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diff --git a/obsolete/help/texfaq/faq-support.tex b/obsolete/help/texfaq/faq-support.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..1a08d1865c --- /dev/null +++ b/obsolete/help/texfaq/faq-support.tex @@ -0,0 +1,188 @@ +% $Id: faq-support.tex,v 1.9 2014/01/28 18:17:36 rf10 Exp rf10 $ + +\section{Support Packages for \TeX{}} + +\Question[Q-xfigetc]{\AllTeX{}-friendly drawing packages} +\AliasQuestion{Q-xfig} +\AliasQuestion{Q-figetc} + +\ProgName{(X)Fig} is a menu driven tool that allows you to +draw objects on the screen of an \acro{X} workstation; \ProgName{transfig} +is a set of tools which translate the code \ProgName{fig}. The list +of export formats is very long, and includes \MF{} and \MP{}, +Encapsulated \PS{} and \acro{PDF}, as well as combinations that wrap +a graphics format in a \LaTeX{} import file, which may include +\LaTeX{} commands to place text (compiled by \LaTeX{} itself) as +labels, etc., in the figures. + +There's no explicit port of \ProgName{xfig} to windows (although it is +believed to work under \ProgName{cygwin} with its X-windows system). +However, the program % ! line break +\href{http://tams-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/applets/jfig/}{\ProgName{jfig}} +is thought by many to be an acceptable substitute, written in Java. + +\ProgName{Asymptote} is a widely-praised development of the \MP{} +language, which can draw 2D or 3D diagrams, and can also label +diagrams with \LaTeX{} text; copious documentation is available via +\href{http://asymptote.sourceforge.net}{\ProgName{asymptote}'s web site}. +\begin{ctanrefs} +\item[asymptote]\CTANref{asymptote} +\item[xfig]\CTANref{xfig} +\item[transfig]\CTANref{transfig} +\end{ctanrefs} +\LastEdit{2011-05-02} + +\Question[Q-texcad]{\TeX{}\acro{CAD}, a drawing package for \LaTeX{}} + +\TeX{}\acro{CAD} is a program for the \acro{PC} which enables the user to draw diagrams +on screen using a mouse or arrow keys, with an on-screen menu of available +picture-elements. Its output is code for the \LaTeX{} +\environment{picture} environment. +Optionally, it can be set to include lines at all angles using +the em\TeX{} driver-family +\htmlignore +(\Qref*{\csx{special}s}{Q-specials}). +\endhtmlignore +\begin{htmlversion} +\Qref{\csx{special}s}{Q-specials}. +\end{htmlversion} +\TeX{}\acro{CAD} is part of the em\TeX{} distribution. + +A Unix port of the program (\ProgName{xtexcad}) has been made. +\begin{ctanrefs} +\item[emtex]\CTANref{emtex} +\item[xtexcad]\CTANref{xtexcad} +\end{ctanrefs} + +\Question[Q-spell]{Spelling checkers for work with \TeX{}} + +`Traditional' approaches to the problem (of checking your spelling) were +designed to work with a plain text file; in our case, we have an \alltex{} +source. For the user, this is a simple-to-understand way to do the +job; but for the spell-checker programmer, it requires heuristic (and +hence fallible) analysis of \alltex{} macros and so on. The +alternative, of viewing the text \emph{after} \alltex{} has processed +the results, is covered below. + +The user of an \Qref*{shell/editor}{Q-editors} will usually find it +embeds a spelling checker. For command-line use, there are several +choices, depending on the system you're using. + +For Unix, \ProgName{ispell} was long the program of choice; it is well +integrated with \ProgName{emacs}, and deals with some \TeX{} syntax. +However, it has more-or-less been replaced everywhere, by +\ProgName{aspell}, which was designed as a successor, and certainly +performs better on most metrics; there remains some question as to its +performance with \AllTeX{} sources. The most recent offering (which +is widely used in other open-source software projects) is +\begin{hyperversion} + \href{http://hunspell.sourceforge.net/}{\ProgName{Hunspell}}. +\end{hyperversion} +\begin{flatversion} + Hunspell~(see \URL{http://hunspell.sourceforge.net/}). +\end{flatversion} +\ProgName{Hunspell} is available for other architectures, too; a web +search shows versions available for Windows, at least. + +For the Macintosh, \ProgName{Excalibur} has long been used; its +distribution comes with dictionaries for several languages. +\ProgName{Hunspell} (see above) is actually part of OS X from version 10.6. + +The \acro{VMS} Pascal program \ProgName{spell} makes special cases of +some important features of \LaTeX{} syntax. + +For \MSDOS{}, there are several programs. \ProgName{Amspell} can be +called from within an editor, and \ProgName{jspell} is an extended +version of \ProgName{ispell}. + +An alternative approach takes \alltex{} output, and checks that. A +straightforward approach is to produce \acro{PDF} output, and process +it with \ProgName{pdftotext}, using any plain text checker on the +result (the checkers listed above all work in this r\^ole). For this +to work reasonably well, the user should disable hyphenation before +making the \acro{PDF} output. + +The (experimental) \luatex{}/\latex{} package \Package{spelling} goes +one step further: it uses \ProgName{lua} code to extract words +\emph{while typesetting is going on}, but before hyphenation is +applied. Each word is looked up in a list of known bad spellings, and +the word highlighted if it appears there. In parallel, a text file is +created, which can be processed by a `normal' spelling checker to +produce a revised ``bad spelling'' list. (The package documentation +shows the end result; it includes words such as `spellling', which are +duly highlighted.) +\begin{ctanrefs} +\item[4spell]\CTANref{4spell} +\item[amspell]\CTANref{amspell} +\item[aspell]Browse \CTANref{aspell}~--- choose just those language + dictionaries (under subdirectory \File{dict/}) that you need. +\item[excalibur]\CTANref{Excalibur} +\item[ispell]\CTANref{ispell} +\item[jspell]\CTANref{jspell} +\item[spelling.sty]\CTANref{spelling} +\item[\nothtml{\bgroup\rmfamily}\acro{VMS}\nothtml{\egroup} spell]% + \CTANref{vmspell} +\item[winedt]\CTANref{winedt} +\end{ctanrefs} +\LastEdit{2013-10-02} + +\Question[Q-wordcount]{How many words have you written?} + +One often has to submit a document (e.g., a paper or a dissertation) +under some sort of constraint about its size. Sensible people set a +constraint in terms of numbers of pages, but there are some that +persist in limiting the numbers of words you type. + +A simple solution to the requirement can be achieved following a +simple observation: the powers that be are unlikely to count all the +words of a document submitted to them. Therefore, a statistical +method can be employed: find how many words there are on a full page; +find how many full pages there are in the document (allowing for +displays of various sorts, this number will probably not be an +integer); multiply the two. However, if the document to be submitted +is to determine the success of the rest of one's life, it takes a +brave person to thumb their nose at authority quite so +comprehensively\dots{} + +The simplest method is to strip out the \AllTeX{} markup, and to count +what's left. On a Unix-like system, this may be done using +\ProgName{detex} and the built-in \ProgName{wc}: +\begin{quote} +\begin{verbatim} +detex <filename> | wc -w +\end{verbatim} +\end{quote} +The technique is beguilingly simple, but it's not terribly accurate + +The \ProgName{latexcount} script does the same sort of job, in one +``step''; being a \ProgName{perl} script, it is in principle rather +easily configured (see documentation inside the script). +Several \Qref*{editors and shells}{Q-editors} offer something similar. + +\ProgName{TeXcount} goes a long way with heuristics for counting, +starting from a \LaTeX{} file; the documentation is comprehensive, and +you may try the script on-line via the % ! line break +\begin{hyperversion} + \href{http://folk.uio.no/einarro/Comp/texwordcount.html}{package home page}. +\end{hyperversion} +\begin{flatversion} + package home page~(see + \URL{http://folk.uio.no/einarro/Comp/texwordcount.html}). +\end{flatversion} + +However, even quite sophisticated stripping of \AllTeX{} markup can +never be entirely reliable: markup itself may contribute typeset +words, or even consume words that appear in the text. + +The \Package{wordcount} package +contains a Bourne shell (i.e., typically Unix) script for running a +\LaTeX{} file with a special piece of supporting \TeX{} code, and then +counting word indications in the log file. This is probably as +accurate automatic counting as you can get, if it works for you. +\begin{ctanrefs} +\item[detex]\CTANref{detex} +\item[latexcount.pl]\CTANref{latexcount} +\item[TeXcount]\CTANref{texcount} +\item[wordcount]\CTANref{wordcount} +\end{ctanrefs} + |