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diff --git a/biblio/bibtex/utils/xbibfile/historical.note b/biblio/bibtex/utils/xbibfile/historical.note new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..5629b778b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/biblio/bibtex/utils/xbibfile/historical.note @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +XBibFile grew out of an early need in my research. I needed some +technique to handle my research references. + +The School of Information Technology where I was doing my research, at +that time was promoting the use of EndNotes for handling for referencing. +However, EndNotes was a Windows application and not available on Unix, or +specifically, Linux. Because of my background in Commputer Science, I +had made a decision early in my research to use Linux as my research +environment, using LaTeX (and possibly TeX) as my typesetting tools. +Linux had the attributes of being available at the "right price" on both +Intel and Digital Alpha hardware architectures which I would be using, +was stable in operation, and contained the broad suite of tools +available under the Open Source policy. BibTeX was to be the format +in which my references were to be recorded and processed. Although the +EndNotes format could be converted into BibTeX format, running a +Windows environment for EndNotes and a Linux environment for every +thing else appeared a little strange. + +The problem was that CTAN appeared not to has a program that could +provide the support I required for my reference making and handling. +What I required was: + . a method of inputting the references that presenced both the + required and optional fields for any of the reference types + handled by BibTeX; + . a mechanism of cross-linking references so that I could keep + track of the route by which that reference had been arrived, + e.g. this reference appears in the reference list of another + reference in my bibliography; + . a graphical means of inserting and removing cross-links between + references; + . a means of following those cross-links -- clicking on the + appropriate link field would bring-up a window appropriate for + that reference, or if already on the screen, bringing it to the + top; + . enabled the linking into each reference, the address of files which + were related e.g. the path and name of a text file that + contained a summary of the paper but was prepared independent of + XBibFile i.e. in addition to any notes that were recorded in the + "annote" field of the BibTeX recoord. +All this was to be accomplished using the BibTeX .bib file without +compromising its direct use with the BibTeX program. + +I gave myself a week to write the program to accomplish the above +requirements or at least to demonstrate that the concept was +achievable. The week was from Sunday 26 September 1999 until Sunday 3 +October. During that week I had no tutoring commitments and my two +thesis supervisors were absent so I would have few obstacles to my +progress. As a first step, this README file was prepared so that I +could keep track of what I was trying to accomplish. As the week +continued, additions were made to this README. + +I looked at a number of programs available from CTAN but none quite +filled my requirements. XBibTeX by Nicolas J. Kelly and Christian +H. Bischof provided the required BibTeX entry creation mechanism. +However, I experienced problems with the operation of the program: +with no warning the program would core-dump when saving an entry, +loosing all the work invested in that entry. Whether that behaviour +was due to my use of X11 R6 as opposed to the source codes stated +need for X11 R4, I remain uncertain. But since XBibTeX only handled a +part of my requirements, I determined that resolving that problem was not +good use of my time. I tried BibView by Holger Martin, Peter Urban, +and Armin Liebl but could not get it to compile. Gerd Neugebauer's +BibTool provided manipulation capabilities for a BibTeX database which +offered promise, but first the database had to be created. + +The first question was how to implement the project. My initial +thinking was to embed my requirements somehow inside a Web browser +because browsers have the required address linking capabilities +already built-in. However, I anticipated difficulties with that +approach in generating the BibTeX database entries and placing them on +disk. The alternative was to write in C with a X toolkit. Of the +toolkits available to me, the GIMP Toolkit (GTK+) looked the most +promising and also I wanted to get some experience in programming with +it. My interest in GTK+ occurred after reading the documentation that +accompanied version 1.0. However, that documentation contained many +gaps in the information. With Red Hat Linux 6.0 came version 1.2.1 of +GTK+ and that resolved may of those perceived shortcomings. The +writing of XBibFile was accompanied by my learning to program with the +GTK+. + +The development environment used was a Toshiba Satellite 4060XCDT +laptop computer with a 14.1" colour display and 64MB of memory. On +that hardware, Red Hat Linux 6.0 was run which consisted of a 2.2.5 +Linux kernel with egcs version 1.1.2, and GTK+ version 1.2.1. + +During that first week, the majority of time was taken up in learning +to use the GTK toolkit. First the latest version (1.2.5) available on +the Internet was downloaded. It was hoped that the developers of the +package would have improved the state of ddocumentation included in +earlier distributions. That was not the case. To supplement the +documentation, the examples included in the distribution allowed a +level of understanding to be obtained. By the afternoon of Friday, +enough of an understanding of GTK had been obtained to enable work on +XBibFile to commence. + +It took 10 days of fairly intensive work to get the first stage of the +program completed. By that time, a reference could be created and +stored. Work then ceased. Upon using BibTeX for another project, I +realised that the NOTE entry was incorrect. That entry was ment for +introducing annotation with each reference but was not supposed to be +included when a reference list was generated via BibTeX. Kopka and +Daly[1999] indicate that such a field should be titled ANNOTE. Also +Kopka and Daly[1999] indicate that the NOTE field was required in an +entry of type UNPUBLISHED; it was optional in all others. ANNOTE was +adopted in XBibFile as it appeared to be more appropriate. |