[OS X TeX] R, paradigm to bring into the LaTeX world?

[Bruno Voisin]

Le 23 oct. 06 à 18:52, Claus Gerhardt a écrit :

> The internet (together with nowadays powerful computers) belong to  
> the great culture achievements which changed the way we communicate  
> and find, retrieve and publish information. I would be severely  
> hampered in my work without access to the internet, like most of us.

Not sure about that. What I end up with is spending more time  
searching for information (including some I don't absolutely need)  
than using this information to perform the actual work that motivated  
the search in the first place. Not to mention never being really  
focused on a specific task, always interrupting the train of thought  
to look for complementary information, ask and answer questions, etc.  
Hence eventually, at the end of the day, working less efficiently.

DEK wrote <http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html>  
about how email is wonderful for people whose role is to be on top of  
things, to keep always up-to-date with the latest developments, and  
how detrimental it can be for people whose role is to be on the  
bottom of things. That's how I feel about the internet: in the  
scientific field I work in, my activity tends to be on the bottom of  
things, and to require long hours of studying and uninterruptible  
concentration. With respect to this, the internet is a curse as well  
as a blessing.

LaTeX, by its constant evolution and the disorganized -- however  
valuable -- contributions it attracts from everywhere around the  
world, requires its users to be on top of things. Too bad for those  
who can't!

> Hence, these scenarios being without access to the internet, either  
> by fate or by determination, seem to me unrealistic and  
> unconvincing as an argument.
>
> An example of software, which you call nice, coming with complete  
> documentation, is the old Textures,

Which is precisely why I miss Textures so much. Gerben wrote a  
message recently in which he mentioned briefly how closed software  
felt often more comfortable to the user. I can't find the message  
right now, but I miss the comfort anyway.

Bruno Voisin

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