[tex-eplain] optional arguments

[John Culleton]

I am addressing a different problem than the \architect 
macro but rather the discrepancy between:
\idxname{John}{Smith}
and
\idx{Smith, John}

These two items end up on separate lines in  the final 
index.  The villian here seems to be the \indexseparator 
item inserted by the \indexname routines. Makeindex does 
not combine the two references on a single line.

When I use eplain and makeindex the idx file looks like 
this:
----------------------------------------------------------------
\indexentry{Smith\idxnameseparator John}{1}
\indexentry{Smith, John}{2}
------------------------------------------------------------
and the book.ind file looks like this:
----------------------------------------------------
\item Smith, John, 2
\item Smith\idxnameseparator John, 1
------------------------------------------------------

The solution would be to modify eplain such that instead of 
inserting  \indexnameseparator the \indexname macro would 
simply insert a comma. This is the default choice anyhow 
and the one that conforms to standard indexing practice. 

The eplain code is formidable enough that I hesitate to 
offer a patch myself.  

-- 
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters
http://wexfordpress.com