[l2h] non-integer calculations -- any way to do this?

bmassing at cs.trinity.edu bmassing at cs.trinity.edu
Fri Apr 5 20:30:40 CEST 2019


By "preprocessor" I don't mean something at all general; I mean
something that does pretty much what you suggest.  So to adapt my
example below, there would be a .tex_in file that looks something
like this:

\begin{document}

Total credit:  \TOTALPOINTS points.

\begin{enumerate}
\item POINTS{10} Do this problem.
\item POINTS{30} Do that problem.
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

and a preprocessor that would somehow turn this into two files,
two .tex files:

==== main file ====

\include{defs.tex}

\begin{document}

Total credit:  \TOTALPOINTS points.

\begin{enumerate}
\item (10 points) Do this problem.
\item (30 points) Do that problem.
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

==== defs.tex ====

\def\TOTALPOINTS{40}

====

and then, as you suggest, use "make" to automate doing this
preprocessing step before it runs latex and/or latex2html.

I admit I haven't thought this through in any depth, but to me it
seems promising, and this program to do the preprocessing -- I've
written a lot of programs that I think have similar functionality.

-- blm


On Fri, Apr 05, 2019 at 10:39:59AM -0700, Bob van der Poel wrote:
>>  
>>  I am far (very far!) from being a tex expert ... but could you not use a
>>  2ndary program to do the calculations and format them into something tex
>>  understands and then \include that result into the main
>>  tex/latex/latex2html files? Wrap it all together in a makefile and you're
>>  done. Much easier, thinks I, than writing a pre-processor :)
>>  
>>  On Fri, Apr 5, 2019 at 9:35 AM <bmassing at cs.trinity.edu> wrote:
>>  
>>  > First, I agree that it doesn't seem feasible for latex2html to
>>  > implement all of TeX.
>>  >
>>  > Below is a short simple program showing my current macros and
>>  > usage.  I wrote the macros a long time ago, and on looking at
>>  > them again, they're kind of ugly.  But they get the job done --
>>  > as long as I only want to use integers.  That's starting to
>>  > feel restrictive.
>>  >
>>  > There are various options for doing arithmetic on floating-point
>>  > values, including what seem to be a variety of LaTeX packages.
>>  > It occurs to me, however, that very likely none of them will do
>>  > what I want to, *because* I want to be able to print the total
>>  > at the top of the document.  My current macros can do that using
>>  > \refstepcounter and \label, but I don't think any of the LaTeX
>>  > packages I've looked at would do that.
>>  >
>>  > More and more I think I need to just write a preprocessor!  "How
>>  > hard can it be" ....  :-)?
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > ==== start of .tex file ====
>>  >
>>  > \documentclass{article}
>>  >
>>  > % ---- macros ----
>>  >
>>  > \newcounter{Tpoints}
>>  > \setcounter{Tpoints}{0}
>>  >
>>  > \newcommand{\EndAll}{
>>  >         \addtocounter{Tpoints}{-1}
>>  >         \refstepcounter{Tpoints}
>>  >         \label{tpoints}
>>  > }
>>  >
>>  > \newcommand{\Points}[1]{
>>  >         ({#1} points)
>>  >         \addtocounter{Tpoints}{#1}
>>  > }
>>  >
>>  > % ---- document ----
>>  >
>>  > \begin{document}
>>  >
>>  > Total credit:  \ref{tpoints} points.
>>  >
>>  > \begin{enumerate}
>>  > \item \Points{10} Do this problem.
>>  > \item \Points{30} Do that problem.
>>  > \end{enumerate}
>>  >
>>  > \EndAll
>>  >
>>  > \end{document}
>>  >
>>  > ==== end of .tex file ====
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > -- blm
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > On Fri, Apr 05, 2019 at 08:19:48AM +0300, Сергей Знаменский wrote:
>>  > >>
>>  > >>  Dear bmassing at cs.trinity.edu!
>>  > >>
>>  > >>  True TeX syntax is too complicated to be fully implemented
>>  > >>  in convertors like latex2html. Only the most sensitive features
>>  > >>  can be supported.
>>  > >>
>>  > >>  In order to recommend some approach the simple usage examples
>>  > >>  (TeX source fragment with desirable text/HTML results) are
>>  > >>  necessary.
>>  > >>
>>  > >>  Would You like to provide simple examples of what You'd like to get?
>>  > >>
>>  > >>  Yours, Sergej
>>  > >>
>>  > >>  > ----- Original Message -----
>>  > >>  > From: bmassing at cs.trinity.edu
>>  > >>  > To: latex2html at tug.org
>>  > >>  > Sent: Thu, 4 Apr 2019 17:47:59 -0500
>>  > >>  > Subject: [l2h] non-integer calculations -- any way to do this?
>>  > >>  >
>>  > >>  > I have a set of macros I originally wrote only for LaTeX that
>>  > >>  > do some primitive calculations, calculating a runniing total
>>  > >>  > using LaTeX's counter mechanism.  At some point I started using
>>  > >>  > these macros with TeX source to be processed with latexh2ml.
>>  > >>  > They seem to work fine, but now I'd like to revise the macros to
>>  > >>  > support non-integer values for the running total.  It looks like
>>  > >>  > there are many options for doing this in LaTeX, but no surprise,
>>  > >>  > I'm not finding anything that latex2html can deal with properly.
>>  > >>  > So:
>>  > >>  >
>>  > >>  > Can anyone think of a way to easily do this?  perhaps a
>>  > >>  > latex2html-friendly LaTeX package??  (This seems unlikely,
>>  > >>  > but might as well ask?)
>>  > >>  >
>>  > >>  > If that's not feasible, I'm thinking that if I get really
>>  > >>  > determined I could try to tweak latex2html, but I can't figure
>>  > >>  > out where to start!  Documentation says it provides some
>>  > >>  > primitive support for plain-TeX commands such as \newdimen,
>>  > >>  > but I'm sure not finding anyplace in the source that does that.  ?
>>  > >>  >
>>  > >>  > Or maybe there's some totally different approach I could use
>>  > >>  > instead?  pre-processing the source, post-processing the result ....
>>  > ?
>>  > >>  >
>>  > >>  > Suggestions appreciated!
>>  > >>  >
>>  > >>  > -- blm
>>  > >>  >
>>  >
>>  > --
>>  > -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>  > Dr. Berna L. Massingill
>>  > Associate Professor, Computer Science
>>  > Trinity University
>>  > One Trinity Place; San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
>>  > 210-999-8138
>>  > bmassing at cs.trinity.edu
>>  > -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>  > _______________________________________________
>>  > latex2html mailing list
>>  > latex2html at tug.org
>>  > https://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/latex2html
>>  >
>>  
>>  
>>  -- 
>>  
>>  **** Listen to my FREE CD at http://www.mellowood.ca/music/cedars ****
>>  Bob van der Poel ** Wynndel, British Columbia, CANADA **
>>  EMAIL: bob at mellowood.ca
>>  WWW:   http://www.mellowood.ca

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Berna L. Massingill
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Trinity University
One Trinity Place; San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
210-999-8138
bmassing at cs.trinity.edu
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