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marnanelI have a typesetting system called "fury" (after the poem in "Alice"). I used a previous version of it to set http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~tthurman/not-ordinarily-borrowable.pdf . What I was aiming for is a sort of LaTeX-in-Python; you write your document as a Python script.
write("""
She shrugged, muttered "I have """)
write("no", Emphasis)
write(""" idea", and turned away quickly.")
Most of the system exists, and works well enough to produce the PDF above. But I wonder whether it's worth brushing it up and releasing it; would anyone use it?
Addenda: 1) I wrote fury partly because I had a reasonably complicated document to typeset but mostly because I wanted to learn more about how typesetters work. I didn't intend it to be useful to others, but now I'm wondering whether it might be.
2) I am told that there is already a Python typesetter, https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen . This makes me think I should not release fury.
3) I was asked about the potential audience. If you already know LaTeX, then there's probably no reason. But I was imagining the folk who know little or no LaTeX but would like to begin using it; they are far more likely to know Python already, and TeX is not the easiest language to learn, especially if you want to go off the beaten track and build new modules.
4) OTOH, rjw says: release early, release often! If its not released you will never know if people would use it.
write("""
She shrugged, muttered "I have """)
write("no", Emphasis)
write(""" idea", and turned away quickly.")
Most of the system exists, and works well enough to produce the PDF above. But I wonder whether it's worth brushing it up and releasing it; would anyone use it?
Addenda: 1) I wrote fury partly because I had a reasonably complicated document to typeset but mostly because I wanted to learn more about how typesetters work. I didn't intend it to be useful to others, but now I'm wondering whether it might be.
2) I am told that there is already a Python typesetter, https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen . This makes me think I should not release fury.
3) I was asked about the potential audience. If you already know LaTeX, then there's probably no reason. But I was imagining the folk who know little or no LaTeX but would like to begin using it; they are far more likely to know Python already, and TeX is not the easiest language to learn, especially if you want to go off the beaten track and build new modules.
4) OTOH, rjw says: release early, release often! If its not released you will never know if people would use it.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-15 08:46 am (UTC)