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.
    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.
    Newsgroups
    Two of the main Emacs newsgroups are gnu.emacs.help and gnu.emacs.announce.

    HTML Resources

    On paper

    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 Since the World-Wide Web is changing so rapidly, any book about it is out of date on the day of publication.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 & XHTML: The Definitive Guide
    by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA, 1996.
    The HTML Sourcebook, second edition
    by Ian S. Graham, Wiley, 1996.

    On line

    Off campus

    HyperText Markup Language
    Here you will find definitive information about HTML from the World Wide Web Consortium.

    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 https://mirrors.ctan.org/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf, 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.
    More Math into LaTeX
    by George Grätzer
    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

    Comprehensive TeX Archive Network
    CTAN is a source for LaTeX packages.
    Newsgroups
    There is no newsgroup specifically devoted to LaTeX; the main TeX newsgroup is comp.text.tex.

    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 Maplesoft.
    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.

    Pine Resources

    On line

    Archived copy of Pine Information Center
    The successor program is Alpine.

    UNIX Resources

    On paper

    When You Can't Find Your UNIX System Administrator
    by Linda Mui, O'Reilly & Associates, 1995.
    Learning the UNIX Operating System
    by Grace Todino, John Strang, and Jerry Peek, O'Reilly & Associates, 1993.
    UNIX in a Nutshell
    by Daniel Gilly, O'Reilly & Associates, 1992.

    On line

    Off campus

    UNIX Command Summary
    Brief.
    Newsgroups
    There Is a whole comp.unix hierarchy; also a local tamu.unix.general newsgroup.

    X-Windows Resources

    On paper

    X Window System user's guide
    by Valerie Quercia and Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly & Associates, 1993.

    On line

    Sources of information about X-windows
    The definitive list from the X Consortium.
    More pointers to information.

    Up: Math 696


    Comments to Harold P. Boas.

    Created August 1995.