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authorNorbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900
committerNorbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900
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+%%% ====================================================================
+%%% @LaTeX3-article{ LaTeX3-VT05-01,
+%%% filename = "vt05d01.tex",
+%%% archived = "ctan:/tex-archive/info/ltx3pub/",
+%%% author = "Ed Sznyter",
+%%% doc-group = "Volunteer task VT05",
+%%% title = "Research on Syntax for Tables",
+%%% version = "1.02",
+%%% date = "02 April 1993",
+%%% time = "22:48:49 GMT",
+%%% status = "public, contributed",
+%%% author-email = "ews@babel.babel.com",
+%%% author-address = "",
+%%% abstract = "This is a preliminary overview of the direction
+%%% for further research on tables. Much research
+%%% remains to be done; in particular, the
+%%% bibliography needs to be expanded, especially
+%%% to include input from graphic designers and
+%%% SGML users.
+%%%
+%%% Commonly requested features are listed, but
+%%% more are needed. Because of limitations in
+%%% \TeX\ and the small systems it must run on,
+%%% many capabilities necessary for high-quality
+%%% typesetting are unmanageable or must be
+%%% relegated to optional substyles. Nonetheless,
+%%% this list should include even functions we can
+%%% not implement, if only to document the reasons.
+%%% ",
+%%% keywords = "Tables.Syntax",
+%%% project-address = "LaTeX3 Project \\
+%%% c/o Dr. Chris Rowley \\
+%%% The Open University \\
+%%% Parsifal College \\
+%%% Finchley Road \\
+%%% London NW3 7BG, England, UK",
+%%% project-tel = "+44 171 794 0575",
+%%% project-FAX = "+44 171 433 6196",
+%%% project-email = "LTX3-Mgr@SHSU.edu",
+%%% copyright = "Copyright (C) 1993 LaTeX3 Project
+%%% and Ed Sznyter.
+%%% All rights reserved.
+%%%
+%%% Permission is granted to make and distribute
+%%% verbatim copies of this publication or of
+%%% coherent parts from this publication provided
+%%% this copyright notice and this permission
+%%% notice are preserved on all copies.
+%%%
+%%% Permission is granted to copy and distribute
+%%% translations of this publication or of
+%%% individual items from this publication into
+%%% another language provided that the translation
+%%% is approved by the original copyright holders.
+%%%
+%%% No other permissions to copy or distribute this
+%%% publication in any form are granted and in
+%%% particular no permission to copy parts of it
+%%% in such a way as to materially change its
+%%% meaning.",
+%%% generalinfo = "To subscribe to the LaTeX3 discussion list:
+%%%
+%%% Send mail to listserv@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de
+%%% with the following line as the body of the
+%%% message (substituting your own name):
+%%%
+%%% subscribe LaTeX-L First-name Surname
+%%%
+%%% To find out about volunteer work:
+%%%
+%%% look at the document vol-task.tex which can
+%%% be obtained electronically, see below.
+%%%
+%%% To retrieve project publications electronically:
+%%%
+%%% Project publications are available for
+%%% retrieval by anonymous ftp from ctan hosts:
+%%% ftp.tex.ac.uk
+%%% ftp.dante.de
+%%% ftp.shsu.edu
+%%% in the directory /tex-archive/info/ltx3pub.
+%%%
+%%% The file ltx3pub.bib in that directory gives
+%%% full bibliographical information including
+%%% abstracts in BibTeX format. A brief history
+%%% of the project and a description of its aims
+%%% is contained in l3d001.tex.
+%%%
+%%% If you only have access to email, and not ftp
+%%% You may use the ftpmail service.
+%%% Send a message just containg the word
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+%%% For offers of financial contributions or
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+%%% address, or the TeX Users Group.
+%%%
+%%% For offers of technical assistance, contact the
+%%% project at the above address.
+%%%
+%%% For technical enquiries and suggestions, send
+%%% e-mail to the latex-l list or contact the
+%%% project at the above address.",
+%%% checksum = "29156 317 1599 12926",
+%%% docstring = "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.",
+%%% }
+%%% ====================================================================
+
+\documentstyle{l3ms001}
+
+\title{Research on Syntax for Tables}
+\author{Ed Sznyter}
+\date{02 April 1993 \\
+Version 1.02}
+
+\begin{document}
+
+\maketitle
+
+\begin{abstract}
+This is a preliminary overview of the direction
+for further research on tables. Much research
+remains to be done; in particular, the
+bibliography needs to be expanded, especially
+to include input from graphic designers and
+SGML users.
+
+Commonly requested features are listed, but
+more are needed. Because of limitations in
+\TeX\ and the small systems it must run on,
+many capabilities necessary for high-quality
+typesetting are unmanageable or must be
+relegated to optional substyles. Nonetheless,
+this list should include even functions we can
+not implement, if only to document the reasons.
+\end{abstract}
+
+\section{Functionality}
+
+Many desirable capabilities are already implemented in macro packages
+such as lamstex, bigtabular.sty, longtable.sty, supertab.sty. Other
+features are noticeably lacking. Many of the functions demand a high
+price in performance.
+
+\begin{enumerate}
+ \item The `a', or alpha, column of tbl, which aligns left (with all
+ other 'a' columns) and centers on the longest width. This is
+ necessary for aligning column heads.
+
+ \item A `d', or decimally-aligned column, that works as
+ automatically as tbl's. Current solutions require manually
+ counting the number of digits on either side of the decimal, or
+ heuristics that assume a certain width (which leads to possible
+ collisions or ridiculous bearoff). Most solutions assume
+ monospaced digits without punctuation (other than the decimal
+ point) and can't handle alpha entries.
+
+ \item More complete control over column width balancing. You might
+ want to make a set of columns equal width, or equal to the width
+ of a selected columns.
+
+ \item Table footnotes and sourcenotes. These usually depend on the
+ width of the table, so can not be formatted independently.
+
+ \item Element shading. This seems hopeless in a printer-independent
+ world, but is too useful to exclude.
+
+ \item A more complete pallet of rules---hairline, thick, thin,
+ colored, dashed, etc. I have been unable to get vertical leaders
+ to work properly across rows of an \verb|\halign|.
+
+ \item A more complete version of \verb|\cline|; i.e., leaders that
+ span a subset of columns (or rows). For example, to group entries
+ below a spanning subhead I've used downbraces and a rule that
+ doesn't reach the intercolumn vertical rules.
+
+ \item Entries that span vertical columns. Lamstex probably solves
+ this, but apparently at great compute cost.
+
+ \item Better control over vertical placement of entries within the
+ row (i.e., top, center, bottom).
+
+ \item Tables that continue on multiple pages (repeating headings).
+ It is {\em usually} required that multi-page tables preserve the
+ column widths across pages; memory limits would require multiple
+ passes or an external program (like tbl; even tbl has limits of
+ 200 lines and 20 columns). Note that the heading might not be
+ repeated on a spread.
+
+ It is also common to have very wide tables extend horizontally
+ across the binding gutter, usually repeating the stub column. The
+ height of rows must preserved, especially on the same spread.
+ This isn't simply a transpose of vertically broken tables.
+
+ Per-page subtotal lines are beyond the capabilities of TeX, but
+ one can envision some sort of communication with, e.g., a
+ spreadsheet program so subsequent runs can produce these entries.
+ If we are to formalize such communication, then why not offload
+ most of the work to a tbl-like program?
+
+\end{enumerate}
+
+Some issues, such as continuation captions, captions that are
+integrated into the table structure, and being able to specify floats
+that cover spreads are at least partially the domain of the ``Research
+on figures and captions.''
+
+\section{Syntax}
+
+Currently, tables specifications are completely procedural; column
+designators and rules define the representation, not element type, of
+table entries.
+
+Using single letters for column designations has been a standard in
+both \LaTeX\ and tbl. This now seems restrictive---new column types
+can be defined easily and assigned to single-letter column designators
+(see newarray.sty), so mnemonic choices are quickly exhausted, forcing
+unnatural choices.
+
+\verb|\multicolumn| is cumbersome and should only be used for rare
+entries; there should be a better way to specify controls for
+different parts of the table (heading, body, footing) as in tbl.
+
+There is not a clean mechanism for defining different styles of tables
+within a single document.
+
+\section{Taxonomy}
+A standard table may be broken up into the following elements.
+\begin{itemize}
+\item box head (contains all column headings)
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Spanning \{sub\}head
+ \item Column head
+ \item Stub head (above row heads)
+ \end{itemize}
+\item Row heads
+\item Panel (actual table entries)
+\item Total line
+\end{itemize}
+
+Some rules are
+\begin{itemize}
+\item head rule---above the box head
+\item cutoff rule--below the box head
+\item spanner rule---below a spanning head
+\item foot rule---below the table
+\item total rule---above the total row
+\end{itemize}
+
+
+\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[Car90]{unp:DCa90}
+David Carlisle.
+\newblock Some notes on the longtable environment.
+\newblock Available from \TeX{} servers, December 1990.
+
+\bibitem[Chi82]{UCP:CMoS82}
+{\em The Chicago Manual of Style}.
+\newblock University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 13th edition,
+1982.
+
+\bibitem[Duc90]{unp:DDu90}
+Denys Duchier
+\newblock bibtabular.sty
+\newblock Available from \TeX{} servers, July 1990.
+
+\bibitem[Fra91]{:FTC91}
+Frame Technology Corporation.
+\newblock New Features in FrameMaker.
+\newblock Part Number 41-01040-00, May 1991.
+
+\bibitem[Gor92]{unp:TGo92}
+Tom Gordon.
+\newblock The qwertz SGML Document Types.
+\newblock Version 1.2, German National Research Center for
+Computer Science, January 1992.
+
+\bibitem[Jur91]{unp:TJu91}
+Theo Jurriens
+\newblock supertab.doc
+\newblock Available from \TeX{} servers, August 1991.
+
+\bibitem[Les]{USD:MLe}
+M.E. Lesk
+\newblock {\it Tbl---A Program to Format Tables}.
+USD:28
+
+\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.
+\end{thebibliography}
+
+\end{document}