[Bibulus-dev] \cite commands

[Thomas Widmann]

Hi,

I've been thinking about commands corresponding to \cite.  It's
important to get it right, so I'd appreciate your comments even more
than usual.

I believe the basic requirement is to design citation commands that
will allow the user to switch to another citation system without
having to change the text.  It will always be best to decide on the
citation system before writing the text, but at least it should not
become unreadable if the system is changed afterwards.

I propose the following three basic commands -- there would of course
be additional commands to do special things, but most people should be
able to use just these.

1) \citea (cite author): Prints the author and any other required
   information.  E.g.: "This was first done by \citea{knuth}."
     Numerical:     This was first done by Knuth [12].
     Num. footnote: This was first done by Knuth.¹²
     Alpha:         This was first done by Knuth [Knu86].
     Author-year:   This was first done by Knuth (1986).
     Author-number: This was first done by Knuth (2).
     Footnote:      This was first done by Knuth.³
                      3) D.E.Knuth, The TeXbook, 1986.
     In text:       This was first done by Knuth (TeXbook).

2) \citet (cite title): Prints the title and any other required
   information.  E.g.: "This is documented in \citet{knuth}."
     Numerical:     This is documented in The TeXbook [12].
     Num. footnote: This is documented in The TeXbook.¹²
     Alpha:         This is documented in The TeXbook [Knu86].
     Author-year:   This is documented in The TeXbook (Knuth 1986).
     Author-number: This is documented in The TeXbook (Knuth 2).
     Footnote:      This is documented in The TeXbook.³
                      3) D.E.Knuth, The TeXbook, 1986.
     In text:       This is documented in The TeXbook (Knuth).

3) \citep (cite parentheses): Prints any required information in
   brackets or as a footnote.  E.g.: "TeX derives from TeX78
   \citep{knuth}."
     Numerical:     TeX derives from TeX78 [12].
     Num. footnote: TeX derives from TeX78.¹²
     Alpha:         TeX derives from TeX78 [Knu86].
     Author-year:   TeX derives from TeX78 (Knuth 1986).
     Author-number: TeX derives from TeX78 (Knuth 2).
     Footnote:      TeX derives from TeX78.³
                      3) D.E.Knuth, The TeXbook, 1986.
     In text:       TeX derives from TeX78 (Knuth, TeXbok).

I guess one could argue that (2) and (3) are too similar to be kept
apart -- what do you think?

/Thomas
-- 
Thomas Widmann          Bye-bye to BibTeX: join the Bibulus project now!
address@hidden                                <http://www.bibulus.org>
Glasgow, Scotland, EU     <http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/bibulus/>