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feedback on new package for introductory/undergrad physics teachers

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oatmealbrain

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Apr 15, 2012, 10:28:07 PM4/15/12
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Hello.

I have created a new package that I intend to submit to CTAN. Before I do so, however, I would like to get some feedback on the package. The target audience is anyone who teaches introductory or undergraduate physics, but I feel sure others would benefit from it too. I'm including a link to the current beta. It's distributed as a single .dtx file that self-extracts the necessary files when processed. (Yes, I know I'll have to submit the various files to CTAN.) I develop with TeXShop and its various engines so you may have to do something different to extract the package.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16930808/mandi.dtx

I welcome feedback.

Joe

Robin Fairbairns

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Apr 16, 2012, 5:31:47 AM4/16/12
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oatmealbrain <heaf...@gmail.com> writes:

> I have created a new package that I intend to submit to CTAN. Before I
> do so, however, I would like to get some feedback on the package. The
> target audience is anyone who teaches introductory or undergraduate
> physics, but I feel sure others would benefit from it too. I'm
> including a link to the current beta. It's distributed as a single
> .dtx file that self-extracts the necessary files when processed.

and how ;-)

> (Yes, I know I'll have to submit the various files to CTAN.)

what ctan wants in a case like this is .dtx, README, .pdf (and possibly
a .tds.zip file, if you're feeling in a generous mood ;-); nothing more.

note, unpacking generates README.txt -- we want with no extension

> I develop with TeXShop and its various engines so you may have to do
> something different to extract the package.

nope. just "pdflatex mandi.dtx" does the job. very neat.

> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16930808/mandi.dtx
>
> I welcome feedback.

i haven't officially studied physics since 1963; in that context i
don't imagine comments on content from me would be useful ;-)

note that it doesn't work with latex (rather than pdflatex) -- the
extraction works but the dvi is a mess. worth mentioning -- i don't
doubt there are other peoople who use latex->dvi still, and many could
fail to switch if you don't tell them to, from the start.

apart from that, and the .txt extension (above) i see little to complain
about.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
sorry about all this posting. i'll go back to sleep in a bit.

Guenter Milde

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Apr 16, 2012, 7:28:10 AM4/16/12
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I downloaded and extracted the package, but there were some errors due to
missing dependencies on my site. Maybe you can provide the user
documentation as PDF for download, too.

Browsing the documentation, I realized that e.g. vectors are (by default)
typeset with arrow, not (as recommended by, e.g., the IUPAP) with
bold-italic letters.

You might consider an interface to (or using the) "isomath" package:

The isomath package sets up an “ISO math style” allowing the use of
Greek and Latin letters as symbols for scalars, vectors, matrices, and
tensors in the typefaces recommended for scientific papers by the
International Standard ISO 80000-2.


Günter

oatmealbrain

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Apr 17, 2012, 6:49:16 AM4/17/12
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On Monday, April 16, 2012 5:31:47 AM UTC-4, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
>
> what ctan wants in a case like this is .dtx, README, .pdf (and possibly
> a .tds.zip file, if you're feeling in a generous mood ;-); nothing more.
>
> note, unpacking generates README.txt -- we want with no extension
>

I found a way to have REAME. (note the period) generated automatically, but I'll just manually remove the .txt extension before uploading to CTAN.

> note that it doesn't work with latex (rather than pdflatex) -- the
> extraction works but the dvi is a mess. worth mentioning -- i don't
> doubt there are other peoople who use latex->dvi still, and many could
> fail to switch if you don't tell them to, from the start.
>

I never thought to test with regular LaTeX. I'll do that.

Joe

oatmealbrain

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Apr 17, 2012, 6:51:28 AM4/17/12
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On Monday, April 16, 2012 7:28:10 AM UTC-4, Guenter Milde wrote:
>
> I downloaded and extracted the package, but there were some errors due to
> missing dependencies on my site. Maybe you can provide the user
> documentation as PDF for download, too.
>

Yes, that will be included in the CTAN upload.

> Browsing the documentation, I realized that e.g. vectors are (by default)
> typeset with arrow, not (as recommended by, e.g., the IUPAP) with
> bold-italic letters.
>
> You might consider an interface to (or using the) "isomath" package:
>

I wasn't aware of this package. However, my package is intended primarily for teachers and students of introductory physics and nearly all introductory physics texts use arrows for vectors, mostly because it is impossible to replicate boldface when working problems with pencil and paper.

Joe

Ulrich D i e z

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Apr 17, 2012, 9:39:43 AM4/17/12
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oatmealbrain" <heaf...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have created a new package that I intend to submit to CTAN. Before I do so, however,

Do you wish feedback to go to the newsgroup?
Do you prefer feedback to go to your email adress?

Sincerely

Ulrich

oatmealbrain

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Apr 17, 2012, 10:41:29 AM4/17/12
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On Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:39:43 AM UTC-4, Ulrich D i e z wrote:
>
> Do you wish feedback to go to the newsgroup?
> Do you prefer feedback to go to your email adress?
>

Either would be fine for me.

Joe

oatmealbrain

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Apr 18, 2012, 4:40:23 PM4/18/12
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On Monday, April 16, 2012 5:31:47 AM UTC-4, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
> what ctan wants in a case like this is .dtx, README, .pdf (and possibly
> a .tds.zip file, if you're feeling in a generous mood ;-); nothing more.
>

I'm having difficulty finding documentation for the .tds.zip file. Is this just a zipped version of where the file would live in a TDS tree?

Joe

Robin Fairbairns

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Apr 18, 2012, 7:25:25 PM4/18/12
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more or less, but it's seen from the base of the tree -- see:

http://dante.ctan.org/tds-guidelines.html

(i feel it ought to be possible to create a better description, but i
can't make my head work on it...)

oatmealbrain

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Apr 18, 2012, 9:24:19 PM4/18/12
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Okay I can create the correct .tds.zip file but I'm still unclear on the name of README. Should it include the period or not? This document

http://dante.ctan.org/tex-archive/tds/tds.pdf

says it should but browsing numerous packages indicates otherwise.

Joe

Robin Fairbairns

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Apr 19, 2012, 4:34:02 AM4/19/12
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it should not. we're driven by the default action of a majority of
apache-based servers, which will display the content of README on a
visit to a directory that has no index.html

note that whatever the tds document says, we can't (as above) accept
"README." in a tds file, since the tds file is validated against the
contents of the main tree.

oatmealbrain

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Apr 19, 2012, 8:50:29 AM4/19/12
to
On Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:34:02 AM UTC-4, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
> it should not. we're driven by the default action of a majority of
> apache-based servers, which will display the content of README on a
> visit to a directory that has no index.html
>
> note that whatever the tds document says, we can't (as above) accept
> "README." in a tds file, since the tds file is validated against the
> contents of the main tree.
>

Noted, and many thanks!

Joe

Dan Luecking

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Apr 19, 2012, 1:32:45 PM4/19/12
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On Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:34:02 +0100, Robin Fairbairns
<rf...@cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:

>oatmealbrain <heaf...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Okay I can create the correct .tds.zip file but I'm still unclear on
>> the name of README. Should it include the period or not? This document
>>
>> http://dante.ctan.org/tex-archive/tds/tds.pdf
>>
>> says it should but browsing numerous packages indicates otherwise.

The README is for CTAN, that document is for the TeX
distributions. Moreover, the recommendation that there
be a dot at the end is for the minimal CD standard. It
seems to me that TeX Live CDs did not adhered to that
standard (and now they are DVDs and presumably held to
a different standard.


>it should not. we're driven by the default action of a majority of
>apache-based servers, which will display the content of README on a
>visit to a directory that has no index.html
>

Many browsers will display that README file without wrapping
lines. My previous version of firefox was like that and it
couldn't find a way to force it to do wordwrap (except
asking it to display the source code).

So I beg writers of these README to limit the line lengths
to 72 characters, using actual linefeeds (pressing [ENTER])
rather than simply accepting what one might see on the
editor's word-wrapped screen.

I know some of you will say "get a better browser", but it
is a general truth that linelength-limited plain text will
work in more settings than the one-line-per-paragraph style
so common today. It used to be the standard for email, usenet,
and other electronic communications methods. It is still a
good idea on comp.text.tex to minimize the chance that lines
will be broken in transmission and change the meaning of
(La)TeX code.


Dan
To reply by email, change LookInSig to luecking

oatmealbrain

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Apr 19, 2012, 3:53:23 PM4/19/12
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On Thursday, April 19, 2012 1:32:45 PM UTC-4, Dan Luecking wrote:
> >
>
> So I beg writers of these README to limit the line lengths
> to 72 characters, using actual linefeeds (pressing [ENTER])
> rather than simply accepting what one might see on the
> editor's word-wrapped screen.
>

That's the way I've always done it and this time is no exception.

Joe
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