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A specification for XML tags and stylesheets to create usable output. A specification for XML tags and stylesheets to create mathematical content that yields usable output.
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  1. XSLT 1.0 compatible: ideally the only required tool is xsltproc   1. XSLT 1.0 compatible: ideally the only semi-unusual required tool is xsltproc
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  1. HTML web pages, enhanced with !MathJax, Sage Cell server, knowls
  1. LaTeX input to create PDFs and print with {{{pdflatex}}}
  1. HTML for in-browser previewing
  1. Doctesting of Sage code examples		   1. HTML web pages, enhanced with !MathJax, Sage Cell server, knowls for web browsing
  1. LaTeX input as precursor of PDF output via {{{pdflatex}}} for print
  1. Doctesting of Sage code examples for quality assurance
  1. Sage Worksheets (Sage Notebook, Sage Math Cloud)
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  1. Maybe a !DocBook representation for conversion to other outputs   1. Maybe a !DocBook representation for conversion to other outputs and future-proofing
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  * Late-June 2013: Good basic functionality for HTML, LaTeX output
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  * Late-August 2013: usable, with more to do
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== Examples (Updated 2013/08/23) ==
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== Files and Examples ==   1. A short sample article: [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/calculus-article.xml|XML Source-Author Format]] <[[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/calculus-article.html|HTML Output]]> <[[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/calculus-article.pdf|PDF Output]]>
  1. A skeletal mock book: [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/graph-theory-book.xml|XML Source-Author Format]] <[[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/book/graph-theory-book.html|HTML Output]]> <[[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/graph-theory-book.pdf|PDF Output]]>
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Updated: June 25, 2013 == Commentary ==

High-level commentary is recorded on my [[http://www.beezers.org/blog/bb|blog]].

[[http://www.beezers.org/blog/bb/2013/06/shuttleworth-flash-grant/|June 14|, 2013]]
[[http://www.beezers.org/blog/bb/2013/06/the-case-for-an-xml-application/|June 27, 2013]]
[[http://www.beezers.org/blog/bb/2013/06/an-xml-application-for-mathematics/|June 28, 2013]]
[[http://www.beezers.org/blog/bb/2013/08/summer-progress-on-mathbook-xml/|August 23, 2013]]

== Implemented Features ==

 * Article structure with numbered sections and subsections
 * Book structure with preface, numbered chapters, sections and subsections
 * Mathematics: normal LaTeX for PDF, !MathJax in HTML, macros in source '''only once'''
 * Numbered theorems and definitions, with cross-references, even in !MathJax displays
 * Sage input/output: live Sage cells in HTML, styled as text for LaTeX
 * Figures, with numbering and cross-references
 * Basic raster images
 * Bibliography + citations: as knowls in HTML version
 * Navigation (previous/up/next) in HTML (needs just a bit of work)
 * Basic CSS for HTML version

== Files and Commands, the nitty-gritty ==

Updated: August 23, 2013

Prerequisites: {{{xsltproc}}} is in most Linux distributions and on Mac OS as a command-line executable. Information on Windows availablity would be helpful - please write. You'll need TeX to run {{{pdflatex}}}. You can author if you also have a text editor and a browser - that is all you need.
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  (Use your browser to save these files locally, do not simply click on them) HTML output: !MathJax does the math, Sage Cell Server does the code, knowls do the citations. Use the following command and files below to create (X)HTML output and view in your browser by opening the output file.
{{{
xsltproc mathbook-html.xsl calculus-article.xml > calculus-article.html
}}}
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  1. [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/calculus-article.xml|Example XML source document]]
  1. [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/article-latex.xsl|XSL transform to LaTeX]]
  1. [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/article-html.xsl|XSL transform to XHTML]]

Easiest: you should be able to preview the source file (calculus-article.xml) by opening it in a web browser with the stylesheet (article-html.xsl) in the same directory. This works on some browsers, and not on others, so experiment. I have used Firefox on Ubuntu with success.

Easy: use the following command to create XHTML output and view in your browser by opening the output file, which should look like: [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/calculus-article.html|XHTML Output]]. !MathJax does the math, Sage Cell Server does the code.		 PDF: Same XML source file. Use a different XSLT file to process. View PDF as you please. Issue the following to produce.
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xsltproc article-html.xsl calculus-article.xml > calculus-article.html
}}}

Alternate: issue the following to produce [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/calculus-article.pdf|PDF Output]]. Sage cells are being ignored right now. A textual version of these should be easy to implement.

{{{
xsltproc article-latex.xsl calculus-article.xml > calculus-article.tex		 xsltproc mathbook-latex.xsl calculus-article.xml > calculus-article.tex
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Advanced: create a [[https://cloud.sagemath.ocom|Sage Cloud]] worksheet from the same source. I have this working in the lab. Posted soon. More: repeat above with the mock book, {{{graph-theory-book.xml}}}, linked above.

Advanced: create a [[https://cloud.sagemath.com|Sage Cloud]] worksheet from the same source. I have this working in the lab. Posted soon.

Files: Use your browser to save these files locally, do not simply click on them. The XSL files can be scary - not critical for an author to understand them. You'll want the CSS to render any HTML you produce.

  1. [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/xsl/mathbook-html.xsl|XSL transform to HTML]]
  1. [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/xsl/mathbook-latex.xsl|XSL transform to LaTeX]]
  1. [[http://buzzard.ups.edu/mathbook/xsl/mathbook.css|MathBook CSS]]

== The AQ (Asked Questions) ==

  1. I can't seem to get a matrix into my document.<<BR>>
  It's math so put it inside `<m>` or `<me>` or `<md>` tags and use LaTeX syntax (amsmath package supported). But the ampersand is one of two troublesome special characters in XML, so you need to escape it. Like so
  {{{
<me>\begin{bmatrix} 1 &amp; 2 \\ 3 &amp; 4 \end{bmatrix}</me>
  }}}
  Or you can wrap the whole thing as a CDATA section (which will cause all markup to be ignored). This might be preferable for a big matrix.
  {{{
<me><![CDATA[\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 \\ 3 & 4 \end{bmatrix}]]></me>
  }}}
  1. I have a "less than" in my math which is causing problems.<<BR>>
  The other nasty special character. Use `\lt` instead of `<`.

== To Do (unprioritized) ==

 * Further improve cross-references
 * Table of Contents in HTML as sidebar
 * Index (for book structure)
 * Options for numbering sections, theorem-like structures (hard)
 * Improved CSS for HTML
 * Doctesting framework for Sage code (easy)
 * Sage notebook, Sage Math Cloud output formats
 * Customize level of HTML chunking (one HTML file per section, chapter, etc)
 * Customization options (layers, HTML head insertions)
 * LaTeX spacing hints
 * Figures
 * Tables
 * Exercises
 * Margin paragraphs

MathBook: An XML Application

A specification for XML tags and stylesheets to create mathematical content that yields usable output.

Shuttleworth Funded

Rob Beezer, [email protected]

Design Goals:

  1. Simple for authors to use - no more complicated logically than LaTeX
  2. Capture the structure of writing about mathematics and Sage
  3. Processing into a variety of formats
  4. A limited number of rational tags, with simple names
  5. Minimal use of external shell scripts
  6. XSLT 1.0 compatible: ideally the only semi-unusual required tool is xsltproc

Output Formats:

  1. HTML web pages, enhanced with MathJax, Sage Cell server, knowls for web browsing

  2. LaTeX input as precursor of PDF output via pdflatex for print

  3. Doctesting of Sage code examples for quality assurance
  4. Sage Worksheets (Sage Notebook, Sage Math Cloud)
  5. E-Books, once technically feasible

  6. Maybe a DocBook representation for conversion to other outputs and future-proofing

Project Status:

  • Funding: Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant, National Science Foundation UTMOST Grant
  • Late-June 2013: Good basic functionality for HTML, LaTeX output
  • Mid-June 2013: initiated, not mature or stable
  • Late-August 2013: usable, with more to do

Examples (Updated 2013/08/23)

  1. A short sample article: XML Source-Author Format <HTML Output> <PDF Output>

  2. A skeletal mock book: XML Source-Author Format <HTML Output> <PDF Output>

Commentary

High-level commentary is recorded on my blog.

June 14 June 27, 2013 June 28, 2013 August 23, 2013

Implemented Features

  • Article structure with numbered sections and subsections
  • Book structure with preface, numbered chapters, sections and subsections

  • Mathematics: normal LaTeX for PDF, MathJax in HTML, macros in source only once

  • Numbered theorems and definitions, with cross-references, even in MathJax displays

  • Sage input/output: live Sage cells in HTML, styled as text for LaTeX
  • Figures, with numbering and cross-references
  • Basic raster images
  • Bibliography + citations: as knowls in HTML version
  • Navigation (previous/up/next) in HTML (needs just a bit of work)
  • Basic CSS for HTML version

Files and Commands, the nitty-gritty

Updated: August 23, 2013

Prerequisites: xsltproc is in most Linux distributions and on Mac OS as a command-line executable. Information on Windows availablity would be helpful - please write. You'll need TeX to run pdflatex. You can author if you also have a text editor and a browser - that is all you need.

HTML output: MathJax does the math, Sage Cell Server does the code, knowls do the citations. Use the following command and files below to create (X)HTML output and view in your browser by opening the output file. 

xsltproc mathbook-html.xsl calculus-article.xml > calculus-article.html

PDF: Same XML source file. Use a different XSLT file to process. View PDF as you please. Issue the following to produce. 

xsltproc mathbook-latex.xsl calculus-article.xml > calculus-article.tex
pdflatex calculus-article.tex

More: repeat above with the mock book, graph-theory-book.xml, linked above.

Advanced: create a Sage Cloud worksheet from the same source. I have this working in the lab. Posted soon.

Files: Use your browser to save these files locally, do not simply click on them. The XSL files can be scary - not critical for an author to understand them. You'll want the CSS to render any HTML you produce.

  1. XSL transform to HTML

  2. XSL transform to LaTeX

  3. MathBook CSS

The AQ (Asked Questions)

  1. I can't seem to get a matrix into my document.
    It's math so put it inside <m> or <me> or <md> tags and use LaTeX syntax (amsmath package supported). But the ampersand is one of two troublesome special characters in XML, so you need to escape it. Like so 

    <me>\begin{bmatrix} 1 &amp; 2 \\ 3 &amp; 4 \end{bmatrix}</me>
    Or you can wrap the whole thing as a CDATA section (which will cause all markup to be ignored). This might be preferable for a big matrix. 
    <me><![CDATA[\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 2 \\ 3 & 4 \end{bmatrix}]]></me>

  2. I have a "less than" in my math which is causing problems.
    The other nasty special character. Use \lt instead of <.

To Do (unprioritized)

  • Further improve cross-references
  • Table of Contents in HTML as sidebar
  • Index (for book structure)
  • Options for numbering sections, theorem-like structures (hard)
  • Improved CSS for HTML
  • Doctesting framework for Sage code (easy)
  • Sage notebook, Sage Math Cloud output formats
  • Customize level of HTML chunking (one HTML file per section, chapter, etc)
  • Customization options (layers, HTML head insertions)
  • LaTeX spacing hints
  • Figures
  • Tables
  • Exercises
  • Margin paragraphs

Other Projects

  • tbook looks very much like what I am imagining. I have hacked a bit of it to work with the xsltproc processor with mixed success. Only 80 elements. But for a very short article, I have found cross-references broken and manufacturing a bibliography begins with BibTeX, so that requires some research (and shell scripts). Maybe some examples later.

  • DocBook is big, complicated and full of features. But the emphasis is on technical documentation and support for mathematics and academic publishing is very lacking. The extensive structure is intimidating if you just have small project.

mathbook (last edited 2014-04-30 17:24:35 by rbeezer)