[texhax] \underarc + miniltx.tex lacuna(e)?

[Uwe Lueck]

Rodolfo Medina answers
>> I had forgotten that miniltx.tex
>>
>>     http://ctan.org/pkg/miniltx.tex
>>
>> allows loading LaTeX packages with plain TeX -- just for the record.

by

> Also `arcs' package? How? I put `\input miniltx' and `\input arcs.sty', but
> then when I process my file the \underarc command is `undefined'.

I have modified the beginning of the package author's arcstest.tex
as follows:d.p.carlisle at gmail.com 

\input miniltx.tex
%\documentclass[11pt]{report}
%\usepackage{arcs}
\def\PackageWarningNoLine#1#2{\message{#1: #2}}
\let\MessageBreak\space
\makeatletter
  \input arcs.sty
  \let\@typeset at protect\relax %%% missing in miniltx.tex %%%
\makeatother
\parindent 0pt
%\pagestyle{empty}
%\begin{document}
$\overarc[.1]{AB}\ \overarc[.2]{AB}\ \overarc[.3]{AB}\ 
 \overarc[.4]{AB}\ \overarc[.5]{AB}\ \overarc[.6]{AB}\ 
 \overarc[.7]{AB}\ \overarc[.8]{AB}\ \overarc[.9]{AB}\ 
 \overarc{AB}$\par

so something else is undefined ... again just for the record.

>> I would find it better to add sizes to \fivei, \seveni, \teni for
>> plain TeX than to use the LaTeX sizes and its font selection scheme.
>>

> ... just as easy as:
>
>   \font\eleveni=cmmi11

and \font\thirteen=cmmi12 at 13pt etc. What I consider more work
is finding sizes that actually are needed/useful, and then a 
choosing algorithm. An approach very different to arcs.sty would 
be naming the fonts \mathit at x, \mathit at xi, ... and then computing 
the font's name by dividing the width (in a count register) of what 
is to be underarc'ed by some number to be found.

It may better not to have so many math fonts, but versions of cmmi
with a smile symbol only, or a font with various sizes of the smile 
symbol.

Cheers,

    Uwe.