MathGroup Archive 2005

[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Search the Archive

Re: Getting a pure text widget?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg61446] Re: Getting a pure text widget?
  • From: "Steven T. Hatton" <hattons at globalsymmetry.com>
  • Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 02:16:46 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <NDBBJGNHKLMPLILOIPPOAEIIELAA.djmp@earthlink.net> <200510170629.CAA16332@smc.vnet.net> <dj27gl$bn6$1@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Chris Chiasson wrote:

> I've used Mathematica 5 on Linux, it worked ok for me... Also,
> Mathematica notebooks can be written and stored in a notebook markup
> language (NotebookML - it's XML) instead of the standard .nb files.

It's a big step in the right direction.  I do which they would use the
entity names rather than the unicode hex representation for the special
characters.

http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/byalpha.xml

For some reason a lot of people don't think of XML as some thing a user
would ever want to read.  I'll admit that this is not a particularly
intuitive representation of covariant differentiation:

<math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <mfrac>
   <mrow>
    <mo>&#8706;</mo>
    <mtext> </mtext>
    <msub>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>j</mi>
    </msub>
   </mrow>
   <mrow>
    <mo>&#8706;</mo>
    <msup>
     <mi>x</mi>
     <mi>i</mi>
    </msup>
   </mrow>
  </mfrac>
  <mo>=</mo>
  <mrow>
   <msub>
    <msubsup>
     <mi>&#915;</mi>
     <mi>j</mi>
     <mi>k</mi>
    </msubsup>
    <mi>i</mi>
   </msub>
   <mo>&#8290;</mo>
   <msub>
    <mover>
     <mi>e</mi>
     <mo>&#8640;</mo>
    </mover>
    <mi>k</mi>
   </msub>
  </mrow>
 </mrow>
</math>
<math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mtext>
</mtext>
</math>
<math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <mrow>
   <mrow>
    <mfrac>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <mtext> </mtext>
      <msub>
       <mover>
        <mi>e</mi>
        <mo>&#8640;</mo>
       </mover>
       <mi>j</mi>
      </msub>
     </mrow>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <msup>
       <mi>x</mi>
       <mi>i</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
    </mfrac>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msup>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>j</mi>
    </msup>
   </mrow>
   <mo>-</mo>
   <mrow>
    <mfrac>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <mtext> </mtext>
      <msup>
       <mover>
        <mi>e</mi>
        <mo>&#8640;</mo>
       </mover>
       <mi>l</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <msup>
       <mi>x</mi>
       <mi>i</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
    </mfrac>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msub>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>l</mi>
    </msub>
   </mrow>
  </mrow>
  <mo>=</mo>
  <mrow>
   <mrow>
    <msup>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>j</mi>
    </msup>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msub>
     <msubsup>
      <mi>&#915;</mi>
      <mi>j</mi>
      <mi>k</mi>
     </msubsup>
     <mi>i</mi>
    </msub>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msub>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>k</mi>
    </msub>
   </mrow>
   <mo>-</mo>
   <mrow>
    <mfrac>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <mtext> </mtext>
      <msup>
       <mover>
        <mi>e</mi>
        <mo>&#8640;</mo>
       </mover>
       <mi>k</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <msup>
       <mi>x</mi>
       <mi>i</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
    </mfrac>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msub>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>k</mi>
    </msub>
   </mrow>
  </mrow>
 </mrow>
</math>
<math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mtext>
</mtext>
</math>
<math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <mrow>
   <mrow>
    <mfrac>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <mtext> </mtext>
      <msub>
       <mover>
        <mi>e</mi>
        <mo>&#8640;</mo>
       </mover>
       <mi>j</mi>
      </msub>
     </mrow>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <msup>
       <mi>x</mi>
       <mi>i</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
    </mfrac>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msup>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>j</mi>
    </msup>
   </mrow>
   <mo>-</mo>
   <mrow>
    <mfrac>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <mtext> </mtext>
      <msup>
       <mover>
        <mi>e</mi>
        <mo>&#8640;</mo>
       </mover>
       <mi>l</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
     <mrow>
      <mo>&#8706;</mo>
      <msup>
       <mi>x</mi>
       <mi>i</mi>
      </msup>
     </mrow>
    </mfrac>
    <mo>&#8290;</mo>
    <msub>
     <mover>
      <mi>e</mi>
      <mo>&#8640;</mo>
     </mover>
     <mi>l</mi>
    </msub>
   </mrow>
  </mrow>
  <mo>=</mo>
  <mrow>
   <mrow>
    <mo>(</mo>
    <mrow>
     <mrow>
      <msup>
       <mover>
        <mi>e</mi>
        <mo>&#8640;</mo>
       </mover>
       <mi>j</mi>
      </msup>
      <mo>&#8290;</mo>
      <msub>
       <msubsup>
        <mi>&#915;</mi>
        <mi>j</mi>
        <mi>k</mi>
       </msubsup>
       <mi>i</mi>
      </msub>
     </mrow>
     <mo>-</mo>
     <mfrac>
      <mrow>
       <mo>&#8706;</mo>
       <mtext> </mtext>
       <msup>
        <mover>
         <mi>e</mi>
         <mo>&#8640;</mo>
        </mover>
        <mi>k</mi>
       </msup>
      </mrow>
      <mrow>
       <mo>&#8706;</mo>
       <msup>
        <mi>x</mi>
        <mi>i</mi>
       </msup>
      </mrow>
     </mfrac>
    </mrow>
    <mo>)</mo>
   </mrow>
   <mo>&#8290;</mo>
   <msub>
    <mover>
     <mi>e</mi>
     <mo>&#8640;</mo>
    </mover>
    <mi>k</mi>
   </msub>
  </mrow>
 </mrow>
</math>

But, if I had the character entities in named form, at least I could read
it.

> About decoupling input and output: You can write Mathematica code such
> that it will not output cells to the current notebook, but will
> instead write to a different one that you specify. In this way, you
> could separate input from output.

I'm talking about the core design of the Mathematica FrontEnd. I want a tool
that does these things for me without having to spend weeks persuading it
to do these things.
 
> Personally, I want better output options for XHTML+MathML+SVG...

I want CSS for NotebookML.  There's really no reason XML cannot be used
natively on the web, other than some limitations of the current browsers,
and the lack of stylesheets to support it.  I find it amazing that people
will invest thousands of hours in XSLT to convert (mangle) XML into xhtml,
when the same amount of effort could produce CSS to render the XML
natively.

One reason the browsers are limited is that nobody is pushing the technology
in that direction.  AAMOF, it seems reasonable that WRI could replace their
current stylesheets with CSS.  They seem to have all the necessary core
components.  Someone over there understands XML very well.  That is unless
they passed into darkness (moved to Redmond) or something.
-- 
"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


  • Prev by Date: Re: Re: How smooth graphs?
  • Next by Date: Re: Wick like theorem and "symbolic" compilation
  • Previous by thread: Re: Re: Getting a pure text widget?
  • Next by thread: Re: Re: Getting a pure text widget?