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Re: StyleBox["A","MB"],RowBox[{"rrow3D",... inserted into Arrow3D[...]

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg61098] Re: StyleBox["A","MB"],RowBox[{"rrow3D",... inserted into Arrow3D[...]
  • From: "Steven T. Hatton" <hattons at globalsymmetry.com>
  • Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 02:39:59 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <di5a34$3lb$1@smc.vnet.net> <di7r06$km6$1@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Jens-Peer Kuska wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I would think, that the FontEnd optimize your input,
> because otherwise the box representation would become more and more
> complicated, i.e. , say you write a text, Mathematica put it into a
> RowBox[] than you add in the middle a formula, Mathematica split the
> RowBox[] and insert the formula in a new box. Finaly you delete the
> formula, while you reformulate the text. The splitted RowBox[] would
> remain .. If this happens quite often when you write a text, the
> RowBoxes[] would be splitted and splitted. Even in cases where it would be
> unnessesary after some deletions. Mathematic *should* try to reformat
> these boxes to make the structure simpler. I'm not sure if this is realy
> done but I think so.
> 
> Regards
>   Jens
> 

If Mathematica is doing anything to make the frontend formatting simpler, I
dread to think what it would otherwise be.  What Mathematica does is quite
amazing.  Formatting  mathematical expressions on the fly is no mean feat.
I suspect the Windoze version is a bit more polished than the Linux
version.  

I've had several format related problems.  One that can really be annoying
is that code for packages will sometimes not work because something is
wrong in the formatting. In particular, I've noticed it doesn't like any
blank lines after commas; and even more troubling is that it sometimes
misbehaves because /something/ (I know not what) is hidden at the end of a
line.  If I delete and restore the newline, code that wouldn't work
correctly will start working.

That can be very frustrating to a person who, like me, doesn't have a solid
mastery of the language, because I spend a lot of time changing things that
are not causing the problem, and I form false ideas about what works and
what doesn't.

Another nifty gotcha is what happens when you put a definition after its
point of use in a package.  If there are any symbols from another context
used by the command, they are introduced into the Global` context and
shadow the intended symbol. The good thing about that problem is that it
can actually be understood, and, in fact, makes a bit of sense.

I don't know if there is a way to do this.  I've been meaning to look into
it before asking on the newsgroup, but I haven't had time.  Does anybody
know if there is a way to save a Cell expression in "raw" form without the
meta-layer of quotations, and in such a way as to preserve the hiddent
semantics such as TagBoxes?  IOW, I want it to look as it would if I had
typed it in Emacs.

-- 
"Philosophy is written in this grand book, The Universe. ... But the book
cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language...
in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, ...;
without which wanders about in a dark labyrinth."   The Lion of Gaul


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