MAPS 15a

Wietse Dol: Proceedings of the Ninth European TeX Conference (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 1-441; maps.pdf (6708kb); keywords:
NTG, EuroTeX, conference, proceedings, Arnhem; abstract:
Proceedings EuroTeX'95 in Arnhem
Wietse Dol: Graphics for TeX: a new implementation (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 1-4; 01.pdf (200kb); keywords:
graphics, picture environment, \special
Wietse Dol: TeX Plotter — a program for creating 2D and 3D pictures (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 5-10; 02.pdf (430kb); keywords:
graphics 3D, pictures, graphics, plotting; abstract:
The MS DOS program which creates 2D and 3D TeX pictures for the plots of functions of two variables f(x,y) is described. In comparison with Gnuplot this program enables to plot the equilines (2D view) and the surface (3D view) pictures correctly and without memory overflow even for complex cases. The input is the ASCII file which contains the data points (Xij, Yij, Zij) of the function z = f(x,y) calculated over non-regular quadrangular mesh. The output is the ASCII file which contains the required picture in TeX format. The program has a flexible menu driven user interface and enables to create and to preview the output pictures with a variety of styles. At the time being the program supports LaTeX commands, EPIC/EEPIC macros and emTeX specials. In future the program should support TeX graphical tools like MFPiC, PiCTeX and EPS-files.
Wietse Dol: VFComb — a program for design of virtual fonts (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 11-16; 03.pdf (264kb); keywords:
virtual fonts, VFcomb; abstract:
The MS DOS program which enables to simplify the design of the virtual fonts is described. Its main purpose was to facilitate the integration of CM-fonts with cyrillic LL-fonts created by O. Lapko and S. Strelkov but it can be used for various applications. It uses the information from TFM-files (converted to ASCII form by TFtoPL) and the ASCII data files created by the User on its input, and produces the VPL-file on its output which can be converted to the virtual font using VPtoVF. The characteristic feature of the program is that it can assemble the font ligature tables and user defined ligature tables for the characters extracted from various fonts and combine the metric information from various TFM-files. VFComb supports the full syntaxis of PL-files and VPL-files as it was defined by D.E. Knuth and adds new commands like symbolic variables or conditional operators, which simplifies the creation and the debugging of the virtual fonts.
Wietse Dol: The status of Babel (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 17-26; 04.pdf (282kb); keywords:
Babel, multilingual; abstract:
In this article I will give an overview of what has happened to Babel lately. First I will briefly describe the history of Babel; then I will introduce the concept of `shorthands'. New ways of changing the `language' have been introduced and Babel can now easily be adapted for local needs. Finally I will discuss some compatibility issues.
Wietse Dol: Upages — plain TeX for professionals (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 27-34; 05.pdf (254kb); keywords:
typography, plain TeX; abstract:
When I have started my professional typography works in plain TeX, I found many things, which are done in each document. Some of them are language specific or trivial, but there exists many topics, which are strongly untrivial, and often required. TeX has many limitations, but there is (in recent time) nothing better in whole the world. Thus, we have powerful macro language but we haven't easy way to do many things: references, contents, page offsetting, interpretation of text token by token, cooperation with PostScript devices, device independent color and line drawing capabilities, easy box rotation and landscaping, making sheets and booklets, making other margins than 1in, creating cropmarks, color signatures, color separations etc.
Certainly, there is many powerful macro systems, but they are very big, often slow, and cancels many capabilities of plain TeX. I have been particularly inspired by them, and particularly by some macros for plain TeX. But many of these macros are incompatible, if you want to use two of them, because one overwrites settings of the second.
This all is good reason to write powerful macros these things instead of creating trivial macros twice a month. Then you needn't spend much time to correct bugs caused by these trivial macros. That's why I have written my upages.TeX macros. This chapter doesn't want to be a manual to these macros, but only an introduction with examples.
upages.TeX macros consists on more parts. In this text I will describe the most powerful and interesting parts of them. I hope that my macros will greet many plain TeXists. They makes easy to prepare documents and to make hooks and patches.
Wietse Dol: A practical introduction to SGML (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 35-104; 06.pdf (808kb); keywords:
SGML, HTML, WWW, DTD, ISO8879; abstract:
SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language, deals with the structural markup of electronic documents. It was made an international standard by ISO in October 1986. SGML soon became very popular thanks in particular to its enthusiastic acceptance in the editing world, by large multi-national companies, governmental organizations, and, more recently, by the ubiquity of HTML, Hypertext Markup Language, the source language of structured documents on WWW. This article discusses the basic ideas of SGML and looks at a few interesting tools. It should provide the reader with a better understanding of the latest developments in the field of electronic documents in general, and of SGML/HTML in particular.
Wietse Dol: From LaTeX to HTML and back (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 105-168; 07.pdf (891kb); keywords:
LaTeX2HTML, HTML, LaTeX, translation, conversion, tools; abstract:
Both LaTeX and HTML are languages that can express the structure of a document, and similarities between these two systems are shown. A detailed study is made of the LaTeX2HTML program, written by Nikos Drakos, that is today the most complete utility for translating LaTeX code into HTML, providing a quasi-automatic translation for most elements. A discussion of a few other tools for translating between HTML and LaTeX concludes the article.
Wietse Dol: Pascal: formatting Pascal using TeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 169-180; 08.pdf (355kb); keywords:
Pascal, formatting, program code; abstract:
This paper is based on our ideas about how a system which formats programs written in a structured language must work. Particularly, tools which help in typesetting texts where algorithms are described. Most of our ideas have been put in practice in the pascal system, which automatize the elegant layout of Pascal programs. This system is programmed as a TeX macro package.
Wietse Dol: Beyond the bounds of paper and within the bounds of screens; the perfect match of TeX and Acrobat (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 181-196; 09.pdf (451kb)
Wietse Dol: PPCHTeX: typesetting chemical formulas in TeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 197-222; 10.pdf (337kb); abstract:
This article is about a package for typesetting chemical formulas. The primary interface of this package is in the dutch language. Because PPCHTeX has a multilingual interface, all commands and keywords can be toggled to english. The Dutch version of this article is published in NTG's MAPS (94.2) and is translated to English by H. de Weert.
Wietse Dol: LaTeX, HTML and PDF, or the entry of TeX into the world of hypertext (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 223-238; 11.pdf (381kb); keywords:
LaTeX, HTML, PDF, hyperTeX; abstract:
An onverview of the relation between LaTeX, HTML (WWW) and PDF is presented.
Wietse Dol: The release 1.2 of the Cork encoded DC fonts and the text companion symbol fonts (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 239-256; 12.pdf (812kb); keywords:
DC fonts, TS1 text symbol encoding; abstract:
I present the release 1.2 of the dc fonts and the companion text symbol fonts. I give an overview of the improvements on the dc fonts from version 1.1 to 1.2. The rationale for introducing a text symbol font is explained and the text symbol encoding TS1 is presented. In the appendix, there are font tables of the mentioned fonts.
Wietse Dol: A METAFONT—EPS interface (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 257-272; 13.pdf (522kb); keywords:
METAFONT, PostScript, MFtoEPS; abstract:
The MFtoEPS package enables METAFONT to produce EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) output.
Wietse Dol: Use of TeX as database with AnyTeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 273-278; 14.pdf (278kb); keywords:
active list separators, addresses, comment blocks, compatible extension, data integrity, databases, FIFO, lazy evaluation, list element tag, mail-merge, number ranges, pattern matching, pictures, plain TeX, references, reusable software parts, searching, selective loading, set macros, software engineering, table of contents, variant document parts; abstract:
The use of BLUe's format databases is treated. A new issue is introduced since the emerge of BLUe's Format system this spring. Boolean tags can be added to for example address.dat entries to denote fields and their contents. Together with \search one can easily obtain the list of names — and via these names the full entries, i.e., the addresses — of those who have not paid their membership fee, for example.
Wietse Dol: Indexing in TeX with AnyTeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 279-288; 15.pdf (294kb); keywords:
compatible extension, index, number ranges, one-pass job, ordering table, plain TeX, reusable software parts, software engineering, sort keys; abstract:
The creation of a modest index within a one-pass TeX job is treated. In general a proof run and a final run are needed.
Wietse Dol: A Russian style for Babel: problems and solutions (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 289-294; 16.pdf (279kb); keywords:
Babel, Russian, typography; abstract:
As with other languages using nonlatin basis there are some typographic features and national peculiarities that must be shown in the style. The paper describes the Russian style with macros \captionrussian for four standard Russian documents, \daterussian, \Asbuk and \asbuk for Russian alphabet counters and \mathrussian for Russian math operators. Some problems concerning the usage of this style (e.g. usage of different encodings) are described.
Wietse Dol: Data with daTeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 295-308; 17.pdf (285kb); keywords:
databases, data manipulating, filtering, ASCII; abstract:
The authors explain how to handle data in TeX documents, in particular, how to avoid ever having to type in — and check! — the same data or text twice. These data may be stored in ordinary (non-TeX) databases, in ASCII files arranged according to the easy daTeX format, or in the TeX document itself. daTeX works in plain TeX and is supposed to work in LaTeX.
Wietse Dol: Modifying LaTeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 309-314; 18.pdf (242kb); keywords:
LaTeX, modifications; abstract:
This is an updated version of a document that was first written to be part of the distribution of the new standard LaTeX. It was produced in response to suggestions that the modification and distribution conditions for the files in our system should be similar to those implied by Version 2 of the GNU General Public Licence, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
Although we are by now convinced that the principles described here are sound, the detailed consequences of these for the distribution and modification conditions are still evolving. Thus this article should not be treated as a definitive version of these conditions, even at the date of its publication.
Wietse Dol: The proposed TeX Directory Structure (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 315-316; 19.pdf (156kb); keywords:
TDS, standardization; abstract:
The concept of a standardized TeX directory structure is explained.
Wietse Dol: Occam's Razor and macro management (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 317-330; 20.pdf (311kb); keywords:
Occam's Razor, macro management, plain TeX, TeX typescripts, electronic publishing, docstrip, LaTeX; abstract:
The philosophical principle known as Occam's Razor asserts that entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. The TeX utility OCCAM is a tool to eliminate from a collection of supporting TeX macros (composite commands) those that are unnecessary in a given typescript. Hopefully, it will serve to (a) let Plain TeX users produce typescripts which can be electronically posted in a compact form that is nevertheless autonomous and perfectly archival, and (b) to simplify a macro package before making modifications for a special purpose.
The OCCAM utility will ultimately be programmed entirely in TeX language to assure that it is universally available. Today it is just an evolving prototype implemented with a bit of help from an editor (on Macintosh) that has a programmable control language based on GREP.
To achieve reasonably automatic functioning of OCCAM, not requiring surveillance by a TeX programmer, it is necessary to maintain a carefully structured master version of each macro package involved; this .occ version can double as the documented source version of the package.
Wietse Dol: A package for Church-Slavonic typesetting (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 331-338; 21.pdf (301kb); keywords:
Church-Slavonik; abstract:
The multilingual ability of TeX is one of its most important properties. Due to TeX it became possible to produce high-quality books in many different languages (sometimes with very exotic grammatic rules). For more than 10 years of its existence TeX became a real polyglot and it seems that it doesn't want to stop evaluating. In this paper one more, may be rather exotic, example of practical usage of TeX is considered, and also many ideas and solutions which result from 5-year experience of TeX using.
Wietse Dol: The W95 environment (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 339-350; 22.pdf (337kb); keywords:
Windows, typesetting proceedings, non-TeX-users; abstract:
Since 1992 the ``WORKSHOP 9x'' seminar takes place at the Czech Technical University (CTU) every year. The aim of this wide seminar is to give all the CTU researchers or teams an oportunity to present their research projects in twenty minutes of speech and two pages of proceedings of the seminar. I solved the technical problem of making the proceedings using LaTeX. As the number of contributions increases year by year and the time for making the book is limited some automation of the typesetting process was and still is necessary. The W94 and W95 are attempts to transfer part of the typesetting work from the final typesetter to the authors. The W9x is simple single-purpose user-interface between LaTeX and the MS-DOS user who may know nothing about TeX and LaTeX. Some experiences (both technical and psychological) of using this system in the two last years are discussed in the paper and may be useful for organizers of seminars, conferences etc. where contributors are not TeX users and the proceedings are to be made with TeX.
Wietse Dol: MusiXTeX, even more beautiful than MusicTeX for music typesetting (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 351-358; 23.pdf (304kb); keywords:
MusicTeX, MusiXTeX, music; abstract:
MusiXTeX is a new music typesetting package derived from MusicTeX, but it provides more beautiful scores than MusicTeX did. While MusicTeX was a single pass package, MusiXTeX is a three pass system: the first pass performs a rough TeXing which reports the spacings of each music section, the second pass is a computation of the best note spacings, and the third one is the final TeXing process. The beauty of single notes does not significantly differ from MusicTeX, but slurs are much more beautiful, and notes are regularly spaced instead of being irregularly spaced with glue.
Wietse Dol: e-TeX: a 100%-compatible successor to TeX (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 359-370; 24.pdf (284kb); keywords:
e-TeX, NTS, extended TeX, extensions, compatibility; abstract:
e-TeX is the first concrete result of an international research & development project, the NTS Project, which was established under the aegis of DANTE during 1992. The aims of the project are to perpetuate and develop the spirit and philosophy of TeX, whilst respecting Knuth's wish that TeX itself should remain frozen.
Wietse Dol: Adobe Acrobat 2.0: Beyond the bounds of paper (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 371-390; 25.pdf (429kb); keywords:
Acrobat, PDF; abstract:
An overview of the concept and features of Adobe Acrobat is given.
Wietse Dol: Typesetting commutative diagrams (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 391-424; 26.pdf (752kb); keywords:
commutative diagrams, macro packages; abstract:
There have been several efforts aimed at providing TeX and its derivatives with a suitable mechanism for typesetting commutative diagrams, with the consequent availability of several macro packages of widespread use in the category theory community, and a long debate about the best syntax to adopt for commutative diagrams in LaTeX3 has taken place during 1993 in the CATEGORIES discussion list. From the user's point of view, however, there is not much guidance when it comes to choosing a macro package, and even after a decision is made, the conversion of diagrams from the particular conventions of a macro package to another macro package's conventions may prove to be rather hard.
Typesetting commutative diagrams is a surprisingly difficult problem, in comparison with TeX macro packages for other purposes, as judged by the amount of code needed and years of development invested. The existing macro packages for typesetting commutative diagrams are reviewed in this paper and they are compared according to several criteria, among them the capability to produce complex diagrams, quality of the output diagrams, ease of use, quality of documentation, installation procedures, resource requirements, availability, and portability. The compatibility of the different macro packages is also analyzed.
Wietse Dol: Conversion of the Euler METAFONTs into the PostScript Type1 language (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 425-430; 27.pdf (229kb); keywords:
METAFONT, PostScript, Type 1 fonts, conversion; abstract:
A report of the process of converting Hermann Zapf's Euler fonts from METAFONT sources to PostScript Type1 format.
Wietse Dol: When METAFONT does it alone (English); MAPS 15a, 1995, 431-441; 28.pdf (288kb); keywords:
METAFONT, graphics; abstract:
Combining METAFONT and TeX when typesetting text and graphics together is shown on several occasions to bring very impressive results. A. Hoenig presented a method for communication between TeX and METAFONT in order to solve two problems otherwise difficult to handle within TeX or METAFONT alone: label placement for diagrams generated by METAFONT, and curvilinear typesetting. We show that the method for curvilinear typesetting (involving three passes in Hoenig's approach) can be considerably simplified by using the extended ligature mechanism of TeX 3, and that a single METAFONT pass is actually sufficient, with quite a simple interface on TeX's side. Institutional seal text placement can be realized as a simple METAFONT application using this method. While PostScript offers ready-to-use easy solutions to this class of problems, METAFONT solutions can still be preferable to PostScript because of the ability of adding META-ness, e.g., by introducing second-order magnitude corrections/distortions to the letters and/or logos in order to enhance legibility when used in smaller sizes.