Conference vaxuum::document_ft

    Can you get LATEX to generate straight TEX? If so, you might try
    running the .TEX file with DOCUMENT/NOTAG. Just a thought.
    
    Marty

    The DOCUMENT development team does not have a LaTeX expert
    so you are not likely to get any good advice from us.
    We're sympathetic to the problem, just not equipped to
    supply solution(s).  So, LaTeX help probably has to come
    from the in-house user community and this sure is the right
    place to address that community!
    
    The math tags in DOCUMENT for v1 were developed by mapping
    backward from the plain TeX macros into SDML tags, so if you
    have the SDML Users Guide part 1, just create an SDML file with
    all the math tags, run DOCUMENT over it with the qualifier /NOTEX,
    and print out the .TEX file that you get.  That will show you
    the correspondence between SDML tags and TeX macros.  You can
    then figure out how to go from LaTeX math notation to SDML 
    math tags.
    
    There is no general SDML to TeX mapping list.  Many of the SDML
    tags put out different TeX macros depending on the context in
    which they are used.  The suggestion made in an earlier note 
    (repeated above) to write a file using the SDML tags, and process
    it with the /NOTEXT qualifier, and print the resulting .TEX file
    is probably the best way to get such a list, except that you will
    be getting the TeX macros for the particular context in which you
    used the SDML tag.  In another context you might get different
    TeX macros...
    
    bill

    Speaking as someone who is a non LaTeX user, it sounds like what
    you really need to be worried about is mappings between LaTeX and
    DOCUMENT.   Until you delve into the wonderful world of doctypes,
    it seems that you *may* be able to avoid sullying your hands with
    TeX code.  On the other hand,  If your equations are really difficult, 
    then you may want to punt them:  put them in a tex file, and try
    to use <include_tex_file>.  This may or may not work.
    
    David
    

    As for the suggestion of getting LaTeX to generate standard TeX,
    thats out.  LaTeX and DOCUMENT both work by creating their own format
    file that is used to initialize TeX's stating state, i.e. variables,
    macros, etc.  Running the LaTeX code through $ DOCUMENT/NOTAG won't
    do it either, because the LaTeX and DOCUMENT format files are
    different.  The same is true of PLAIN TeX.
    
    -tl
    
    PS  The above are generalizations, not necessarily true for every
   	bit of TeX code.

 There is a lot of LaTeX going on in VAXUUM::TEX. At times I think you
 could paraphrase "real programmers do it in fortran" by stating in
 this file that "real typesetters do it in LaTeX" (... :-) )

 Trying to use DOCUMENT/NOTAG to me sounds useless (even if it worked,
 which it doesn't). A converter to me should be something that translates
 one source into the other in order to develop the newly created source
 further. What's the use to squeeze it through Document if you can
 already squeeze it throuh LaTeX? I prefer to convert the LaTeX files
 to Document and delete the original LaTeXs...


 So now comes the big question (asked before in other notes): is there
 a LaTeX-Document converter around (apart from the simple one mentioned
 earlier in this file)?

Theo

>    Can you get LATEX to generate straight TEX? If so, you might try
>    running the .TEX file with DOCUMENT/NOTAG. Just a thought.


	My primary goal is to have a .GNC file that can be easily revised 
	in the future. My hope is that by limiting my writing projects to
	a single production system/language, I can become as proficient
	as I'd like to be.

	Currently, I waste a lot of time whenever I shift from LaTeX to DOCUMENT
	(or vice versa) because I find myself going through a relearning 
	process with each shift. 


>                                                  (. . .)  so if you
>    have the SDML Users Guide part 1, just create an SDML file with
>    all the math tags, run DOCUMENT over it with the qualifier /NOTEX,
>    and print out the .TEX file that you get.  That will show you
>    the correspondence between SDML tags and TeX macros.  You can
>    then figure out how to go from LaTeX math notation to SDML 
>    math tags.
 

	Thanks. This is what I needed -- a way to get the "list".

   
>    There is no general SDML to TeX mapping list.  Many of the SDML
>    tags put out different TeX macros depending on the context in
>    which they are used.  


	I anticipate that the book will always be produced using the
	software.reference doctype, so I won't worry about this.


>         On the other hand,  If your equations are really difficult, 
>    then you may want to punt them:  put them in a tex file, and try
>    to use <include_tex_file>.  This may or may not work.
 

	Again, this conflicts with my goal of working with a single
	system. What's the slogan --  "one egg, one basket?"




>    As for the suggestion of getting LaTeX to generate standard TeX,
>    thats out.  LaTeX and DOCUMENT both work by creating their own format
>    file that is used to initialize TeX's stating state, i.e. variables,
>    macros, etc.  Running the LaTeX code through $ DOCUMENT/NOTAG won't
>    do it either, because the LaTeX and DOCUMENT format files are
>    different.  The same is true of PLAIN TeX.
    
 
	Thanks for the benefit of your experience.



>               A converter to me should be something that translates
 one source into the other in order to develop the newly created source
 further. What's the use to squeeze it through Document if you can
 already squeeze it throuh LaTeX? 

	I couldn't agree more.

****************************************************************************

	Well, I'll give it a try starting in about 10 days. I'll post the 
	results as a reply to this note. 

	Thanks for all the help. 
	Kevin