Re: Deprecated $…$ for inline math?

From: Alan BRASLAU <alan.braslau@cea.fr>
To: Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>
Cc: ntg-context@ntg.nl
Subject: Re:  Deprecated $…$ for inline math?
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 08:21:42 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20160216082142.473508a3@cea.fr> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <56C2E3C1.9010802@wxs.nl>

On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:54:25 +0100
Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:

> On 2/16/2016 9:22 AM, Nicola wrote:
> > I read in the wiki (http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Math) that $…$
> > for inline math is deprecated in favor of \m{…} and more verbose
> > variants. Is that really the case? If so, what is the reason and
> > what are the differences?  
> 
> that page probably needs updating
> 
> anyway, it's unlikely that $ will be dropped  (ok, i can imagine a
> mode where dollars are dollars) because it's popular as math
> delimiter; however \m has more potential for structure (we can at
> some point even considering it an instance of a more general inline
> math mechanism)

Personally, I never use \m and remain (culturally) attached to $...$
syntax. This being said, I am not a TeX purist as I never use
$$
...
$$
to delimit display math (even in LaTeX).

I see no problem with having a few reserved characters, and since I do
not often write about money or use percentages much, I have no problem
using {\%} or {\$} when I really need them. I can imagine, though, that
a finance writer might find this annoying.

I do note that the VIM syntax highlighting routine is pretty poor and
has difficulties around $, which is a symbol that I like using
(unpaired) quite a lot in MetaPost (\startMPcode...\stopMPcode).

What sort of needs for structure could \m address for inline math?
Clearly, an equation to which one might want to have a reference
math should appear rather as displayed math.

Alan

-- 
Alan Braslau
CEA DSM-IRAMIS-SPEC
CNRS UMR 3680
Orme des Merisiers
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex FRANCE
tel: +33 1 69 08 73 15
fax: +33 1 69 08 87 86
mailto:alan.braslau@cea.fr
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