Re: Ampersand in Metapost

[Marco <netuse@lavabit.com>]

On Fri, 14 May 2010 17:20:35 +0200, Mojca Miklavec wrote:

[...]
> > Here are my results:
> >
> > -There is one obvious reason: speed
> >
> > Average runtime:
> >    textext  variant: 56s
> >    \sometxt variant: 57s
> >
> > That is the same. Maybe my test file is not appropriate to test the
> > speed. I'm sure you have performed more advanced tests.
> 
> For gnuplot-generated graphics compile time has been reduced from 10
> minutes to 20 seconds. But that's another story (many graphics, many
> text labels inside each graphic; textext was not optimized).
Wow! That's what I'd call optimization. Now I understand your opinion and
your advice to use \sometxt (in MkII).

> > -Document-wide definitions are seen
> >  [...] definitions with arguments will fail to work.
> >
> > The first line, a document-wide definition with arguments works in
> > both versions.
> 
> But that's only true with MkIV. In MKII it's another story.
Don't know. I don't use it.

> > -Problems with expansion
> >  [...]  as far as I remember math expressions (fractions perhaps)
> > never worked as they were supposed to
> >
> > The second definition is a math expressions with fractions. It
> > seems to work.
> 
> Many math expressions have later been made unexpandable and started
> working, but it felt like a neverending story. Almost the same as the
> example that you were asking for.
I think I can comprehend the problems you had with textext.

> > In fact, I have a problem getting random colors working. Take the
> > following example (taken from my earlier thread).
> >
> > % This line is needed to get »withcolor« to work?
> Yes, in MkII. In MkIV Hans wanted to take a different approach.
> > \chardef\TeXtextcolormode\zerocount
> 
> > % Produces empty rectangles
> > for i=0 downto -3:
> >  ran;
> >  label(\sometxt{\bold{Test}}, (7cm,-4cm))
> >    rotatedaround ((7cm,-4cm),i*20)
> >    withcolor transparent("normal", .2, (r,g,b));
> > endfor;
> 
> Hans replied.
Yes. I will use textext for this job.

> 
> > I know, your MyWay is old. Maybe some things are fixed now. But I
> > don't see many advantages for me using it.
> 
> If you are using MkIV and don't run into the same problem again, there
> is hardly a difference.
> 

I conclude by saying that \sometxt ist first choice if using MkII. In MkIV
first choice is textext.

Thanks for your reply (and your MyWay), it helped me get some insight into
proper use of text in metapost.

Marco


___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________