[tex-live] shell_escape extension patch

[ivo welch]

thanks, robin.  IMHO, this may have been a simple change for Taco, but
I predict it will mean a quantum leap for users in the long run.  it
means nothing less than that end users can now write more complex
macros in a different way.

for example, without knowledge of tex programming, I can now compute
figures or rearrange text.  my first project will be to write a perl
function that takes a long tabular column, sorts it, and outputs a
latex table with multiple columns.  very easy to do in perl, magic in
latex.  then again, everything seems like magic in latex.  [perltex
was a good idea, but way too slow---and required a specialized install
and was not everywhere available.]  taco's new feature will hopefully
make latex far more attractive for end users in ways that we cannot
yet predict...

PS: I dropped an email to the webmaster at the tug donate web form,
which seems to refuse to accept my money.

regards,

/ivo




On 6/12/06, Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns at cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
> taco writes:
>
> >     \input "| perl -e 'print sqrt(\value{page})'"
>
> or the natural logarithm for those troublesomely long theses...?
>
> i like it.
>
> robin
>