[OS X TeX] Focus (was: Various TeX programs on Mac)

[Joseph C. Slater]

On May 8, 2004, at 12:05 PM, Curtis Clifton wrote:

> On May 8, 2004, at 10:01 AM, Leah Berman wrote:
>
>> On May 8, 2004, at 10:20 AM, Joachim Kock wrote:
>>
>>> Why do so many new tex users press 'Typeset' or 'ViewPDF' all the
>>> time?
>>
>> I don't know about the rest of you, but it's a lot better for me if I 
>> typeset frequently rather than trying to find a missing $ in 15 pages 
>> of uncompiled complicated math formatting!
>>
>> On the other hand, I am lucky that I have enough screen real estate 
>> that I can have the source and the compiled versions side-by-side, so 
>> I don't have to shift my cursor away from the source; I can just see 
>> that it compiled fine and continue with what I am typing.
>
> What I would love to have is a TeX-aware text editor that puts 
> unobtrusive markings under syntax errors in the source, similar to the 
> various integrated development environments for programming like 
> Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA.  These environments also offer suggested 
> "quick fixes" for errors.  I find that such programming environments 
> really help me focus on my content, the algorithm or data structure to 
> be implemented.
>
> These environments also integrate documentation for the various 
> libraries and packages that one might need to use, plus autocompletion 
> of class names.  In a LaTeX context, this might mean that I could type 
> "\begin{tab" and have a pop-up list appear with tabbing, tabular, 
> tabular*, tabularc, tabularx, tabulary, tabwindow, etc.  Mousing over 
> the suggestion (or some keyboard equivalent) would pop-up brief 
> documentation on the particular environment.   Selecting a suggestion 
> would (optionally) insert the appropriate template and, if necessary, 
> add the appropriate package inclusion to the preamble.

In emacs, with the auc-tex package (pre-installed in xemacs), in the 
LaTeX environment, C-c C-e puts up a prompt for the environment, which 
you begin typing, with tab completion enabled. It will put you inside 
the environment once you hit return. The auc-tex package adds a lot of 
such niceties. For instance, C-c ] will close out the current 
environment with \end{currentenvironment}.
Joe


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