[OS X TeX] hiding \index commands?

[Joseph C. Slater]

On Sep 30, 2005, at 4:54 PM, Gary L. Gray wrote:

>
> On Sep 30, 2005, at 4:10 PM, Joseph C. Slater wrote:
>
>
>> On Sep 30, 2005, at 3:43 PM, Gary L. Gray wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> We are writing two large texts that will eventually need to be  
>>> indexed. The problem we foresee is that the \index command that  
>>> will be inserted in hundreds or thousands of places will make the  
>>> source very hard to read. Do the so-called ``folding editors''  
>>> hide commands like these? If so, is there any chance that we  
>>> might see this feature in a future version of TeXShop? In  
>>> addition, are there any editors that would allow one to ``hide''  
>>> \index commands?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Emacs does. I'll send you pics.
>>
>
> OK, I got the pics and I must admit to being intrigued. It is  
> something like this that might get me to seriously try emacs.

Of course, I could have folded a slew of other things that weren't  
folded there. Emacs can also display equations and figures in-line if  
set up properly. I've had it set up, broken it, and realized that I  
really didn't care to use it much.

http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/preview-latex.html

The best way to see what auc-tex (you don't use emacs on latex  
without using auc-tex) can do is to look through the manual, gleaning  
the parts of interest.

http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/manual/auctex.html


> With this in mind, I have three questions:
>
> (1) As of today, what version of emacs for Mac OS X is the most  
> user-friendly and/or has the nicest GUI (does the phrase GUI even  
> apply to emacs?)?

Aquamacs. Mostly because they have been working on getting it to  
behave more like a Mac App, at least with respect to some of the key  
bindings. I use it in x-windows because early on there were some  
stability issues I found with Carbon Emacs. I think these are  
resolved, but I've never bothered to switch. Plus, I've gotten quite  
used to the standard key-bindings.

If Emacs/auc-tex had a menu item for everything it could do, it would  
look like MSWord, with menus from hell. It does it's best work with  
key-bindings and meta-commands (metakey-x type the command, or best  
guess, etc, tab to complete). Emacs/auc-tex is the kind of system  
that you never remember all that it can do. You can read the manual  
multiple times and continue to find new stuff. Even then, I forgot  
about using folding altogether (doesn't bother me that much if stuff  
isn't folded).

>
> (2) Does emacs do any sort of source/preview synchronization  
> similar to that done by TeXShop?

Yup. It has had it for years with DVI files. pdfsync allows it to  
work with PDF, of course. I personally use TeXniscope, but it can be  
done with TeXShop or iTeXMac (I have it set so that I can go from  
emacs to display in either depending on the key-binding, and both go  
back to emacs!). Note that the synchronization that TeXShop has (not  
using pdfsync, but using search), seems to be better IMHO. However,  
it's good enough most of the time.

>
> (3) We won't be doing the index for some months. If any of the  
> developers of TeXShop are reading this, can they tell me if folding  
> features such as these are coming to TeXShop (please, please, please)?

Here's the cool thing. It's only text! You can switch between editors  
when ever you feel like it. I use TeXShop a lot, as well as iTeXMac.  
It really depends on what I'm looking for at the moment, and which  
tool seems the best at the time. It's not unusual for me to switch in  
the middle of editing to a different editor, although I think I'm  
probably pretty unique that way. I think I switch as a way to get  
over "writer's block". I get a change of scenery. ;)

Joehttp://www.cs.wright.edu/~jslater


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