RE: [Axiom-developer] build-improvements and latex

[Page, Bill]

On Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:59 PM Ralf Hemmecke wrote:
> ... 
> I have a simple suggestion. Forget the Axiom user for a 
> moment. First we need to have good documentation for developers.
> A user probably cares most about the "algebra" subdirectory.
> I don't care too much about interaction with hyperdoc and such.
> The current pamphlet -> dvi way also does not involve hyperdoc.

I think perhaps the pamplet files should interact with hyperdoc.
Or rather hyperdoc should be replaced with a web browser interface
that would integrate with the dvi/pdf files including hyperlinks
between them.

> 
> My dream would be to have for each bigger unit one document
> (which is .dvi, .pdf or .html -- you have already seen in
> ALLPROSE that it is not so hard to generate different output
> formats). By "bigger unit" I approximately mean the subdirectories
> in src. Such a document would be similar to the ALLPROSE stuff --
> hyperlinks here and there.
> 
> The question is whether other Axiom developers would like it 
> or whether there are other suggestions we could agree upon. It's
> a lot of effort after all. And before I invest time there I would
> rather like to know in advance what other peoples dreams are. So
> that I don't have to throw away my stuff in the end.
> 

Ralf, I appreciate that you have put a lot of work into ALLPROSE
but when I look at it I see a tool that seems more suitable to
the user/developer of Axiom library code then to the general build
environment for Axiom. It that sense I see it as part of the type
of web browser interface that I referred to above.

But for development *my* dream really is not just bigger units but
rather a single outline for the entire Axiom project such as is
possible in Leo. This outline allows you to navigate freely just
like navigating in the src directory right down to the "chunk"
level with quick access to generated documentation, source code
and the build environment. The outline is like a tree structure
but includes "cloning" which actually creates a lattice and makes
it possible to create different "views" of the same information
without duplicating content.

Regards,
Bill Page.