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diff --git a/info/digests/texline/no8/mont.real b/info/digests/texline/no8/mont.real new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..1622dc53bc --- /dev/null +++ b/info/digests/texline/no8/mont.real @@ -0,0 +1,476 @@ +% +\centerline{\bf The 9th Annual \TeX\ Users Group Meeting} +\medskip +\noindent +The Montreal meeting, held at McGill University in the centre of cosmopolitan +Montreal was was the first TUG meeting to be held outside the {\sc usa}. +There was no campus housing, so delegates were liberally sprinkled +amongst various downtown hotels. Lunch and dinner were not an integral part of +the proceedings, so I didn't get the same sense of atmosphere and contact as at +European meetings. The only real opportunities were at coffee breaks --- when +grotesque chocolate croissants were on offer, or the afternoon breaks +when we were converted to health-giving fruit juices. Everyone would + disperse in small groups for lunch and dinner. + +The TUG meeting programme did in any event contain other +opportunities for social contact --- although the +pre-conference dinner on the Sunday night rather +restricted conversation to be with those sitting +immediately next to you --- all of us wrestling with +eating food in the style of Old French Canada +in 1691, armed with only a knife. The cocktails +before the dinner were more informative, but +involved a lot of peering at lapel badges in mere 10 point +CMR, to try and put faces to the famous (and not so +famous) \TeX\ notables. + +The best opportunity for social advancement with a range of \TeX ies +was the wine and cheese party hosted by Lance Carnes of Personal \TeX\ Inc. +That was on the Monday night after we had all had a chance to sample the +daytime talks and get into the swing of the conference. + +There were in all around 160 people attending the conference. There were only +a handful from Europe --- 1 from Finland, 1 from Holland, and 2 from the {\sc +uk}. If you count Israel as `European', that makes 5 in total. +The rest were North American, bar 1 from Thailand, 1 from Australia, +and a contingent of 4 from Japan. + +The main theme of the conference was `\TeX\ in the Production +Environment'. Nearly the whole of the first day (Monday) +was devoted to this topic --- 10 presentations in all. +This theme was further subdivided into 3 `slightly +arbitrary' topics of `In-House Systems', `Case Studies' and +`\TeX nical Solutions'. Taking these 10 talks as a whole, +the main pointers that emerged in relation to \TeX\ and +Production were: +{\parindent10pt\parskip0pt +\bi Integration --- +the pros and cons of integrating \TeX with older\slash other\slash current +text production systems. +\bi +Management --- +the need for good management to co-ordinate the computing and publishing +sides, with teamwork essential to manage a system of software, hardware +and people. +\bi +Macros --- +everyone was writing their own local macros. +\bi +Databases --- +the adaptability of \TeX\ to provide a useful link with a range of databases. +Advance planning essential to provide all the hooks: \TeX\ only used at the +end of a very long process. +\bi +Schedules --- +the effect on and analysis of production schedules: +choosing appropriate documents to process through \TeX. +\bi +Fine Tuning --- +the disproportionate time taken in fine tuning the layout. +\bi +Training --- +the great need for good training in \TeX. + +} + +\section{\TeX\ in Production: In-House Systems} +There were 5 speakers talking on in-house systems for document production. +Mary McCaskil from {\sc nasa} described the setting up of their system --- +starting with dedicated word processors and culminating in the present set-up +involving \TeX\ input from IBM-PCs, Macs and Sun workstations, +with preview on the Suns, laser proofing on Lasergrafix and typesetting +on Autologic. She did some analysis of production schedules, and found +it much quicker if figures and illustrations are pasted in by hand, +rather than automated. + +Time required to produce 1 page of {\it draft} output with 1--4 equations +per page: +$$\vbox{\halign{#\hfil\quad&\hfil# minutes\cr +Text (typeset) & 22\cr +Tables (typeset) & 73\cr +Figures (captions \& pasting) & 5\cr +Corrections (2 cycles) & 16\cr +}}$$ +(This compared to 1 hour per page for a manual, as cited by Eric Jul of OCLC.) + +She regarded the overall advantages of \TeX\ as being: +quick training, +satisfactory productivity, +outstanding typography and +device independence. +And concluded that management {\it must} co-ordinate computing and +publishing, with teamwork essential to manage a system of software, +hardware and people. + +The second talk came from Tom Renfrow, also of {\sc nasa}, but from a different +division. He described the +production of technical manuals and other documentation, +all based very much on the use of databases and locally +written macros. He stressed +the need for advance planning when building databases, so +all the hooks are there, and that \TeX\ only makes an +appearance at the very end of the long process. His +system allowed very long documents (around 600 pages) to +be turned around within a week --- and this included lots +of graphics and tables, all of which were automatically +included and automatically numbered, with +cross-referencing of section numbers (up to 15 levels of +sections). + +This talk was followed by one given by David Ness of TV +Guide. Again they found \TeX\ very adaptable for use with +large amounts of database information. Their system pulls +out macro definitions from the database relevant to +particular documents, such as docket numbers, date or time +modified, or status. Tools in the database can provide +summaries of all documents by purpose\slash date etc. The +system also remaps macro definitions, sorts the numbers +and manipulates the data. + +The fourth talk was by Laurie Mann (female) from Stratus +Computers. They produce families of computing manuals --- +such as on Fortran, Basic or PL/1 --- whereby each manual +has the same source text, such as the description of a +subroutine, but macros will automatically insert the +appropriate computer language name (as in Fortran) +together with examples of use, and correct number of +parameters to commands. The |\languagecase| macro for +example has arguments for each of 6 supported languages, +and can also be used to `turn on' all 6 languages, such as +for a review. This she terms `single sourcing' resulting +in fewer unique files per manual. + +The final talk on in-house systems was from Jean Pollari +from Rockware International, describing government +standard documentation. Again the stress was on lots of +locally written macros to simplify text input, and the +need for training in \TeX. + +\section{\TeX\ in Production: Case Studies} +The conference then moved on to 3 case studies of \TeX\ +in Production. These ranged from Eric Jul of OCLC who +described the problems of integrating \TeX\ with +older\slash other text production systems. Training was +again of paramount importance, plus the need to +differentiate between documents that would\slash could be +produced in \TeX, and those that are better produced by +other systems --- as determined by the effect on +production schedules. He regarded 1 hour per page to +produce a manual as acceptable, but there was a +disproportionate amount of time occupied by one person +fine tuning the layout or editing the text. + +At the other end of the scale of case studies was Robert +Harris from Kennel Club Yearbooks, whose main problems +stemmed from mistakes made in matching up the photograph +with the correct pedigree entry. But again he stressed +how well \TeX\ was suited for documents using information +extracted from databases. + +In between these two talks was the third case stude --- by James Mooney --- +on his experiences with textbook production. He regarded +\TeX\ as having far greater control than \LaTeX\ (in fact +\LaTeX\ was barely mentioned in the conference as a whole, +although it did boast the largest Birds of a Feather +group). James Mooney used separate sets of macros for +draft printouts, as compared to the typeset version of the +textbooks. The draft versions had simpler layouts and +extra spacing for reviews. His main problems related to +correction and fine tuning --- he found it hard to process +only selected pages, and that minor changes could disrupt +following pages even if the page break hadn't been +altered. He concluded that \TeX\ should become more +co-operative and allow itself to be fine tuned more easily +--- he found it particularly difficult to amend \TeX's +vertical spacing, and floating inserts were occasionally +out of sequence. + +\section{\TeX\ in Production: \TeX nical Solutions} +The two final sessions on \TeX\ in Production related to +`\TeX nical Solutions'. +David Ness from TV Guide re-emerged to describe how they +had solved problems such as filling an exact number of +pages with text, or piecing streams of text together with +an output routine. They solved one particular |\parshape| +problem by using APL to write \TeX\ to produce very long +|\parshape| commands. Their approach attempted to convert +content driven typesetting into layout driven typesetting, +again using an elaborate live database. They regarded +\TeX\ as an ``assembly language program for text''. + +The final speaker on \TeX\ in Production was the sole +Australian representative --- he described how and why a +trade typesetter chose \TeX\ in preference to newer DTP +systems or older single supplier typesetting systems. He +listed the commercial advantages of \TeX\ as a front end +as: {\parindent10pt\parskip0pt +\bi +Quality --- +provides high quality typesetting and captures some of the old craft. +\bi +Maths --- +excellent for mathematical typesetting (the best). +\bi +Hardware Adaptability --- +availability on a wide variety of computers, and from a wide range of +suppliers. Users can start with a cheap MS-DOS system and work up to +larger systems without losing any of the old work. +\bi +Drivers --- +various typesetter drivers, plus 300\,dpi. Arbortext +drivers for Compugraphic, Autologic and PostScript +(Linotronic). +\bi +Documentation --- +good quality\dots +\bi +TUG --- for information sharing. +\par} +The rest of the TUG meeting contained more varied talks on \TeX, plus +the usual exhibitor presentations. + +\section{\TeX\ Training} +There were two talks specifically on training in \TeX\ --- the one by +Berkeley Parks of Washington State University +concentrated on tips to get started --- ranging from +progressively moving the |\bye| command lower down the +file to isolate errors, to innovative uses of |\halign| +for complex mathematical layouts. + +The other training talk was by Alan Wittbecker, the new TUG employee with +the unenviable task of constantly travelling America teaching a succession +of 2, 3 and 5 day courses. He listed several factors as important for new +users to gain productivity: +{\parindent10pt\parskip0pt +\bi +relevance of the commands to users' needs. +\bi +simplicity --- ease of understanding +\bi +efficiency --- a typist should understand the command --- simple and mnemonic. +\bi +consistency --- produce the same quality from different versions of \TeX. +\bi +quality (standards) --- portable between devices, style file changes, macros. +\par} +This brought in the more general topic of applying standards to all TUG +courses, so that having completed a course a student is known to have covered +certain sets of commands and topics, irrespective of where he or she was +taught. Alan provided a suggested syllabus for each of the 5 day beginning, +intermediate and advanced \TeX\ courses. Comments were invited. +Doug Henderson also provided a similar list for the Metafont course. + +As a TUG course instructor myself, I had some initial +comments and queries. It wasn't clear as to the +flexibility of the syllabus for, say, a 5 day intensive +beginning\slash intermediate course as compared to two +separate 5 day courses. The timescale would inevitably +mean omitting some of the topics --- it would therefore be +useful to differentiate `essential' from `additional' +topics in each course. There was also very little maths +covered in either the beginning or intermediate courses, +whereas this is frequently the initial impetus for people +wanting to learn \TeX. From my experience, students regard +the maths as very straightforward as compared to the +intricacies of text-type layouts. As well as providing +more maths, it is obvious that the courses should be +tailored to people's needs, particularly if it is an +in-house course. I was also surprised to find several +topics in the proposed syllabus that were not |plain| \TeX, +such as Stephan's |\hboxr| command, which could easily +cause confusion. + +Another teaching proposal was a `self-test' --- a series +of questions to help the wavering student to decide which +level of expertise he or she was at, before booking for +the appropriate course. + +The one talk in the whole conference that specifically +referred to \LaTeX\ was by Shawn Farrell of McGill +University (the local organiser), who suggested ways of +choosing between \TeX\ and \LaTeX. The usual advantages +and disadvantages of each was cited, and he concluded that +there was a place for both \TeX\ and \LaTeX\ for the right +user. Inevitable maybe. + +\section{Non-English \TeX} +Two other main topics were covered in the conference --- +Non-English \TeX\ and \TeX\ and \sgml. I unfortunately had +to miss the Japanese contingent talking about Mathematics +Textbook Publishing with Japanese \TeX. However Jacques +Goldberg's talk on Semi-\TeX\ was very amusing, talking +about the problems of mixing right to left Hebrew with +left to right maths. He runs his system on IBM-PCs and +VAXes. On the VAX he has set up the DEC VT keyboard so it +can switch between Hebrew and English on screen, but not +display both at once. He mentioned the \XeT\ program which +needs changes to \TeX\ and the \dvi\ drivers. He suggested +writing a \dvi\ t\dvi\ DVI convertor to allow any existing +driver to take \XeT\ output. He is also still working on an Arabic \TeX. + +Michael Ferguson then described his Multilingual \TeX\ +yet again, followed by Kauko Saarinen who listed his +experiences with \TeX\ in Finland --- largely to do with +keyboard character deficiencies, especially in relation to +\LaTeX. + +\section{\TeX\ and \SGML} +Moving on to \TeX\ and \SGML, Stephan Bechtolsheim +described his modifications to the {\sc emacs} editor to safely +edit \TeX\ files and translate \SGML\ into \TeX. The mods +included error checking to prevent the more trivial +mistakes, prior to running the file through \TeX. He uses +{\sc lisp} to program in such features as inserting pairs of +braces with the cursor positioned in between, or easily +checking the nested braces for such functions as +superscripts of superscripts. Inevitably there are +problems in that the editor is fairly complex and uses a +lot of CPU time. It doesn't run on PCs, but other +alternative editors (called epsilon and joe) will +apparently soon be available for PCs (joe will also be +available on the Mac, and is free). + +Lynne Price ran over the basics of using \SGML\ and \TeX\ +to produce user documentation. Her main aims are +markup minimisation and automatic error checking. + +\section{\TeX nical Support} +The final talks of the conference were a varied bunch, +banded together under the heading `\TeX nical Support'. +Ken Yap, +talking about \dvi\ previewers, described possible +alternatives to the typical low-res 80\,dpi screen +preview. These included generating fonts at the required +screen resolution using Metafont, and bit sampling where +sub-samples of printer fonts are used for the screen +(e.g.~reduce each 4$\times$4 pixel block to 1~pixel). +This cuts down on the number of additional font files +required, but needs CPU intensive raster processing. Other +partial remedies included abandoning the idea of full +pages on screen, or using higher resolution screens at say +160\,dpi, or grey scale fonts, where brightness is traded +for resolution. The only `full' solution was a proper +hi-res screen. The main problems with previewers as a +whole were seen to be how to preview printer resident +fonts, and that printer |\special|s weren't previewable. + +Robert Kruse from Nova Scotia then outlined some Software +for Technical Book Production --- comparing the author's +perspective (flexibility, simplicity, minimal logical +markup) with that of the publisher (design, copy editing +and markup, co-ordination, page makeup and typesetting), +and also with the macro programmers' perspective (the need +to accommodate flexibility, modular macros, consistent +syntax, robustness). He suggested a Pre\TeX\ +pre-processor to simplify \TeX\ for the author, such that +quotes would automatically be converted, and the italic +correction automatically inserted. + +Mike Schmidt then described his CAP\TeX, or industrial +strength \TeX, which is a menu-driven control program with +access to a spell checker, index filter etc, and specific +to technical publishing in larger organisations such as in +the aircraft industry. Features include font controls, +predefined table templates and structures, control over +figures and graphs, mulit-column layouts and automatic +generation of tables of contents and indexing. The system +assumes many technical writers and therefore uses minimum +markup and enforceable document styles. It uses |plain| +\TeX\ and is 99\% structure oriented. For a slight +variation on a theme, the \TeX\ files were read {\it into} +a database. + +The last speaker was Paul Muller with \FASTeX\ --- an integrated front end +to \TeX\ that uses an editor with {\sc ascii} input and output, together +with a \TeX-compatible macro system, and typesets with simultaneous +screen preview. + +\section{Exhibitor Presentations} +Exhibitor presentations included a description of TEXT1 +from Washington State +University --- a package of macros including indexing and +table-of-contents. It is available +on IBM-PCs, but must surely be usable elsewhere. They also +have availably the International Phonetic Alphabet, as +advertised in TUGboat. + +Barry Smith, of Blue Sky Research, assured everyone +that \TeX{\sc tures} was under stable +ownership, and that new developments were proceeding +apace. He is moving into the graphic arts field by +providing an interactive {\it back} end to \TeX{\sc tures}, +whereby typeset text can be skewed or rotated through an +interface with Adobe Illustrator --- a sort of back end +automatic paste-up on screen. He is also extending into +colour printing on dot matrix, and full colour separation +on the typesetter. Lucida fonts are also in the offing +(including maths) plus all the 75 CM typefaces as +PostScript outlines --- although the results at 300\,dpi +are apparently not as good as Metafont. + +Mr \PCTeX, the charismatic Lance Carnes, described the very complete selection of +software available for \TeX\ from Personal \TeX\ Inc. There are now over 60 +products --- drivers, macro packages, Metafont 1.3 and an interface to +Bitstream fonts (over 30 typeface families). He compared +maths output using Bitstream Times with Computer Modern maths. +He also announced the PTIView Previewer. +Personal \TeX\ Inc.\ also now have a phototypesetter --- a Chelgraph +IBX2000 all the way from England. It provides 2000\,dpi, onto paper or film, +and can set any Metafont or bitmapped character. They have developed their +own driver and will provide a typesetting service from October, with 300\,dpi +laser proofs also available. + +Richard Kinch of Kinch Computer Co.\ swept the field by giving away +complete copies of his Turbo\TeX --- a Pascal translation to C for the IBM-PC, +portable to Unix. It has a virtual memory subsystem added onto the DOS +implementation and used a swap file on disc or the RAM drive. + +Bob Kaister of K-Talk Communications described Publishing Companion, +which translates Word Perfect to \TeX. Other convertors are now also +available for other word processors as an add-on. I believe Ewart North of +Uni\TeX\ sells +this in the U.K. K-Talk also sell Math Editor for the PC for +{\it wysiwyg} equation generation, which outputs a \TeX\ file. + +Stephan Bechtolsheim then did a wonderful job of selling himself: his master +work, `Another Look at \TeX', has now reached 975 pages, in two volumes, and +still growing. In the absence of a publisher he sells the book at \$57. + +Arbortext also came up with some new announcements. +Publisher version 1.0 was released in November 1987. +Version 2.0 is now due (August\slash September 1988). +It boasts faster performance, copy and paste between the document and +Sun Windows, a re-engineered editor and higher compatibility with `raw' \TeX. +It has \TeX\ and \LaTeX\ modes (??), with equation\slash table\slash +graphics editors, as well as integration with \SGML. +Other possible Publisher platforms should be announced this Autumn --- +this could include Apollo, DEC, HP, Mac II and OS/2. +Arbortext have also taken on Micro\TeX\ from Addison Wesley. They intend +using Micro\TeX\ to build a second generation product under a new name --- +$\mu$\TeX. +This will include a module for an editor (based on {\sc emacs}), \TeX\ and +Preview, with simplified keyboard mappings and a streamlined installation +program. + +\section{TUG European Co-ordinator} +Ray Goucher had nominated Malcolm for +the new post of European Co-ordinator, which was agreed in committee. +I had been requisitioned to +take his place at the committee meetings in his absence. +The actual functions of the post +still aren't clear, but are to be discussed between Malcolm and Ray. +In essence the post revolves around acting as a focus for improved two-way +communications between America and Europe, and stimulating TUG awareness +and membership in Europe --- acting as a representative and platform for +European views, whilst keeping tabs on all European \TeX\ activities. + +\section{The 1989 TUG Meeting} +And now for next year\dots\ \ Dates for the 10th Anniversary TUG meeting +have now been finalised. The meeting will be at Stanford (where else) +on August 21st--23rd 1989, with the usual courses before and afterwards. +This meeting will be the 10th annual meeting of TUG. The keynote +speaker will be Donald Knuth, who will present a paper entitled ``The +Errors of \TeX''. Be there. +\smallskip \rightline{\sl Cathy Booth} + + |