X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["1319" "Sun" "13" "December" "1998" "14:39:50" "+0100" "Hans Aberg" "haberg@MATEMATIK.SU.SE" nil "32" "Re: portable LaTeX" "^Date:" nil nil "12" nil "portable LaTeX" nil nil nil] nil) Received: from listserv.gmd.de (listserv.gmd.de [192.88.97.1]) by mail.Uni-Mainz.DE (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA05881; Sun, 13 Dec 1998 14:39:44 +0100 (MET) Received: from lsv1.listserv.gmd.de (192.88.97.2) by listserv.gmd.de (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <10.E2C4115A@listserv.gmd.de>; Sun, 13 Dec 1998 14:39:43 +0100 Received: from RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE by RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8b) with spool id 412596 for LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE; Sun, 13 Dec 1998 14:39:39 +0100 Received: from mail0.nada.kth.se (mail0.nada.kth.se [130.237.222.70]) by relay.urz.uni-heidelberg.de (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA16828 for ; Sun, 13 Dec 1998 14:39:37 +0100 (MET) Received: from [130.237.37.138] (sl112.modempool.kth.se [130.237.37.138]) by mail0.nada.kth.se (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id OAA06373 for ; Sun, 13 Dec 1998 14:39:31 +0100 (MET) X-Sender: su95-hab@mail.nada.kth.se References: <13938.39518.68424.927988@fell.open.ac.uk>; from Chris Rowley on Sat, Dec 12, 1998 at 06:05:25PM +0100 <199812092035.VAA16014@na6.mathematik.uni-tuebingen.de> <13938.39518.68424.927988@fell.open.ac.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Message-ID: Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project In-Reply-To: <19981212225407.A29563@maths.tcd.ie> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 14:39:50 +0100 From: Hans Aberg Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L Subject: Re: portable LaTeX Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 3083 At 22:54 +0000 1998/12/12, Timothy Murphy wrote: >As I understand it, *ML _parses_ (or tries to parse) maths, >while Knuth in his wisdom decided this was impractical. Knuth in _his_ wisdom decided this was impractical to _him_, as he otherwise would have ended up with a much bigger problem. Others realize it must eventually happen, in part because it helps typing mathematically correct formulas, and in part because the formulas may be reused as formulas, and not only a typeset output. >There is a fundamental question about MathML/XML/OpenMath vs TeX/LaTeX >which does not seem to me to have been answered here. So even it was not answered in full, it has been discussed several times. >The question is, then: >is it possible to parse mathematics, >and if so, is it wise to try? > >[It may be impossible, >because it may be that mathematicians >would refuse to be bound by any particular formal system put forward.] I think it will be necessary with something more general, corresponding to the Yacc/Lex programs, simply because it will not be possible to find a generally accepted syntax. Hans Aberg * Email: Hans Aberg * Home Page: * AMS member listing: