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Re: WYSIWYG text editor for Mathematica?

  • To: mathgroup at christensen.cybernetics.net
  • Subject: [mg354] Re: [mg344] WYSIWYG text editor for Mathematica?
  • From: "Ronald D. Notestine" <ronald at sccs.chukyo-u.ac.jp>
  • Date: Mon, 26 Dec 94 03:29:52 +0900

I saw a demonstration of the next major version of Mathematica
given in Tokyo Dec 10, by Theo Gray and Paul Wellin. I was extremely
impressed. What they showed seemed to nearly allow one to operate
on screen in, visualy, almost the same manner as one would on
paper. All of the various special symbols, mathematical, physical,
chemical, etc. Entry into matrices in an array (that grows to 
accomodate size of entries as well as numbers os rows/cols.) 
Complete editing allowed in equations laid out just as we write
them on paper or chalkboard. 
   All symbols availble as unique entities. Unicode is used so that
all syumbols, including characters for Japanese, Chinse etc., have their
own code number (alpha + a no longer equals 2 times a). A variety of
palettes as well keyboard methods are provided to input special symbols.
It is late over here, and I am undoubtedly not doing justice to what they
showed. It was very impressive in its capabilities, seemed very well
thought out in its execution, and thoroughly well integrated  with
the system.
  It included much more that just WYSIWYG. e.g. Notebooks will be
just another mma object with head "Notebook". The system shown was
described as a "first stage alpha" system. (The demo notebooks they showed
referred to it sometimes as version 2.3 and sometimes as 3.0. If
they implement eveything they showed, they should definitely call it
version 3.0!!) The earliest possible relese date was given as this spring,
although both Wellin and Gray emphasized that this was only assuming no 
problems in the beta test (which has yet to begin).
  I do not know how well it would do for math typesetting only. There
are undoubdtedly necessary capabilities that I would not think of off
hand. (A possible one I can think of is double column printing. That was
definitely ruled out in answer to a question.) However, it was a
stunning demostration. A large number of participants much more
knowledgeable than I am also seemed very impressed.
Ron Notestine


 


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