Re: line wrapping and good notebook style
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg37429] Re: [mg37412] line wrapping and good notebook style
- From: Shakti Shrivastava <shaktis at student.umass.edu>
- Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 03:40:56 -0500 (EST)
- References: <NDBBJGNHKLMPLILOIPPOOEEHDEAA.djmp@earthlink.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
David, Thank you so much for all the comments and foremost for taking the time to reply. I sincerely appreciate all your tips and mostly already follow all of them. However regarding this: > But I know that in my work it often happens that after I use Return Mathematica indents > when I don't want it to. This is because Mathematica does not yet know if > the new line is a continuation of the previous statement. But when I begin > typing the new line Mathematica snaps it back to the left margin. Have you > tried that? (I also think there is some variation in Mathematica's behavior > here in various versions.) well that's a (very) slight problem coz then line (vertical) spacing is inconsistent. I assume that when you say >> But when I begin typing the new line Mathematica snaps it back to the left >> margin. you mean you start typing in a new cell. In doing so Mathematica produces a line- break space greater than what is created by hitting "return" on the keyboard. That's the main reason I type in a new "cell" to get correct left alignment, and then merge the cell back to get the correct (vertical) line spacing. Do you see what I am saying? I wanted to know if there was a way to avoid this behavior. I mean work around this in a more "organized" way if you will. Also do you know anyway of inserting footnotes? I really make use of footnotes in my work .But currently don't know of a way to use them. Thanks once again for taking time out to reply to me. I really appreciate it. - Sincerely Shakti. ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net> To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net <mathgroup at smc.vnet.net> Subject: [mg37429] RE: [mg37412] line wrapping and good notebook style > Shakti, > > Your method of doing multiple steps in a single cell is a good one. > Especially, it is a way to group related steps and use % and %% without > ambiguity as to what they stand for. I was trying to reproduce an example of > what you are talking about and couldn't come up with a good one. But I know > that in my work it often happens that after I use Return Mathematica indents > when I don't want it to. This is because Mathematica does not yet know if > the new line is a continuation of the previous statement. But when I begin > typing the new line Mathematica snaps it back to the left margin. Have you > tried that? (I also think there is some variation in Mathematica's behavior > here in various versions.) > > You ask about good style for a notebook. This is, of course, a matter of > taste but I see an many dreadful notebooks so this gives me an excuse to set > forth some of my opinions. > > 1) The main purpose of a Mathematica notebook that you are sending to some > other person is to communicate your ideas and knowledge in as clear a manner > as possible. Anything that contributes to clarity is good, and anything that > detracts from it is bad. Remember that the reader is seldom going to spend > as much time reading the notebook as you spent making it. You have only a > limited shot at another person's mind. > > 2) Good notebooks are usually a fine mixture of Text cells, Input/Output > cells and graphics. The explanatory Text cells are equally as important as > the calculations. And for explanatory text use Text cells, not group > headings or Input cells. Text cells wrap, hyphenate and you can do spell > checking on them, and you can also include mathematical expressions with > Inline cells. > > 3) Make certain that the notebook has all necessary initializations and > definitions in it. As a check, quit the kernel and evaluate the notebook in > a fresh Mathematica session. A notebook that won't evaluate is certainly not > going to convey your ideas. > > 4) If in any doubt about style, use the Default notebook style. Use cell > grouping and group headings to organize your notebook. For example, you can > put all your initialization statements in an Initialization Section. A long > ungrouped, i.e., unorganized, notebook is difficult to navigate or follow. > With headings and grouping, and with the groups closed, the notebook > presents itself in outline form and already begins to convey your ideas. > > 5) STAY WITH THE DEFAULT AUTOMATIC GROUPING. I've seen many notebooks with > manual grouping. Without any exception whatever they were all perfectly > dreadful. They end up as one long totally unorganized mess. > > 6) Stay away from special formatting, colored cells and other special > effects. They may mean something to you but are nothing but clutter to the > reader. (It is too bad that WRI did not include some nice pastel Background > colors for cells in the menu. The highly saturated colors are not suitable.) > > Grouping and Organization > Completely Evaluable > Text Cells - Input/Output Cells - Graphics > Get rid of all special effect clutter. > > David Park > djmp at earthlink.net > http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/ > > > > > From: Shakti Shrivastava [mailto:shaktis at student.umass.edu] To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net > > I have been using mathematica for sometime now. However i have > never managed to get around the problem of correctly formatting > my documents. There is inevitable always a line formatting problem. > > Meaning if I type half way thru the line and without going all the way > in the same line go on to use the next line, for eg. when i am writing > out step-wise, the solution to a particular probelm, then the next line > contents inevitably gets indented. Somehow I cant seem to get them left > align correctly. For now I painstakingly do divide cell and merge them > back to get the correct left alignment. however I am quite sure that > there has to be a better solution. > > Can someone please advise. All my homeworks and papers are written in > mathematica. also are there any good articles on good formatting with > Mathematica. like adding footnotes on a page, etc. > > Thank you in advance for help! > > - Shakti Shrivastava. > > > >