On 7 Oct 2005 at 21:49, root wrote: > Changes > http://page.axiom-developer.org/zope/mathaction/210PamphletSupportOnMa > thAction/diff -- Actually, I continue to maintain the position that > documents should be available in SOURCE form, not pdf, not dvi, etc. > Only source allows you the ability to use the information in any way.
Yes, of course, I was comparing pdf and dvi. However, I don't agree with you when you say source form, not dvi. In my opinion, it is necessary that documents be available in both forms, source _and_ dvi. Indeed, the source form is potentially ambiguous because it can be rendered differently on different installations (cf example below). This is a consequence of the fact that a source document in TeX is in fact a computer program. On the contrary, a dvi file is not a computer program, it is a sequence of instructions that describe how glyphs are placed on pages, It is the electronic equivalent of a set of sheets of paper. It is completely freed from any ambiguity that could arise from the programmatic nature of the source document, and it is rendered the same way on all machines. Once it has been checked by the author (as one does with galley proofs for paper articles) it is not necessary to check it anymore. It is unfalsifiable, as a printed article in a review. A simple example : some years ago, a buggy version of a TeX style file for French language, broke the rendering of fractions. As it is possible to include any set of TeX commands in a TeX format, this means that any French user who would have included this file into his formats (to accelerate compilations) would have an installation that could display incorrectly some results.Of course, this is a very extreme and improbable example, but nothing can rule it out, nor rule out more subtle differences between formats that could make a document rendered differently on different installations Another problem with source files : referencing equations is done not by numbers but by labels, so an author who would want to cite a result of an article could not use "Equation number 12 page 32". For users (i.e. not the author), source file + dvi file allows double checking. For authors, source files are the equivalent of the drafts that one writes when doing research work, and dvi files are the equivalent of published articles, for the outer world. Both are necessary, in my opinion. Best wishes, [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.univ-orleans.fr/EXT/ASTEX ftp://ftp.univ-orleans.fr/pub/tex/PC/AsTeX liste de discussion: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Abonnement à la liste: envoyer un message de contenu "sub astex Nom Prenom Etablissement" à [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Axiom-developer mailing list [email protected] http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/axiom-developer
