On Monday 16 July 2007 02:32:30 pm John Hunter wrote:
> On 7/16/07, Michael Droettboom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I'm working on some improvements to the mathtext engine on a branch.
> > Feel free to join in if curious, but I expect to break lots of things as
> > I go.
> >
> > https://matplotlib.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/matplotlib/branches/mathte
> >xt_mgd/
> >
> > I've collected a bunch of math expressions from the source tree for use
> > in regression testing. If you have any math strings of your own that
> > you want to make sure I don't break, please send them to me (probably
> > should be off-list to conserve noise).
> >
> > Here's the preliminary TODO list I'm working with in no particular order
> > (compiled from the TODO list in mathtext.py and the list of improvements
> > in mathtext2.py):
> >
> > 1. Deal with nested sub/superscripts, such as $x_i_j$, equivalent to
> > $x_{i_j}$
>
> Hmm, I thought that already worked -- it's been a long time since I
> touched that code. What is the problem here?
I think $x_i_j$ is ambiguous. Maybe it is best to stick to Knuth-approved
syntax.
> > 2. Make the font change tags (\cal, \tt, \rm etc.) behave more like TeX,
> > e.g. use ${\rm sin}$ instead of $\rm{sin}$
Would it be possible to include the latex equivalents, like \textrm{} (its not
{\textrm ...}), \texttt{}, \textit{}... ? They are more familiar to some of
us (like latex's \frac{1}{2} is more familiar than tex's {1\over 2}).
> > 3. Support roman function names, e.g. $\sin$ as a shortcut for ${\rm
> > sin}$ 4. Implement \frac
> > 5. Other layout commands, like large \sqrt (I suspect there's a very
> > large list of these things and they will have to be prioritized.)
>
> You will probably want to implement some primitive drawing in the
> ft2font pixel buffer, to support things like a \frac bar (\frac would
> be nice BTW)
Is mpl's mathtext guided by the algorithms published in "Computers and
Typesetting, TeX: The Program"?
> > 6. Support kerning (probably best put off until we have good fonts with
> > kerning information to use, e.g. STIX fonts)
>
> Ha, STIX, never made a deadline they could keep. Given their response
> to Eric's inquiry, we could be waiting quite a while.
They claim their website will be updated the week of July 9. They don't
indicate what year.
> > (1 and 2 are already implemented in the branch.)
> >
> > I don't want to start a long thread about all the desired features for
> > mathtext -- I'm sure there are lots of them. There will need to be some
>
> How about a short one :-) I think one of the most important
> enhancements will be to support embedded mathtext expressions, eg
>
> r'some text $\sigma=1$ some more text'
>
> Currently we have to do something like
>
> r'$\rm{some text\ }\sigma=1\rm{\ some more text}$'
I agree, this is sorely lacking.
> which is pretty bad. This might require some changes to how mathtext
> is identified -- the presence of an even number of dollar signs is
> probably sufficient, but in some corner cases might give the wrong
> results, requiring a flag to overrride, etc. THat or we simply adopt
> the TeX standard and require all literal $ to be quoted. THe latter
> wil break some code but is probably better than anything else.
I think we should stick to the (La)TeX standard. The algorithms are available,
stable (when was the last time Donald Knuth had to fix a bug in TeX?), and
the syntax is familiar.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/
_______________________________________________
Matplotlib-devel mailing list
Matplotlib-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
