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Date:         Sun, 16 Feb 1997 13:07:27 +0100
From: Joachim Schrod <schrod@ITI.INFORMATIK.TH-DARMSTADT.DE>
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Subject:      Re: Index generation
Status: R

>>>>> "RW" == Richard Walker <Richard.Walker@CS.ANU.EDU.AU> writes:

RW> Martin Schroeder writes:
>> Better yet, there is this from the FSF:
>> --------------- snipp ---------------
>> * CLISP   (SrcCD)

RW> Well, that's what xindy uses!

Exactly.

RW> But I have had problems with portability across different Sun4
RW> machines.  (Unlike TeX, the dumped files are not portable across
RW> architectures.)

First, that's clearly a problem we will take a look at. The system
should run unchanged on all Sparc machines, as I consider them one
platform. (I wonder why I hadn't this problem, I run a SS4 and a
Ultra1 at home.)

But please note, there are no `dumped files' in the sense of TeX. The
_executable_ consists of two files, that's all; for each platform one
needs a different executable. In the next distribution, we will take
care that one can install it on netwide filesystems used from several
platforms.

RW>   That's why I recommended Emacs.

Emacs is a basic Lisp system, compared to Common Lisp. In particular,
the system relies heavily on CLOS and it's multi-method dispatch.
That's actually the reason why we use this language -- we started with
C++ and after 4 tedious weeks with slow progress we made some
prototypes in Lisp. Within further 4 weeks the whole system was
written, a programmer's productivity in such a system is amazing. (And
we've written several megabytes of C++ source before, at this time
Roger had no Lisp experience at all -- so it's not a matter of
aquintanance.)

But then -- the implementation language should not really matter, as
we try hard to provide more binary distributions RSN, for ease of
users. And this list might is not necessarily the right place to
discuss specific program matters, you might want to join the xindy
mailing list (send `subscribe xindy' to
majordomo@iti.informatik.th-darmstadt.de).

What this list is good for, and where we'll nag you the next time: We
have still open cases how some index problems are to be solved. Or,
what are good defaults. As these are general questions, independent
from a specific program, we think latex-l is a proper place to bring
them up.

Cheers,
        Joachim

--
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Joachim Schrod                                  Email: jschrod@acm.org
Net & Publication Consultance                   Tel.:  +49-6074-861530
Roedermark, Germany                             Fax:   +49-6074-861531