465296 Computer Centre Voice messages: +44 482 465685 Hull University Fax: +44 482 466441 Hull HU6 7RX, U.K. ------------------------------ Date: 21 Sep 92 09:11:50 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: Re: Font packing. > under texfonts. Should I now pack the .pk's into .fli libraries, > and if so, how should these be arranged? Options seem to me, you can do whatever makes sense in your environment! it really doesnt matter s ------------------------------ Date: 18 Sep 92 13:44:12 +0000 From: pm1mjp%hicks1.shef@uk.ac.sheffield.sunc Subject: Spacey .LOG files in square brackets Why do I so often get something like... ... ) (indepex.tex [1.3.1] [2.3.1] [3.3.1] [4.3.1] [5.3.1]) (indepsol.tex [1.3.2] [2.3.2] [3.3.2] [4.3.2] [5.3.2] [6.3.2] [7.3.2] [8.3.2] [9.3.2] [10.3.2] [11.3.2] [12.3.2] [13.3.2] [14.3.2] [15.3.2] [16.3.2] [17.3.2]) (linear.aux ... ...on my screen, but... ... ) (indepex.tex [1.3.1 ] [2.3.1] [3.3.1] [4.3.1] [5.3.1]) (indepsol.tex [1.3.2 ] [2.3.2] [3.3.2] [4.3.2] [5.3.2] [6.3.2] [7.3.2] [8.3.2] [9.3.2] [10.3.2] [11.3.2] [12.3.2] [13.3.2] [14.3.2] [15.3.2] [16.3.2] [17.3.2]) (linear.aux ... in my .LOG file? Anybody know? (Using emTeX) Has someone left an odd WriteLn in TeX? Mike Piff ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 92 22:09:03 +0000 From: Brian {Hamilton Kelly} Subject: RE: Spacey .LOG files in square brackets In message of 18 Sep 92 13:44:12 GMT0BST, pm1mjp%hicks1.shef@uk.ac.sheffield.sunc wrote: > Why do I so often get something like... > ... > ...on my screen, but... > ... > in my .LOG file? Anybody know? (Using emTeX) I can't answer for emTeX; this is an implementation-dependent issue. Under VMS, TeX uses the Pascal writeln function for ALL output to the terminal; this is necessary if the report of page numbers is to appear in real-time rather than when a whole lineful has been buffered. The terminal is reopened with appropriate mode such that no carriage-return line-feed pairs are inserted by the operating system; they are inserted as required (once again through writeln) explicitly when TeX decides to split the line. Output to the log file (with filetype extension .LIS under VMS) doesn't use this mechanism, so output appears normally. However, if one runs TeX as a VMS batch-mode job, the *batch* log file (this time with the .LOG extension) contains the output to the ``terminal'', with each little `gobbet' from TeX as a separate RMS record. Printing this file produces exactly the phenomenon you have observed here. I think this question should maybe be directed to Eberhard. Brian {Hamilton Kelly} ------------------------------ Date: 21 Sep 92 09:16:56 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: Re: Punk fonts R.A.Reese@sequent.cc.hull.ac.uk writes: > I am unable to generate punk fonts and the problem seems to lie in > the .mf files. I have checked that the .mf unpacked from the DOS > morefont.zip file matches the punk.mfx in other Aston directories. > The other possibility is that I have an out of date MetaFont, but it > came with emTeX. > > The log file starts: > > > This is METAFONT, Version 2.0 [3a] (preloaded base=cm 90.9.19) 18 SEP 1992 12:41 > **&cm \mode=hplaser; mag=1; input punk10 > (punk10.mf > ! Missing argument to dot. > > # its a bit unfriendly to the rest of the world to include *quite* so much log file in a mail message, since it conveys very little. moderation in all things. try not using the cm base s ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 14:32:09 +0000 From: Peter Abbott Subject: Fancy Headings I use % fancyheadings.sty version 1.0 % Fancy headers and footers. % Piet van Oostrum, Dept of Computer Science, University of Utrecht This gives me the page number at the top with the title of the book or chapter (odd and even pages) and a rule. The page number is on the outside (i.e. away from the binding). I need to suppress the book/chapter name and the rule on selected pages i.e. print the page number only. Something like \thispagestyle{pagenumberonly} Has anyone amended the style file to do this or can anyone suggest a way of achieving it? Peter ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 14:37:03 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: Re: Printer drivers > I am looking for a PC latex HP deskjet printer driver that > goes directly from the .dvi file to the printer. I have tex version > 3.0 (sbtex) on a 386 machine. I could find nothing remotely like it > in the archives. I am told the emtex package will do what I want, > but that directory is empty. no, it isnt. you may be looking in the wrong place. look in [tex-archive.tex.ms-dos.emtex] its full of goodies I regret to say that there are empty directories lying around which are unpurged Sebastian ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 10:05:00 +0000 From: Mark Templeton <"CAERCN::druid"@uk.mod.hermes> Subject: macros and catcodes I am running TeX C Version 3.14t3 (format=plain 92.7.29), on a Sun 3/60 running SunOS 4.1.1, and I am having trouble picking up end-of-line. Could anyone suggest what is happenning? Have I hit a known bug? Please note that the example code below is a VERY cut down version of what I am trying to do, but shows the problem. It seems that ^^M works outside a macro definition, but fails inside one. The following works, and gives a simple obeylines: > \tracingmacros=1 > \catcode`\^^M=\active% > \def^^M{\par} > > > hello > my name is freddy > speces > \bye Whereas the following program fails: > \tracingmacros=1 > \def\typesettitle{ > \catcode`\^^M=\active% > \def^^M{\par} > } > > \typesettitle > hello > my name is freddy > speces > \bye The effect in the second program above is that the ^^M{\par} disappears. Thus the log sais: > This is TeX, C Version 3.14t3 (format=plain 92.7.29) 24 SEP 1992 18:44 > **baby.tex > (baby.tex > \typesettitle -> \catcode `\^^M=\active \def > > Runaway definition? > hello^^Mmy name is freddy^^Mspeces^^M > ! Forbidden control sequence found while scanning definition of ^^M. > > } > > \bye > l.11 \bye > > ? h > I suspect you have forgotten a `}', causing me > to read past where you wanted me to stop. > I'll try to recover; but if the error is serious, > you'd better type `E' or `X' now and fix your file. Note that even using gdef in this latter case fails in the same way. Hope you can help, Mark D Templeton B1013 Internet : Mark.Templeton%hermes.mod.uk@relay.mod.uk RSRE(S) Janet : Mark.Templeton@hermes.mod.uk St Andrews Road Malvern Internal : druid@caercn Worcestershire WR14 3PS Phone UK : 0684-892733 x2109 United Kingdom Phone Intl: +44-684-892733 x2109 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 10:44:00 +0000 From: Mark Templeton <"CAERCN::druid"@uk.mod.hermes> Subject: Re. macros and catcodes Ok, I get it. The ^^M in the macro defn is seen as end of line. Therefore, need to use an outer catcode line to allow the macro to be correctly defined. >> How was I supposed to know this ?? << Mark D Templeton ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 14:11:22 +0000 From: Philip Taylor (RHBNC) Subject: RE: Re. macros and catcodes >> How was I supposed to know this ?? << By attending a certain course in Prague?! Best wishes to Woon Su... ** Phil. ------------------------------ Date: 10 Sep 92 13:17:56 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: !!!! major change to layout of LaTeX directory in uk tex archive!! to bring the UK TeX Archive into line with current suggestions for a common archive format, I have moved a lot of stuff in the UK TeX Archive under [tex-archive.latex]. the two main trees of interest are now [tex-archive.latex.styles.base] the Lamport styles, and the Mainz packages which will form part of LaTeX3 [tex-archive.latex.styles.contrib] everything else; often in subdirectories At the same time I have taken the opportunity to update the LaTeX style file collection to bring it up to date. It now contains *everything* (well, give or take a file or two) described in David Jones majestic cataloge of TeX macros and styles (in the LaTeX section). You better believe it. WARNING! My brain goes to pieces when I'm logged into a Vax; my operations have left some old directory structures intact, but empty! these directories will be removed, but for the moment, watch out, and search a little further for your poison. WARNING TWO!! This was a big set of files to move, and I did it from a Unix machine. This means I will have left some binary files in there, like .tfm files. Please be tolerant, and just warn me of things that dont make sense on a VMS archive. A new method for accessing the archive may help - watch this space. WARNING THREE!!! I have been known before now to place things in the Vax archive that were not accessible (gasp!) for file transfer to other JANET sites. If this is the case with this latest set of material, rest assured that a giant conversion job will run very shortly. Sebastian ------------------------------ Date: 10 Sep 92 12:32:12 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: update to Mainz packages in UK TeX Archive The following packages can be found in the Uk TeX Archive under [tex-archive.latex.styles.base] for the convenience of those who can deal with compressed tar archives and uuencoding, there is also [tex-archive.src.unix-archives]mainz.tarz_uue which has everything from the Mainz stable Sebastian ******************************************** Additions and updates to the Mainz packages Frank Mittelbach Rainer Sch"opf August 27, 1992 We proudly present a new release of the "Mainz packages". A number of people contributed to this release: A big Thank You goes to Johannes Braams, David Carlisle, Denys Duchier and Dave Love. The most obvious changes are the separation of the multicol package into two: multicol and doc, and the complete new automatic installation procedures. A more detailed discussion of the new features follows. *doc* This is the basic package needed for all distributions. It contains doc.sty and the docstrip.tex file which are utility programs that are used by other packages to produce the documentation and the executable versions from the distributed .doc files. doc.doc was updated by Dave Love, the file docstrip.doc was rewritten by Johannes Braams with support from Denys Duchier. *multicol* This package contains the multicol style option for producing multicolumn output with standard LaTeX. The main changes are better support for marks and the possibility to use this environment inside a box. *theorem* This is the new implementation of the theorem environment that allows different styles for theorem-like constructs to be used. *nfss* A number of bugs have been fixed. This release contains now support for using the so-called dc fonts, which implement the 256 character extended text font layout, and for scaling the math extension font with the current size. *array* David Carlisle contributed many useful additions to the array style options: alignment on a decimal point, a customizable version of "hline, implict delimiters, the tabularx and longtable environments. *ftn* This is the ftnright style option which defines a layout where all footnotes are placed in the second column of a two-column specification. It was designed to work with the standard twocolumn option of LaTeX. Note that it doesn't work in combination with the multicol option. 1 ------------------------------ Date: 21 Sep 92 13:00:52 +0000 From: spqr@uk.ac.york.minster Subject: musictex update I have put the latest version of Daniel Taupin's MusicTeX in the UK TeX Archive as [tex-archive.src.unix-archives]musictex.boo (sources and docs) and [tex-archive.src.unix-archives]musicpk.boo (prebuilt pk files) These are boo-encoded zip files. Version 4.76 -- September 10th, 1992. The documentation includes a paper Daniel gave at EuroTeX sebastian ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 16:52:32 +0000 From: David Osborne Subject: Excalibur 1.2 - LaTeX Spelling Checker for the Macintosh Rick Zaccone's Excalibur 1.2 is now in the UK TeX Archive. The binhex-encoded Compact Pro archive is stored in the UK TeX Archive in [tex-archive.utils.spell.mac]excalibur-12.hqx Here's Rick's announcement... ~~Dave - ------- Forwarded Message Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 20:51:58 EDT From: zaccone%edu.bucknell@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay Subject: Excalibur 1.2 - LaTeX Spelling Checker for the Macintosh Excalibur is a Macintosh spelling checker for LaTeX documents. It also does a fairly good job with plain TeX files. It reads files of type TEXT and it is smart enough to ignore most LaTeX commands and a fair number of plain TeX commands. Since it just ignores these commands, it will also serve quite nicely as a spelling checker for any TEXT file that doesn't contain any LaTeX or TeX commands. (It is not completely accurate to say that Excalibur ignores LaTeX commands. It will process any arguments that contain text). Excalibur is a stand-alone application that we have tested with both OzTeX and Textures documents. The fact that it is a stand-alone application should not present any inconvenience since it works with MultiFinder under System 6 and it is System 7 aware. You will need System 6.0.4 or higher to run Excalibur. There is extensive on-line help. You will find it under the Apple menu if you are running System 6, and under the Balloon Help menu if you are running System 7 or greater. Excalibur is free. Some new features of Excalibur 1.2 include: * It saves your preferences between invocations. * You can convert dictionaries to text files so that you may edit them. * You can convert text files to dictionaries. * Excalibur recognizes Apple's extended character set. This should help non-English speaking users. * Support for AMS-LaTeX * Support for drag and drop operations * LaTeX manual. * Many other changes. See Excalibur Genealogy in the help facility or in the LaTeX manual for more details. ***Important*** If you have an old version of Excalibur, be sure to replace the Standard Dictionary with the new one. We found a couple of problems with the old Standard Dictionary. Rick Zaccone zaccone@bucknell.edu - ------- End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Sep 92 16:43:48 +0700 From: Allan Reese Subject: Announcing a Mailbase list for SGML (fwd) > Date: Fri, 18 Sep 92 16:56:55 BST > From: MGPopham@uk.ac.ex.ua > Subject: Announcing a Mailbase list for SGML Comment: This message has been distributed to a number of lists but not that of TeX users. > > sgml is an open list for discussion, news and reviews of SGML (the Standard > Generalized Markup Language defined in ISO 8879:1986) and all related > Standards, products and services -- including the work of the ISC-funded > SGML Project. > > You should subscribe if you are interested in: > > * text/word processing > * publishing - on paper, on-line, and CD-ROM > * text databases > * hypertext and multimedia > * managing structured information > * scholarly analysis using electronic texts > * document/information exchange or re-use > * collaborative authorship > * electronic review of documents > * publishing documents containing mathematical equations, > chemical formulae, or complex tables > > This list is intended for members of the U.K. academic and research community , > but anyone is welcome to join provided that they are eligible under the > usual JNT NISP guidelines. > > To subscribe, send the following mail message with your details: > > To: mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase > Subject: > Text: join sgml your_firstname your_lastname > > An archive of general information files has already been set up using > conventional Mailbase facilities. When you join the list you might like > to down-load a few of these files first. Send the following mail message > to get a list of the available files: > > To: mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase > Subject: > Text: index sgml > > Then to obtain a file such as the one called "sgml.project.overview" send: > > To: mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase > Subject: > Text: send sgml sgml.project.overview > > We hope you will find the list useful, and that its existence will help > to raise awareness of SGML and its possibilities within the academic > and research community. > > > Michael Popham > List Owner (sgml-request@uk.ac.mailbase) > ************************************************************************* > MAIL sgml-request@uk.ac.mailbase TO CONTACT ME ABOUT THE SGML LIST. > MAIL sgml@uk.ac.mailbase TO SEND TO THE LIST ITSELF. > MAIL mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase TO SEND MAILBASE COMMANDS. > ************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 92 17:38:36 +0000 From: CHAA006@VAX.RHBNC.AC.UK Subject: LaTeX3 Call for Volunteers LaTeX3 Call for Volunteers This is a call for volunteers to help in the development of LaTeX3. There are many tasks needing to be done in support of the LaTeX3 project which can be worked on concurrently with the development of the LaTeX3 kernel. Furthermore, some tasks require special expertise not found among the core programming team. Initial research, analysis, and work on these tasks by volunteers can greatly speed up the process of integrating a number of desirable features into LaTeX3. Many of these features can be extensively developed and tested under LaTeX 2.09 even before the LaTeX3 kernel is available. Therefore we are publishing a list of tasks to the LaTeX user community through various channels and we ask readers to consider contributing some time and effort (particularly, but not exclusively, readers with expertise in the various areas touched on). The task list is distributed in the form of a LaTeX article; it is fairly readable in electronic form, and it can be printed on paper if desired. GETTING AND READING THE LATEX3 VOLUNTEER TASK LIST - ---Anonymous FTP from the following sites. niord.shsu.edu directory [fileserv.vol-task] ftp.uni-stuttgart.de directory soft/tex/vol-task - ---Mail server from fileserv@shsu.bitnet or mail-server@rus.uni-stuttgart.de Send mail to fileserv@shsu.bitnet. No subject line is necessary. In the body of the mail, write one line: sendme vol-task Send mail to mail-server@rus.uni-stuttgart.de. No subject line is necessary. In the body of the mail, write one line: send soft/tex/vol-task/vol-task.tex - ---Request a printed copy from the TeX Users Group: TeX Users Group tug@math.ams.org PO Box 9506 Providence, RI 02940 USA 401-751-7760 - ---Read it in your copy of TUGboat (or your friend's copy, or your library's copy ...) when it is published there [soon]. It will also be mailed initially to some mail lists and newsgroups that are likely sources of volunteers. Suggestions for additional publication destinations are welcome. If after reading the descriptions you are interested in working on a particular task, the first step is to contact the coordinator for that task (if one is listed), or else contact the volunteer list manager: George D. Greenwade Department of Economics and Business Analysis College of Business Administration P. O. Box 2118 Sam Houston State University Huntsville, Texas, USA 77341-2118 bed_gdg@SHSU.edu (Internet) BED_GDG@SHSU (BITNET) SHSU::BED_GDG (THENET) telephone (409) 294-1266 FAX (409) 294-3712 If someone else is already serving as the task coordinator for that task, that person will discuss with you the current status of the work and ways in which you might contribute. Otherwise, the list manager will designate you as the `task coordinator' for that task, and assist you in getting answers to any initial questions you may have. Further details are found in Appendix A of the task list. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 92 17:42:51 +0000 From: CHAA006@VAX.RHBNC.AC.UK Subject: LaTeX3 Call for Volunteers (LaTeX version) Via: UK.AC.NSFNET-RELAY; Tue, 22 Sep 92 17:41 BST Received: from MATH.AMS.COM by sun3.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk with Internet SMTP id ; Tue, 22 Sep 1992 17:39:02 +0100 Received: from MATH.AMS.ORG by MATH.AMS.ORG (PMDF #2306 ) id <01GP332LPQ28C69FWI@MATH.AMS.ORG>; Tue, 22 Sep 1992 12:38:23 EST Date: 22 Sep 1992 12:38:21 -0500 (EST) From: MJD@ORG.AMS.MATH Subject: vol-task.tex To: chaa006@uk.ac.rhbnc.vax Message-id: <01GP332LPZPEC69FWI@MATH.AMS.ORG> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT %%% ====================================================================== %%% @LaTeX-file{ %%% filename = "vol-task.tex", %%% version = "2.4b", %%% date = "22 September 1992", %%% time = "07:24:33.21 CDT", %%% list-manager = "George D. Greenwade", %%% address = "Department of Economics and Business Analysis %%% College of Business Administration %%% P. O. Box 2118 %%% Sam Houston State University %%% Huntsville, Texas, USA 77341-2118", %%% email = "bed_gdg@SHSU.edu (Internet) %%% BED_GDG@SHSU (BITNET) %%% SHSU::BED_GDG (THENET)", %%% telephone = "(409) 294-1266", %%% FAX = "(409) 294-3712", %%% supported = "yes", %%% archived = "*Niord.SHSU.edu:[FILESERV.VOL-TASK], %%% pip.SHSU.edu:/vol-task.tex", %%% keywords = "LaTeX3, LaTeX, volunteer task list", %%% codetable = "ISO/ASCII", %%% checksum = "64606 837 4034 32579", %%% docstring = "This is general volunteer task list in the %%% development of LaTeX3. There are many tasks %%% needing to be done in support of the LaTeX3 %%% project which can be worked on concurrently with %%% the development of the LaTeX3 kernel. %%% Furthermore, some tasks require special expertise %%% not found among the core programming team. %%% Initial research, analysis, and work on these %%% tasks by volunteers can greatly speed up the %%% process of integrating a number of desirable %%% features into LaTeX3. %%% %%% If you are interested in working on a particular %%% task, the first step is to contact the volunteer %%% list manager, noted above,for details. He will %%% either immediately designate you as the `task %%% coordinator' for that task, and assist you in %%% getting answers to any initial questions you may %%% have, or if someone else is already serving as the %%% task coordinator for that task, you will be put in %%% touch with that person, who will discuss with you %%% the current status of the work and ways in which %%% you might contribute. %%% %%% The checksum field above contains a CRC-16 %%% checksum as the first value, followed by the %%% equivalent of the standard UNIX wc (word %%% count) utility output of lines, words, and %%% characters. This is produced by Robert %%% Solovay's checksum utility." %%% } %%% ====================================================================== % This document can be run with ordinary LaTeX 2.09. \documentstyle[twocolumn]{article} %%%+%+%+%+% The innovative code delimited by ``%%%+%+%+%+%'' was provided by %%%+%+%+%+% David Carlisle. It's function is to use the information from the %%%+%+%+%+% file header directly in the processing of the document. \makeatletter {\obeylines% \long\gdef\FHfield#1 #2 = "#3"#4,{% \global\@namedef{FH#2}{#3}% \def\temp{#2}\ifx\temp\chksum\else\expandafter\FHfield\fi}% \gdef\FHuse#1{\gdef^^M{\\}\csname FH#1\endcsname}}% \def\chksum{checksum} \@namedef{LaTeX-file}{\catcode`\@=12 \FHparse} \long\def\FHparse#1{\FHfield#1\endinput} \begingroup \catcode`\%=9 \catcode`\-=11 \catcode`\@=0 \setbox0=\hbox{\obeylines\input\jobname.tex } \endgroup %%%+%+%+%+% Thanks, David!! \title{Volunteer work for the \protect\LaTeX3 project\thanks{Keywords: \protect\FHuse{keywords}}\\} %% extract keywords from header \author{\protect\LaTeX3 project \protect\\[5pt] Frank Mittelbach\protect\\ Chris Rowley\protect\\ Michael Downes} \date{\FHuse{date}\\ %% extract date from header Version: \FHuse{version}} %% extract version from header %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Adjustments for printing two columns with more text per page. \oddsidemargin -0.65in \evensidemargin -0.65in \topmargin -0.75in % Select paper size. \def\firstletter#1#2\end{#1} \typein[\papersize]{Intended paper size?^^J% Choices: US letter size or A4; enter u or a, please:}% \edef\setpapersize{\lowercase{\edef\noexpand\papersize{% \noexpand\firstletter\papersize u\noexpand\end}}} \setpapersize \if a\papersize\relax \typeout{% OK, adjusting textwidth and textheight for A4 paper size} % A4 paper size, 21cm x 30cm \textwidth 19cm \textheight 26cm \else \typeout{% Adjusting textwidth and textheight for US letter paper size} % US letter-size paper, 8.5 x 11 in: \textwidth 7.7in \textheight 9.7in \fi % \tolerance 5000 \pretolerance 1000 \ifx\undefined \emergencystretch\else \emergencystretch 2pc \fi \hfuzz=\columnsep % Reduce type sizes \makeatletter \let\Huge\huge \let\huge\LARGE \let\LARGE\Large \let\Large\large \let\large\@normalsize \let\@normalsize\small \let\small\footnotesize \let\footnotesize\scriptsize \makeatother %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \newcommand{\vollistmanager}{George Greenwade} \begingroup \catcode`\%=12 \catcode`\_=12 \catcode`\@=12 \gdef\vollistmgraddress{\relax Internet: bed_gdg@SHSU.edu\\ Bitnet: BED_GDG@SHSU\\ THEnet: SHSU::BED_GDG\\ Voice: (409) 294-1266\\ FAX: (409) 294-3612\relax } \endgroup % Listing of the volunteer(s) for a given task can be done using % the \coordinator, \email, and \volunteer commands: % % \coordinator{DATE}{NAME}\email{name@xyz.abc.volunteer} % \othervolunteers % \volunteer{NAME}\email{name@xyz.abc.de} % \volunteer{NAME}\email{name@xyz.abc.de} % . . . % % Percent sign can be used inside the argument of \email without a % preceding backslash, provided that \email is not itself used % inside the argument of some other command. \newcommand{\coordinator}[1]{\par\smallskip \noindent{\it Coordinator\/} [#1]:\volunteer} \newcommand{\othervolunteers}{\par\noindent{\it Other volunteers:}} \newcommand{\volunteer}[1]{\par#1\quad \ignorespaces} \newcommand{\email}{\begingroup \catcode`\%=12 \xemail} % Auxiliary function for \email. It applies \meaning to the % argument to make all the characters category 12. \newcommand{\xemail}[1]{\def\temp{#1}\tt \expandafter\xmeaning\meaning\temp\xmeaning\endgroup} % Auxiliary function for \xemail. \newcommand cannot be used here. \def\xmeaning#1->#2\xmeaning{#2} \newcommand{\timeestimate}[1]{\par \smallskip\noindent {\it Estimated time required:} #1.\par} \newenvironment{tasklist}[1]{\section{#1}}{} \newcommand{\task}{\subsection} \newcommand{\AmSTeX}{AMS-\TeX\@} \newcommand{\BibTeX}{{\sc Bib}\TeX\@} \newcommand{\eg}{e.g., \ignorespaces} % \cs{xxx} is a robust command to print a control sequence name. \chardef\bslash=`\\ \newcommand{\cs}[1]{{\tt\bslash#1}} \edef\doublehat{{\noexpand\tt\string^\string^}} \begin{document} \maketitle \section{Introduction} This is a call for volunteers to help in the development of \LaTeX3. There are many tasks needing to be done in support of the \LaTeX3 project which can be worked on concurrently with the development of the \LaTeX3 kernel. Furthermore, some tasks require special expertise not found among the core programming team. Initial research, analysis, and work on these tasks by volunteers can greatly speed up the process of integrating a number of desirable features into \LaTeX3. Many of these features can be extensively developed and tested under \LaTeX2.09 even before the \LaTeX3 kernel is available. Therefore we are publishing a list of tasks to the \LaTeX{} user community through various channels and we ask readers to consider contributing some time and effort (particularly, but not exclusively, readers with expertise in the various areas touched on). The task list is distributed in the form of a \LaTeX{} article; it is fairly readable in electronic form, and it can be printed on paper if desired. If you are interested in working on a particular task, see Appendix~\ref{vlminfo} for details on how to volunteer. The task list will be updated at regular intervals. Time estimates are measured in man-days or man-weeks, the values are guesses according to our experiences. \begin{tasklist}{General tasks} \task{Volunteer list management} Organization, publication and maintenance of the general volunteer task list. \timeestimate{?} \smallskip {\it Undertaken:} 22 July 1992 by \vollistmanager. \task{Validating \protect\LaTeX 2.09} Writing test files for regression testing: checking bug fixes and improvements to verify that they don't have undesirable side effects; making sure that bug fixes really correct the problem they were intended to correct; testing interaction with various document styles, style options, and environments. We would like three kinds of validation files: \begin{enumerate} \item General documents. \item Exhaustive tests of special environments/modules such as tables, displayed equations, theorems, floating figures, pictures, etc. \item Bug files containing tests of all bugs that are supposed to be fixed (as well as those that are not fixed, with comments about their status). \end{enumerate} A procedure for processing validation files has been devised; details will be furnished to anyone interested in this task. \timeestimate{2 to 3 weeks, could be divided up} \coordinator{25 August 1992}{Daniel Flipo} \email{flipo@citil.citilille.fr} \othervolunteers \volunteer{Chris Martin} \email{cs1cwm@sunc.sheffield.ac.uk} \end{tasklist} \begin{tasklist}{Syntax questions} \task{.sty metacomments for smart editors} Develop conventions for documentation of styles which could be picked up by editor packages to provide editing help. The idea is to place metacomments in .sty files which smart text editors (in particular) can use to get information about the `exported' (user interface) macros for that particular style. The information would be useful for word completion and spelling checking, at least. (The auc-tex package for GNU Emacs currently has such information hard-wired for a number of common styles.) If the editor has access to the \cs{documentstyle} line or suitable alternative instructions it can poke about in the appropriate style files rather than using its own database. Such information could be written out by a run with {\tt doc.sty} on the basis of \verb=\Describe{Macro,Env}= commands in the {\tt.doc} file and subsequently included in the {\tt docstrip}'ped {\tt.sty} file. That's easy enough, but if it's to be generally useful the result ought to be somewhat standardized and in a form suitable for use by as many editors or other tools as possible. Would conventions for supplying other information this way be useful (along the lines of the PostScript structuring conventions)? \timeestimate{probably 2-5 days over a longer period of time} \coordinator{25 August 1992}{David Love}\email{JANET: d.love@uk.ac.dl},\\ \rule{23.5mm}{0pt}\email{BIT/INTERNET: d.love@dl.ac.uk} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Syntax proposal for bibliographical commands} Extensions of current \LaTeX{} syntax for \cs{cite} commands and bibliography commands. A number of specialties have conventions for citations and bibliographies that \LaTeX{} 2.09 is ill equipped to handle. David Rhead published several papers concerning the handling of bibliographies and citations \cite{texline:DRh90,texline:DRh91,unp:DRh92a,unp:DRh92b}. Some of them have been distributed via the {\tt latex-l} mail list. Counter-proposals or further argumentation for David Rhead's ideas would be useful. \timeestimate{1--2 days} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Research on syntax for tables} What features are important (and not covered)? Logical representation of tabular material versus visual representation. Syntax proposal and report. About tabular material presentation many interesting papers are published. For example, general articles \cite{Nottingham:RBe86}, \cite{XEROX:RBe85}, \LaTeX{} related \cite{unp:DCa90}, \cite{unp:DCa91} \cite{unp:DRh91b}, logical table representation \cite{Lausanne:CVa92}. Important work was done by Michael Spivak in \cite{TpC:MSp89} and of course in his ``Tables to die for'' (T2D4). Standard books on typesetting like \cite{CUP:JBu81}, \cite{TH:RMcL80}, \cite{UCP:CMoS82}, \cite{W-G:JWh88} to name only a few, also usually contain important information about tabular typesetting. What is necessary, is a survey of the requirements for tabular material in printing, a proposal for an extended standard syntax, and perhaps proposal for syntax of extra features that could be provided through a separate `super tables' module that is not loaded until the user requests it. \timeestimate{2--6 weeks (could be shared by several volunteers)} \coordinator{20 September 1992}{Ed Sznyter}\email{ews@babel.com} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Research on syntax for chemistry} The typography of chemical texts is rather different from, say, mathematics. We need a taxonomist to classify the primary elements of an article or book on chemistry and suggest syntax for user commands to handle each element. What proportion of chemical diagrams can be constructed with primitive line graphics such as given by the \LaTeX{} picture environment (with suitable extensions)? Or should diagrams be simply always done in some other graphics language and imported via \cs{special}? \timeestimate{?} \coordinator{10 September 1992}{Chris Carruthers}\email{cjc@acadvm1.uottawa.ca} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Research on syntax for commutative diagrams} Commutative diagrams occur often enough in mathematical literature that even the first version of \AmSTeX{} back in 1983 or so included a rudimentary facility for constructing rectangular commutative diagrams. Since then several people have produced various alternatives, most involving special fonts with line segments slanted at various angles, and arrow heads. The commutative diagram macros of L\AmSTeX{} have arrow directions specified as vectors with the units being rows and columns rather than distances, \eg \verb'\arrow(1,2)' means a diagonal arrow from the current element to the element one row over and two columns down. There is a {\tt catmac.sty} by Michael Barr that uses the line fonts of \LaTeX{} for drawing slanted arrows. The {\tt XY-pic} package by Kristoffer Rose is reportedly usable with \LaTeX{} and comes with its own line and arrowhead fonts. For \LaTeX3 we would like to see an analysis of the logical structure of commutative diagrams and recommendations on user syntax. \timeestimate{2--4 days} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \end{tasklist} \begin{tasklist}{Research tasks} \task{Experimenting with \cs{emergencystretch}} Testing the new features of \TeX3 where no experience is available so far. Writing up a report. Research on \cs{emergencystretch}, in particular, is an important area where the \TeX{} community doesn't have enough experience so far, \eg what are good values in what situations, why? What happens if\ldots\ and so on. This would also make a good article for {\em TUGboat} if the report were given some finishing touches afterwards. \timeestimate{$\approx$ 4 days plus 2 days for publication} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Research on indexing commands} What kinds of indexes are needed for various fields? What kinds of indexes are needed for various specialties? What kind of \cs{index} commands/syntax need to be provided for marking entries? What kind of commands need to be provided for printing indexes after they have been processed by a program like Makeindex? \timeestimate{$\approx$ 1-2 weeks} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Research footnote/endnotes conventions} What conventions are used for various specialties? What user commands and syntax would be recommended? Report about the results. \timeestimate{$\approx$ 1-2 weeks perhaps divided into disciplines} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%% Modified into two tasks per MJD, 17-SEP-1992 13:53 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \task{Syntax diagrams} Designing a command syntax (and implementation in \LaTeX2.09) for syntax diagrams used to illustrate programming language syntax. Reference: \begin{verbatim} @article(tub:MPl81, AUTHOR = {Michael F. Plass}, TITLE = {Charting your Grammar with {\TeX}}, JOURNAL = tub, YEAR = 1981, VOLUME = 2, NUMBER = 3, PAGES = {39-56}, keywords = {TeX, Macros, Syntax diagrams} ) \end{verbatim} The described syntax is probably not appropriate for \LaTeX{} and the implementation needs refinement since it was done for \TeX79 but it is a good starting point. \timeestimate{1-2 days for syntax} \timeestimate{4-8 days for prototype implementation} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{BNF notation} Designing command syntax and prototype \LaTeX2.09 implementation for BNF (Backus-Naur) notation used to describe syntax of programming languages. \timeestimate{1-2 days for syntax} \timeestimate{3-5 days for prototype implementation} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%% End Modifications of 17-SEP-1992 13:53 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \end{tasklist} \begin{tasklist}{Research tasks (cont.)} \task{Research on use of shorthand forms} In SGML there is a concept called `short ref' which means for example that the double quote character \verb="= can be defined to produce directional quotes, blank line can be interpreted as end of paragraph, and so forth. What kind of similar shorthand forms in ASCII files may be desirable for \LaTeX{} users, \eg \verb|=>| to be converted to $\Rightarrow$, \verb|/=| or \verb|<>| to be converted to $\neq$, \verb|'?| to be converted to upside-down Spanish question mark, \verb|"u| to be converted to umlaut \"u, and so forth. What conventions are currently in use for various kinds of documents? Something along these lines is currently done in \AmSTeX{} with the \verb'@' character: \verb'@-' is a shorthand meaning `nonbreaking hyphen', \verb'@,' is a shorthand meaning one-tenth of a thinspace, \verb'@>' is a shorthand for an extensible right arrow, and so forth. It is envisioned that in \LaTeX3 the user will be allowed to designate certain characters to be shorthand initiator characters. For efficiency reasons, the set of allowed initial characters will probably be restricted to nonalphanumeric only. \timeestimate{?} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Research on figures and captions} What rules are in common use for placement and formatting of floating figures and their associated captions? Propose syntax for user commands. Write report. Placement rules for floats and their captions are so far very limited in batch formatters like \TeX{}. We are interested in rules for such placement which are used in practice, algorithms, and possible user syntax. What could be a good user syntax for putting captions above, below, on the side, centered or top or bottom or left or right? Do we need to allow different action for different classes of floats? What do we need for multi-figure groups and their captions? \timeestimate{2-4 weeks (could be divided in sub-tasks)} \coordinator{21 September 1992}{Sebastian Rahtz}\email{spqr@minster.york.ac.uk} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \volunteer{Claus Langhans}\email{Claus_Langhans@wildcat.fido.de} \task{Research on the use of {\protect\doublehat} % that is, ^^? or ^^xx conventions} Check the actual use of the {\doublehat} convention for special characters in the \LaTeX{} community by polling as many users, organizations, mail-lists, usenet groups, etc.\ as possible. Write report. In \TeX{} the \verb=^^= notation is sometimes used for access to unusual characters ($< 32$ or $> 126$). It would be useful to separate this function from the superscript function by assigning it to some character other than \verb|^|, if that would not be too large an inconvenience for users. One application, for example, would be to change \verb|^| and \verb|_| to be active characters so that they can always keep track of current math style, which would allow a better definition for \cs{mathchoice} and simplify many things having to do with math fonts. It seems that the \verb=^^= notation is indispensable only when the character is used in a control sequence name or as a macro argument delimiter (or in hyphenation patterns?). Note: document styles are less concern since they will have to be mostly rewritten for \LaTeX3 anyway. \timeestimate{$\approx$ 3-5 days} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \end{tasklist} \begin{tasklist}{Misc items} \task{Math font handling} Test math font handling in the latest release of NFSS and write up detailed comments. Last year there was some discussion among the \LaTeX3 programmers and others on how to handle math fonts under an enhanced release of NFSS for \LaTeX3. The discussion finally drifted off into areas that are far beyond the scope of the \LaTeX3 project but the actual questions that were raised have not yet been answered. The only contribution that came close was the detailed suggestion and experience report by Sebastian Rahtz about the alpha release for an extended text font handling which was sent around via the {\tt latex-l} list. \timeestimate{1--2 days} Thinking about a proper math font handling taking into account the papers already sent around. \timeestimate{2--4 days} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Converting numbers to textual form} Currently counter values can be displayed in certain styles, \eg as roman numerals. But it may be interesting to extend the available commands by cardinal and ordinal representations, \eg 5 $\longrightarrow$ `five' or `fifth' (for example, if you wanted to refer to `the fifth item' in a list using something like \LaTeX{}'s \cs{ref}.) Spivak's L\AmSTeX{} has \verb=\cardinal= and \verb=\ordinal= macros to do this, for handling cross-references such as `the fifth item in the list' where `fifth' is supposed to be generated by a \verb=\ref= command. The main question: How much do we need this capability? Should it be standard, or merely a nice option for those who want it? Can it be easily extended to support various language conventions? Are there other significant uses besides the cross-reference idea? \timeestimate{1 day} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \end{tasklist} \begin{tasklist}{Misc items (cont.)} \task{Rewrite of MakeIndex in WEB} Convert/rewrite the C source code of MakeIndex. For consistency it would seem desirable to have all auxiliary programs designed for use with \LaTeX3 to be compilable in the same way as \TeX{}. Currently this means use of the WEB language, with or without the CWEB intermediate step. Furthermore, the MakeIndex program could use some work to deal with a few shortcomings that have become evident with the passing of time and extended usage. \timeestimate{?} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Write other auxiliary programs} Create programs for support tasks related to \LaTeX{} documents but not part of the primary typesetting functions. Question: what other auxiliary programs do we need? Conjectures: Compiled version of {\tt docstrip}? Programs to help designers in creating document styles? Program for dealing with graphics files in various formats (\eg read Bounding Box comments from a PostScript file and compute scaling and translation numbers for passing to a \LaTeX{} \cs{special} command?) Checksum utility by R.~Solovay for updating Nelson Beebe's standardized file headers. Auxiliary program to help in constructing complicated tables (decimal point alignment, row spanning, other fancy effects that are hard to do in \TeX{} currently)? Auxiliary program similar to Type \& Set to do interactive page-breaking/float placement? \timeestimate{Arbitrarily long} \coordinator{\FHuse{date}}{None yet}\email{} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Bibliography style programming} Write bibliography styles for \BibTeX1. The current version of \BibTeX{} is 0.99. A reimplementation of \BibTeX{} for \LaTeX3 is under way, by Oren Patashnik. When this is finished, or perhaps even before, suitable standard bibliography styles for \LaTeX3 need to be written. \timeestimate{1-3 days per style} \coordinator{18 September 1992}{Robert Tolksdorf}\email{tolk@cs.tu-berlin.de} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \task{Timing tests} Run tests to compare speed of various possibilities. To make the \LaTeX3 kernel sufficiently fast it is necessary to write efficient code. This means testing several variants against each other to see which one is fastest. One example is the case of global versus local assignments for temporary registers. In the recent issue of TUGboat \cite{tub:LSi92} speed issues for token registers have been discussed. \timeestimate{2--3 days} \coordinator{20 September 1992}{Jonathan Fine}\email{J.Fine@pmms.cam.ac.uk} \othervolunteers %\volunteer{NAME}\email{} \end{tasklist} \begin{thebibliography}{Rhe92b} \bibitem[Bea85]{XEROX:RBe85} Richard~J. Beach. \newblock Setting tables and illustrations with style. \newblock Technical Report CSL-85-3, Xerox Corporation, Research Center, Palo Alto, Califonia 94304, May 1985. \bibitem[Bea86]{Nottingham:RBe86} R.~J. Beach. \newblock Tabular typography. \newblock In J.~C. van Vliet, editor, {\em Text processing and document manipulation}, British Computer Society Workshop Series, pages 18--33, Cambridge, April 1986. Cambridge University Press. \bibitem[But81]{CUP:JBu81} Judith Butcher. \newblock {\em Copy editing: the Cambridge handbook}. \newblock Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, second edition, 1981. \bibitem[Car90]{unp:DCa90} David Carlisle. \newblock Some notes on the longtable environment. \newblock Available from \TeX{} servers, December 1990. \bibitem[Car91]{unp:DCa91} David Carlisle. \newblock narray.sty. \newblock Available from \TeX{} servers, July 1991. \bibitem[Chi82]{UCP:CMoS82} {\em The Chicago Manual of Style}. \newblock University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 13th edition, 1982. \bibitem[Fin91]{unp:JFi91} Jonathan Fine. \newblock Some basic control macros for {\TeX}. \newblock Presented at a \LaTeX3 workshop 1991 in London, February 1991. \bibitem[Fin92]{tub:JFi92} Jonathan Fine. \newblock Some basic control macros for {\TeX}. \newblock {\em {TUG}boat}, 13(1):75--83, April 1992. \bibitem[McL80]{TH:RMcL80} Ruari McLean. \newblock {\em The Thames and Hudson Manual of Typography}. \newblock Thames and Hudson, London, 1980. \bibitem[Rhe90]{texline:DRh90} David Rhead. \newblock Towards {\BibTeX} style-files that implement principal standards. \newblock {\em {\TeX}line}, (10):2--8, May 1990. \bibitem[Rhe91a]{texline:DRh91} David Rhead. \newblock How might {\LaTeX3} deal with citations and reference lists? \newblock {\em {\TeX}line}, (13):13--20, September 1991. \newblock Suggestions for \LaTeX3. \bibitem[Rhe91b]{unp:DRh91b} David Rhead. \newblock Some ideas for improving {\LaTeX}. \newblock Suggestion for \LaTeX3, July 1991. \bibitem[Rhe92a]{unp:DRh92a} David Rhead. \newblock Short form citations: how a manual might describe the suggested user interface. \newblock University of Nottingham {\tt JANET: d.rhead@uk.\linebreak[0]nottingham.\linebreak[0]ccc.\linebreak[0]vme}, May 1992. \bibitem[Rhe92b]{unp:DRh92b} David Rhead. \newblock Short form citations: some examples. \newblock University of Nottingham {\tt JANET: d.rhead@uk.\linebreak[0]nottingham.\linebreak[0]ccc.\linebreak[0]vme}, May 1992. \bibitem[Sie92]{tub:LSi92} L.~Siebenmann. \newblock Elementary text processing and parsing in {\TeX} --- the appreciation of tokens ---. \newblock {\em {TUG}boat}, 13(1):62--73, April 1992. \bibitem[Spi89]{TpC:MSp89} Michael~D. Spivak. \newblock {\em {L\AmSTeX} The Synthesis}. \newblock The \TeX plorators Corporation, Houston, 1989. \bibitem[Van92]{Lausanne:CVa92} Christine Vanoirbeek. \newblock Formatting structured tables. \newblock In C.~Vanoirbeek and G.~Coray, editors, {\em Electronic Publishing '92}, pages 291--309, Cambridge, April 1992. Cambridge University Press. \bibitem[Whi88]{W-G:JWh88} Jan White. \newblock {\em Graphic Design for the Electronic Age}. \newblock Watson-Guptill, Xerox Press, New York, 1988. \end{thebibliography} \newpage \appendix \section{Volunteer list manager name and address} \label{vlminfo} The manager of the volunteer list is: \begin{center} \begin{minipage}{13.5pc} \vollistmanager\\ \tt\vollistmgraddress \end{minipage} \end{center} If you are interested in volunteering for one of the listed tasks, please start by contacting the coordinator for the task in which you are interested, if a coordinator name is given. Otherwise contact the volunteer list manager. The proposed organization of volunteers is as follows: \begin{itemize} \item The first person to volunteer for each task will automatically be accepted and designated `task coordinator', without regard to their expertise. Responsibilities: keep in contact with any other volunteers that later volunteer for the same task; avoid duplication of effort; collect and organize the results of volunteer work on that task. \item The first job of a task coordinator is to gather together information relevant to the task (such as previous discussions on the {\tt LaTeX-L} mail list, articles published or unpublished mentioned in the task list, etc.). For this you may need some assistance. If you are not already subscribed to the {\tt LaTeX-L} list, you should subscribe in order to receive announcements about the progress of the \LaTeX3 project. To do this, send mail to \email{listserv@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de}, with one line as the body of the message (substituting your own name): \begin{verbatim} subscribe LaTeX-L Your-first-name Your-surname \end{verbatim} \item The second job of a task coordinator is to write a `task specification' containing more details than were in the volunteer task list. It should describe the goals and any restrictions that apply. This task specification will need to be reviewed by someone on the \LaTeX3 kernel team, and afterwards it can be sent out to any additional volunteers for the same task, as a guide for the work. \item If other persons volunteer later for the same task, the volunteer list manager will put them in contact with the task coordinator. Arrangements for dividing the work and keeping in touch should then be made by the task coordinator; in addition, if a later volunteer has greater expertise or more spare time or other useful qualifications, he/she may become the task coordinator by mutual agreement among the volunteers who are working on that task. \end{itemize} \end{document} ------------------------------ UK TeX ARCHIVE at ASTON UNIVERSITY >>> UK.AC.TEX <<< *** Interactive and file transfer access *** JANET: Host: uk.ac.tex, Username: public, Password: public (DTE 000020120091) Internet: host tex.ac.uk [134.151.40.18] For telnet access, login: public, password: public For anonymous ftp, login: anonymous, password: *** Mail server *** Send mail to TeXserver@uk.ac.tex (JANET) or TeXserver@tex.ac.uk (rest of the world) with message body containing the word HELP \section FILES OF INTEREST [tex-archive]00readme.txt [tex-archive]00directory.list [tex-archive]00directory.size [tex-archive]00directory_dates.list [tex-archive]00last30days.files [tex-archive.doc]TeX-FAQ.txt (Frequently Asked Questions list) [tex-archive.doc]FAQ-Supplement-*.txt (FAQ supplement) \section DIGESTS This year's UKTeX back issues are stored in the archive in directory [tex-archive.digests.uktex.92] This year's TeXhax back issues are stored in the archive in directory [tex-archive.digests.texhax.92] Latest TeXhax: V92 #17 TeXMaG back issues are stored in the archive in directory [tex-archive.digests.tex-mag] Latest TeXMaG: V5N3 \section MEDIA DISTRIBUTIONS Postal addresses are given below. \subsection Washington Unix TeX distribution tape Latest copy of May/June 1991 contains: TeX 3.14, LaTeX 2.09, Metafont 2.7, plus many utilities suitable for Unix 4.2/4.3BSD & System V tar format, 1600bpi, blockfactor 20, 1 file (36Mb) Copies available on: One 2400ft 0.5" tape sent to Aston with return labels AND return postage OR One Quarter-Inch Cartridge, QIC-120 or QIC-150 format (DC600A or DC6150) sent with envelope AND stamps for return postage to Nottingham (Due to currency exchange, this service is offered only within the UK) \subsection VMS tapes VMS backup of the archive requires three 2400ft tapes at 6250bpi. 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