Up: Math 696

Resource Materials for Mathematical Communication and Technology

Emacs

HTML

LaTeX

Maple

Pine

UNIX

X-Windows

Emacs Resources

On paper

GNU Emacs Manual: by Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundation, Boston, MA, 199x (continually updated as new versions of Emacs are issued). This is the definitive reference on Emacs.
Learning GNU Emacs: by Debra Cameron and Bill Rosenblatt, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA, 1991. As the title says, this is a good book for learning Emacs.

On line

Local on campus

Emacs tutorial: From the Emacs Help menu, select Emacs Tutorial.
Quick emacs and Intermediate emacs: From CIS.
GNU Emacs Manual: The entire Emacs manual can be consulted from inside Emacs. From the Help menu, select Info. You can also use a Web browser to read an html hypertext version of the GNU Emacs manual; there is a different version in another location.
Newsgroups: Two of the main Emacs newsgroups are gnu.emacs.help and gnu.emacs.announce.

Off campus

Getting started with Emacs: This is short, simple instructions for beginners.
Emacs FAQ: The list of frequently asked questions about Emacs is available in hypertext form.
Emacs reference materials: Good links, plus a form to search the FAQ. Also see the list of resources at Yahoo.

A book about HTML is a bit of an oxymoron. Since the World-Wide Web is changing so rapidly, any book about it is out of date on the day of publication. If you really want a book, I suggest you go to any store that carries computer books and browse the shelf--but don't buy anything more than a year old. For the record, here are two titles.

HTML: The Definitive Guide: by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA, 1996.
The HTML Sourcebook, second edition: by Ian Graham, Wiley, 1996.

On line

Local on campus

Constructing a Calclab Web Page
Web Beginner's Corner
Newsgroups: There is a whole comp.infosystems.www hierarchy, including comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html.

Off campus

An HTML Crash Course for Educators: From EbWeb, this is a clear explanation for beginners of how to put up a Web page.
A Beginner's Guide to HTML: From NCSA, this is a more detailed primer of HTML.
Introduction to HTML: On-line information from Ian Graham, author of The HTML Sourcebook.
Home Page Development: This is a collection of links to further information about building home pages.
Macmillan HTML Workshop: Something for everyone.
Yahoo: Here are even more links to information about HTML.
HyperText Markup Language: Here you will find definitive information about HTML from the World Wide Web Consortium, including the HTML 2.0 standard. There was a draft HTML 3.0 specification, but it never gained acceptance and is now defunct. The HTML 3.2 specification is not official, but it is being widely supported by browser vendors.

LaTeX Resources

On paper

The not so short introduction to LaTeX2e: by Tobias Oetiker, Hubert Partl, Irene Hyna, and Elisabeth Schlegl. The latest version is available at CTAN:/info/lshort/ as LaTeX source and in DVI format (for A4 paper), and there is a local PostScript copy of the version of 25 January 1996. This is a 69 page beginner's manual.
LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, second edition: by Leslie Lamport (creator of LaTeX), Addison-Wesley, 1994. This is the basic manual.
Math into LaTeX: An Introduction to LaTeX and AMS-LaTeX: by George Grätzer, Birkhäuser, 1996. The author's introduction says: ``This book is for the mathematician, engineer, scientist, or technical typist who wants to write and typeset articles containing mathematical formulas but does not want to spend much time learning how to do it.''
The LaTeX Companion: by Michel Goossens, Frank Mittelbach, and Alexander Samarin, Addison-Wesley, 1994. This is essential reading if you want to go beyond the basics and do customization, use add-on packages, use non-standard fonts, and so forth. If you think there ought to be an easy way to do something in LaTeX, and you can't find it in Lamport's manual, look here next.
The TeXbook: by Donald E. Knuth (grand wizard and creator of TeX), Addison-Wesley, 1984 (first edition), 1993 (23rd printing---the latest I know about). This is the holy book of the TeX world, the definitive work about TeX (the program that underlies LaTeX). Look here if you want to write style files or packages, or if you want to understand what some arcane error message really means.

On line

Essential LaTeX: This is a good, basic introduction.
The LaTeX home page: From the LaTeX3 project. (A UK site: be prepared for transmission delays.)
The LaTeX Navigator: A French site (with text variously in English, French, and German) with lots of good documentation on LaTeX and links to other sites.
Comprehensive TeX Archive Network mirror at www.cdrom.com: CTAN is a source for LaTeX packages.
Sebastian Rahtz's list of TeX-related URL's
An introduction to LaTeX and AMS-LaTeX, by Tom Scavo.
Index of LaTeX commands and parameters
Newsgroups: There is no newsgroup specifically devoted to LaTeX; the main TeX newsgroup is comp.text.tex.
TeX FAQ: Frequently asked questions, with a searchable index.

Software

An inexpensive copy of a commercial implementation of TeX and LaTeX for your Windows PC may be available during the fall of 1996 through the Texas A&M Software Evaluation Loan and Licensing program. Details were under discussion in August of 1996.

Maple Resources

On paper

CalcLabs with Maple V: by Albert Boggess et al. (a whole slew of Texas A&M authors), Brooks/Cole, 1995. This is the manual used for the first two semesters of calculus at Texas A&M University.
Maple V Learning Guide: by K. M. Heal, M. L. Hansen, and K. M. Rickard, Springer, 1996. Updated for Maple V Release 4.
Maple V Programming Guide: by M. B. Monagan, K. O. Geddes, K. M. Heal, G. Labahn, and S. Vorkoetter, Springer, 1996. Updated for Maple V Release 4.
Maple V quick reference: by Nancy Blachman, Brooks/Cole, 1994.
First leaves: a tutorial introduction to Maple V: by Bruce W. Char, Springer-Verlag, 1992.
Maple V language reference manual: by Bruce W. Char, Springer-Verlag, 1993.
Maple V library reference manual: by Bruce W. Char, Springer-Verlag, 1992.

On line

QuikTours, etc.: On the local calclab machines, you can find QuikTours and other information for many courses in the /courses directory.
Maple in Texas A&M Mathematics Courses: Local documentation from Art Belmonte.
Maple Home Page: From Waterloo, Maple's home base.
Maple information from UT Austin
Newsgroups: There is no newsgroup specifically devoted to Maple, but you can find discussion of Maple in sci.math.symbolic and in sci.math.num-analysis.

Software

Texas A&M graduate students in the Department of Mathematics may be able to get Maple V Release 4 for a home PC or Mac for $50 through the campus site license program. Inquire in the main office in Blocker. Local bookstores carry the Student Edition, but the student edition of Release 4 will not be available until the spring 1997 semester.