From d861d72d1e53f4f3252c91ed14615fdbf5686301 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Luca Padovani Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 11:10:41 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] * added introduction + structure for next sections --- helm/DEVEL/mathml_editor/doc/spec.tex | 104 +++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 103 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/helm/DEVEL/mathml_editor/doc/spec.tex b/helm/DEVEL/mathml_editor/doc/spec.tex index 62e1473f8..55e17218a 100644 --- a/helm/DEVEL/mathml_editor/doc/spec.tex +++ b/helm/DEVEL/mathml_editor/doc/spec.tex @@ -6,10 +6,12 @@ \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{stmaryrd} -\title{A MathML Editor Based on \TeX{} Syntax\\Formal Specification} +\title{\EdiTeX: a MathML Editor Based on \TeX{} Syntax\\\small Description and Formal Specification} \author{Paolo Marinelli\\Luca Padovani\\\small\{{\tt pmarinel},{\tt lpadovan}\}{\tt @cs.unibo.it}\\\small Department of Computer Science\\\small University of Bologna} \date{} +\newcommand{\EdiTeX}{Edi\TeX} + \newcommand{\tmap}[1]{\llbracket#1\rrbracket} \newcommand{\tadvance}{\vartriangle} \newcommand{\tnext}{\rhd} @@ -38,6 +40,106 @@ \maketitle +\section{Introduction} + +MathML~\cite{MathML1,MathML2,MathML2E} is an XML application for the +representation of mathematical expressions. As most XML applications, +MathML is unsuitable to be hand-written, except for the simplest +cases, because of its verbosity. In fact, the MathML specification +explicitly states that +\begin{quote} +``While MathML is human-readable, it is anticipated that, in all but +the simplest cases, authors will use equation editors, conversion +programs, and other specialized software tools to generate MathML'' +\end{quote} + +The statement about human readability of MathML is already too strong, +as the large number of mathematical symbols, operators, and +diacritical marks that are used in mathematical notation cause MathML +documents to make extensive use of Unicode characters that typically +are not in the ``visible'' range of common text editors. Such +characters may appear as entity references, whose name indicates +somehow the kind of symbol used, or character references or they are +directly encoded in the document encoding scheme (for instance, +UTF-8). + +It is thus obvious that authoring MathML documents assumes the +assistance of dedicated tools. As of today, such tools can be +classified into two main categories: +\begin{enumerate} + \item WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors that allow the + author to see the formatted document on the screen as it is + composed; + \item conversion tools that generate MathML markup from different + sources, typically other markup languages for scientific + documents, such as \TeX. +\end{enumerate} + +While the former tools are certainly more appealing, especially to the +unexperienced user, as they give a direct visual feedback, the +existance of tools in the second category takes into account the large +availability of existing documents in \TeX{} format, and also the fact +that experienced or ``lazy'' users may continue to prefer the use of a +markup language other than MathML for editing, and generate MathML +only as a final step of the authoring process. The ``laziness'' is not +really intended as a way of being reluctant towards a new technology, +but rather as a justified convincement that WYSIWYG editors are ``nice +to look at'' but after all they may slow down the authoring process. +WYSIWYG editors often involve the use of menus, palettes of symbols, +and, in general, an extensive use of the pointing device (the mouse) +for completing most operations. The use of shortcuts is of little +help, as it implies very soon a challenging exercise for the fingers +and the mind. Moreover, authors \emph{cannot improve} their authoring +speed with time. On the other side, the gap between the syntax of any +markup language for mathematics and mathematical notation may be +relevant, especially for large, non-trivial formulas and authoring is +a re-iterated process in which the author repeadtedly types the markup +in the editor, compiles, and looks at the result inside a pre-viewer. + +\EdiTeX{} tries to synthesize the ``best of both worlds'' in a single +tool. The basic idea is that of creating a WYSIWYG editor in which +editing is achieved by typing \TeX{} markup as the author would do in +a text editor. The \TeX{} markup is tokenized and parsed on-the-fly +and a corresponding MathML representation is created and +displayed. This way, the author can see the rendered document as it +changes. The advantages of this approach can be summarized as follows: +\begin{itemize} + \item the document is rendered concurrently with the editing, the + user has an immediate feedback hence it is easier to spot errors; + \item the author types in a concrete (and likely familiar) syntax + improving the editing speed; + \item the usual WYSIWYG mechanisms are still available. In + particular, it is possible to select \emph{visually} a fragment of + the document that needs re-editing, or that was left behind for + subsequent editing. +\end{itemize} + +\paragraph{The Name of the Game:} there is no reference to MathML in +the name ``\EdiTeX.'' In fact, the architecture of the editor is not +tied to MathML markup. Although we focus on MathML editing, by +changing a completely modularized component of the editor it is +virtually possible to generate any other markup language. + +\paragraph{Acknowledgments.} Stephen M. Watt and Igor Rodionov for +their work on the \TeX{} to MathML conversion tool; Stan Devitt for an +illuminating discussion about the architecture of \TeX{} to XML +conversion tools; Claudio Sacerdoti Coen for the valuable feedback and +uncountable bug reports. + +\section{Architecture} + +\section{Customization} + +\subsection{Short and Long Identifiers} + +\subsection{The Dictionary} + +\subsection{Stylesheets and Trasformations} + +\subsection{Rendering} + +\section{XML Representation of \TeX{} Markup} + \section{Tokens} The following tokens are defined: -- 2.39.2