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MathBook: An XML Application

A specification for XML tags and stylesheets to create usable output.

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 required tool is xsltproc

Output Formats:

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

2. LaTeX input to create PDFs and print with pdflatex

3. Doctesting of Sage code examples
4. E-Books, once technically feasible

5. Maybe a DocBook representation for conversion to other outputs

Examples

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

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

Commentary

High-level commentary is recorded on my blog.

Implemented Features

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

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

• Numbered theorems and definitions (needs work, subject to changes)
• Sage input/output: live Sage cells in HTML, styled in LaTeX
• Bibliography + citations: as knowls in HTML version
• Basic CSS for HTML version

Files and Examples

Updated: June 29, 2013

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. If you are an author, the only file you need to understand is the first one, the XML source.

1. XSL transform to HTML

2. XSL transform to LaTeX

To Do

• Cross-references
• Table of Contents in HTML as sidebar
• Definitions
• Index for book structure
• Options for numbering sections, theorem-like structures
• Improved CSS for HTML
• Doctesting framework for Sage code
• Sage notebook, Sage Math Cloud output formats
• HTML chunking (one HTML file per section, chapter, etc)
• Customization options (layers, HTML head insertions)
• LaTeX spacing hints

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.