[OS X TeX] Scandinavian {\aa} ??

[Bruce Kellogg]

Thanks for all the comments. One letter macros are too convenient
for me to give up, so I will have to work around this situation.

Bruce Kellogg
rbmjk at alltel.net
-------------
And when things start to happen, don't worry, don't stew.
Just go right along. You'll start happening too.
Dr. Seuss



On Mar 24, 2008, at 9:56 PM, Ross Moore wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> On 25/03/2008, at 12:34 PM, Martin Costabel wrote:
>
>> Bruce Kellogg wrote:
>>> It is strange: when I process the file
>>> \documentclass[10pt,oneside,leqno]{article}
>>> \def \r{\rho}
>
>   Oh no!  ...
>
>>> \begin{document}
>>> G{\aa}rding
>>>  \end{document}
>>> I get an error message, and if I type "q" in the dialog box, I  
>>> get a misspelt Garding with
>>> a Greek rho inserted. On the other hand, when I process the file
>>> \documentclass[10pt,oneside,leqno]{article}
>>> %\def \r{\rho}
>>> \begin{document}
>>> G{\aa}rding
>>>  \end{document}
>>> there is no error message and I get what I expect.
>>
>> I guess this is an example for why they recommend to use  
>> \newcommand in latex instead of \def. With \newcommand you would  
>> have got an error message telling you
>>
>> ! LaTeX Error: Command \r already defined.
>
>  ... and it is also an example of why you should not use
> 1-letter names for your own personal macros.
>
> There is too great a possibility of conflicting with
> something already defined -- in particular an accent
> or diacritic mark used primarily with other (i.e.
> non-English) languages.
>
> It is unwise to use even 2-letter command names without care.
>
> Grätzer mentions this, as Rule 2 on p.416 of his book.
>
>>
>> Indeed, in latex.ltx you can find the line
>>
>> \def \aa {\r a}
>>
>> -- 
>> Martin
>
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> 	Ross
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> --
> Ross Moore                                       ross at maths.mq.edu.au
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