From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/29046 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Sanjoy Mahajan Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: Re: ConTeXt + asymptote Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:12:40 +0100 Message-ID: References: <20060629134039.12300.qmail@wizard.math.ualberta.ca> Reply-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1151629982 18684 80.91.229.2 (30 Jun 2006 01:13:02 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:13:02 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Fri Jun 30 03:13:01 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl ([131.211.172.88] helo=ronja.ntg.nl) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Fw7Z1-0004r7-PQ for gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:55 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id B19E212879; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:55 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 26958-07; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:48 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id A043C127B1; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:48 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id C035D127B1 for ; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:46 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 29647-02 for ; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:43 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from mraos.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk (mraos.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk [131.111.48.8]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with SMTP id 1E628127A6 for ; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:42 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from skye.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk ([131.111.48.158] ident=mail) by mraos.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Fw7Ym-0007JL-G0; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:12:40 +0100 Original-Received: from sanjoy by skye.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk with local (Exim 3.36 #1) id 1Fw7Ym-0000lH-00; Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:12:40 +0100 Original-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users In-Reply-To: Your message of "29 Jun 2006 07:40:39 MDT." <20060629134039.12300.qmail@wizard.math.ualberta.ca> X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl X-BeenThere: ntg-context@ntg.nl X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.7 Precedence: list List-Id: mailing list for ConTeXt users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Errors-To: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:29046 Archived-At: > In regard to the remark I saw posted about "monster eps" files That was from me. The size was one issue and probably, as you say, disappears in the size of the final pdf file (I didn't test it extensively but I think that happened). However, a related issue to the size is that ConTeXt parses the metapost output inline, doable since metapost puts out such a restricted subset of postscript. So it is easy (at least for tex wizards!) to integrate metapost with ConTeXt (i.e. for inline metapost code, like the asymptote environment in latex). The asymptote eps files, because of including fonts and using pstricks, are full postscript and would be harder to parse. > We will need to replace pstricks (which is used only for rotating text) > There is a rotate.tex package in dvips but it would have to be > modified to typeset at arbitrary angles... Won't pstricks eventually have to go when asymptote produces pdf directly? Hmm, I wonder how metapost does the rotating. Actually, here's a test: beginfig(1) draw thelabel(btex hello etex, origin) rotated 70; endfig; end produces this metapost eps file: %!PS %%BoundingBox: -7 -11 7 11 %%HiResBoundingBox: -6.75279 -10.8051 6.75278 10.80508 %%Creator: MetaPost 0.901 %%CreationDate: 2006.06.29:2102 %%Pages: 1 %*Font: cmr10 9.96265 9.96265 65:912 %%BeginProlog %%EndProlog %%Page: 1 1 gsave [0.34203 0.9397 -0.9397 0.34203 -0.2515 -10.8051 ] concat 0 0 moveto (hello) cmr10 9.96265 fshow grestore showpage %%EOF So it uses raw postscript to make an affine coordinate transform and avoids using an external tex/latex package. The resulting postscript is nice for parsing. > We could use epsf to include PostScript figures or else the miniltx > package. I see from some posts that some ConTeXt users are thinking > of using \epsfbox instead of \includegraphics. Any preferences here? That also was me. I have almost no experience of LaTeX and have always used \epsfbox from plain TeX days. But that may just be a bad habit or a preference for the simplicity of \epsfbox. > Another issue I would be happy to discuss sometime is the need for > implicit equation solving. I don't know if I can make a good case for it. But the declarative/implicit style matches how I think about drawing technical figures (perhaps because the feature exists!): specify a bunch of constraints and let the computer figure it out. But it's probably a lot of work to implement, not least because it would require a new operator. Maybe ?= for implicit equals and = for regular equals? -Sanjoy `Never underestimate the evil of which men of power are capable.' --Bertrand Russell, _War Crimes in Vietnam_, chapter 1.