Following discussion in J Forum on APL fonts http://www.jsoftware.com/pipermail/general/2007-March/029207.html and interest for Type 1 LaTeX fonts, a LaTeX package was found at the APL Waterloo archives compiled by Robert Bernecky. http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/apl_archives/apl/fonts/latex/
The package was configured and successfully tested using teTeX based TeXShop on Mac OS X 10.4. Since it was obtained from a broken link by manually digging the Net, it seemed feasible to keep it at an extra location, so the modified and original packages are at http://olegykj.sourceforge.net/ as "saxpsa" packages. It features what is thought to be a simplified config, copy/paste of local folders and a small map config. See doc and msg in folders for extended details and authorship information. There is screenshot how this font is rendered by Acrobat Reader (7 and 8). Just as it was done, the renewed package by Robert Bernecky was discovered at comp.lang.apl. It provides more elaborate instructions typical for LaTeX, where user is supposed to be aware where each different files goes in global folders *. Interestingly the font file (pfb) is maked as by % Generated by Fontographer 3.5 % Steve Demler Dec 1997. and that was the original attribution, whereas the latest Bernecky's distribution lists Joe Tuttle as original author. So is this font SAXPSA the one that DoA is done in? It's close on the one hand, but I cannot give it a 100%. ___________ * it amazing how people doing LaTeX all the time and producing their own packages, cannot believe their own configuration instructions are working, that's how wierd LaTeX setup is. I tried to download and install a couple of packages in my time: a whole collection of stuff with different extensions and no idea where each of those should go and what system configs to change to get it picked up. My advice to anyone on the same boat: don't google for a magic "how to do everything with tex fonts", etc. They will meslead you into a bunch of dirty hacks. Just read the installed documentation for related tex components, e.g. dvips, pdftex: it's all there. It is written by people who actually know what they are talking about. --- Joey K Tuttle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 14:22 -0800 2007/03/10, Oleg Kobchenko wrote: > > > >A good example of typesetting APL is > > Dictionary of APL http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/36983.36984 > >Does anybody know, > >What font was used to typeset DoA and is this font > >available as METAFONT or Type 1 font, free or not? > > > > I believe that DoA was typeset using my Type 1 PS APL > font that evolved from my paper "APL pi" at APL/81 - > It has been made available in various forms over the > years, some paid for, mostly free. Even though I was > a student in the first ever MF class taught by Donald > Knuth, Charles Bigelow, and Richard Southall (Spring > semester 1984 at Stanford), I didn't use METAFONT to > do the APL font, but instead Fontographer on a Mac. > > I say "I believe" above, because I'm relying on memory > since I don't have subscription access to the DoA > on the ACM site. A sure sign that it was my font is > the vertical placement of the Greek letters - I had > them on the "function center" so that expressions like > <alpha> + <omega> aligned vertically. This was always > a controversial choice, and perhaps even more argued > was my choice of italic (rather than slanted) lower > case alphabetics... Certainly my font was the one used > in Eugene McDonnell's "Life: Nasty, Brutish, and Short". > > As I said above, various people have asked (and received) > permission to use and distribute my fonts - some have > modified them, e.g. to use slanted (or even upright) > Roman letters. I don't understand your remark, "PDFs > end up as pixelated Type 3." PostScript Type 3 fonts > are not pixels - but they are a "more open" version > of Type 1 (and don't have as many parameters such as > hinting etc.) > > All of this discussion, and the folks (e.g. Roger and > Devon) who wince at the difficulty of displaying old > papers are the things Ken thought a lot about when he > made the tough decision to leave the lovely APL symbols > behind. Practicality over esthetics... > > - joey > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
