[OS X TeX] R, paradigm to bring into the LaTeX world?

[Fernando Pereira]

On Oct 23, 2006, at 3:20 PM, Claus Gerhardt wrote:

> Now,\atop is not an original latex command but is part of amsmath.  
> Thus Themis's request would require that TS would provide  
> information for the commands in any package available which is not  
> reasonable.

It is totally reasonable. R does that. If I type "ridge" is the R  
search box, I get a dialog "Can't find help for topic, would you like  
to expand the search?". If I click "Yes" I get a table of references  
to ridge regression-related functions and packages, many of them not  
part of core R.

> His request is also unnecessary, since amsmath, which is by the way  
> part the current tetex installation, is an important package for  
> him (as well as for me),  so that he should have installed the  
> package's documentation in an easy to find location like I did.  
> Moreover, being aware of the command, he should have known that it  
> is an amsmath command, I probably would have, so that with a simple  
> mouse click he could have opened the documentation and a search for  
> \atop would have given him the information in five seconds. Even,  
> if he didn't remember that \atop is part of amsmath googling would  
> have provided this information in another five seconds; that's why  
> I called his request unnecessary.

If I search for "\atop" in Google I get a whole mess of hits that do  
not have anything to do with TeX. If I search for "\atop"+tex I get  
better links, but none of them is a direct definition of "\atop". The  
first one is an amsmath FAQ that refers to but does not explain "\atop".

What Themis asks for as unnecessary as a screwdriver is unnecessary  
to work with screws -- you could always use a hammer and pliers.

-- F

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