pstricks and calc (A2)

[Werenfried Spit]

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Denis Girou wrote:

> PSTricks doesn't use \setlength, as `calc' require, because it implement
> a more powerful mechanism than (La)TeX and allow to use dimensions without
> explicit units, which is to say relative to the current unit, in the direction
> (x, y, r) considered. It is why you can always said (3cm,2.5cm) but better
> (3,2.5) which allow to have graphic objects with a definition independent of
> the values of the units, which can scaled automatically.

This is precisely one of the things I find so valuable about pstricks. 
Maybe it is wanting a bit too much to try to combine this power with 
the ease of directly inputting simple arithmetics. Things like
 \setcounter{left}{-10}
 \setcounter{right}{10}
 \setcounter{xa}{10}
 \setcounter{xb}{50}
 \setcounter{x}{\c at xa}\addtocounter{x}{\c at left}\rput(\c at x,0){a left}
 \setcounter{x}{\c at xa}\addtocounter{x}{\c at right}\rput(\c at x,0){a right}
 \setcounter{x}{\c at xb}\addtocounter{x}{\c at left}\rput(\c at x,0){b left}
 \setcounter{x}{\c at xb}\addtocounter{x}{\c at right}\rput(\c at x,0){b right}
do the job well. I was `only' looking for a way to make the input a bit
less clumsy, maybe the way calc does.


---
Werenfried Spit                            e-mail  W.Spit at witbo.nl
Witteveen+Bos Consulting Engineers         phone   +31-70-3.700.709
Den Haag, The Netherlands                  fax     +31-70-3.600.098


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