Text Processing on Bama

There are several text-formatting programs on Bama. You'll notice we don't call them "word processing" programs because they don't have the same capabilities as some of the modern word processors. They don't guide you through document preparation, with spell checking and capitalization and all sorts of other bells and whistles. The text formatters are also not WYSIWYG (pronounced "wizzy wig") which stands for "what you see is what you get".

On Bama the text formatters will take an input file that has had text formatting codes put into it and they will produce the properly formatted output. The text file is prepared ahead of time using any editor of your choice. The files are also really text only. There are no special embedded non-readable codes, such as one has with Microsoft Word or other, similar products.

One advantage of this system is that the files can be sent through email without being added as an attachment. Another advantage is that they are easily transported between machines of different types since any editor can be used to work on the text. A third advantage is that embedded codes, which format the text, can be easily adapted for changes in style or for special modification. It is for this reason that a number of scientific journals have adopted text formatting as their method for article submission. The author can work on the paper and have it print out on his or her own system, then when the journals accepts it, it can be easily adapted right into the journals format, usually without modification of the file itself.

Presently we have two families of text formatters. They are TeX, and its derivatives LaTeX and Texinfo, and Nroff with its variation, Troff. We'll give you an overview of their use here. More details on their use can be found on the Unixinfo web site, http://bama.ua.edu/~unixinfo, or in Unix or Tex/LateX manuals.

Nroff and Troff

Nroff has been a part of Unix for many years. The "man page" system is built around using Nroff codes to format the information. To see Nroff in action you can just type:

man nroff

and you will have used it to show you the help page for Nroff. Troff is the typesetting version of Nroff, designed to send its output to more sophisticated printers than nroff is capable of working with. Nowadays, just about all printers are capable of handling Troff output. Nroff is probably best suited to producing output for terminals.

Equations and tables can be incorporated into documents and are handled with a "preprocessor." The text is processed through "tbl" and "eqn" before it is sent to Troff. Unix books are your best source of complete information on using this system of text formatting.

TeX and Friends

The first point to be made about TeX is that it is not the nickname for someone from Texas. The "X" is really a Greek chi so the proper pronunciation rhymes with "blechhh" (as pointed out in "The TeXbook" by Donald Knuth).

TeX is a large set of text formatting codes, although most people use it in the form of macro packages, such as LaTeX or, more recently, Texinfo. The reason for this is that TeX forces you to pay attention to a lot of details that you would rather not think about. LaTex and Texinfo lift you above all this and let you concentrate on content rather than control of the visual output.

Tex formatters can easily handle tables and formatting equations is one of its strong points. Scientific journals have moved towards using LaTex, and often provide their own version of macros with which you would format the text. Details on conforming text to each journal's style should be obtained from the journal's editors.

Texinfo is a documentation system developed by the GNU Free Software Foundation. It is designed to produce on-line and printed documentation from the same source file. Special Texinfo codes are put into the documentation so that it can be formatted by several programs. The printed documentation formatter is usually TeX. Once prepared for use with Texinfo, a documented does not have a "TeX" look to it since the formatting commands are all prefaced with a "@". In "real" TeX the commands all start with a back-slash, "\". Due to its dual nature as an on-line and printed manual formatter, Texinfo is more limited in what it allows you to do than is LaTex or Tex.

When a document is processed through TeX (or LaTex) it is put into a device-independent form, or ".dvi" file. This is then processed for the desired output device. The most commonly used of these processors is "dvips" which creates a PostScript file, although we also have a formatter for PCL on HP LaserJet printers. Type

man dvilj (or type man dvips)

for more information on this. The results of using the "dvixx" program will be another file, which you must then send to the printer with the "lp" command.

There is also a TeX output previewer, called "xdvi" which will display your results on an X-Windows system so that it can be previewed for formatting problems before it is printed.

Files formatted in the LaTeX style can be prepared for display on the World Wide Web by using the latex2html processor. Users who would like to display equations of the Web will find this quite useful since it processes all the equations into separate "gif" files for inclusion in the ".html" page.

That completes the TeX roundup. Other utilities may be added in the future so stay tuned.

© 1999, The University of Alabama. The information included here is for the University of Alabama central computing facility as it was configured on the document date. It may or may not apply to other Unix systems.

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	Text Processing on Bama There are several text-formatting programs on Bama. You'll notice we don't call them "word processing" programs because they don't have the same capabilities as some of the modern word processors. They don't guide you through document preparation, with spell checking and capitalization and all sorts of other bells and whistles. The text formatters are also not WYSIWYG (pronounced "wizzy wig") which stands for "what you see is what you get". On Bama the text formatters will take an input file that has had text formatting codes put into it and they will produce the properly formatted output. The text file is prepared ahead of time using any editor of your choice. The files are also really text only. There are no special embedded non-readable codes, such as one has with Microsoft Word or other, similar products. One advantage of this system is that the files can be sent through email without being added as an attachment. Another advantage is that they are easily transported between machines of different types since any editor can be used to work on the text. A third advantage is that embedded codes, which format the text, can be easily adapted for changes in style or for special modification. It is for this reason that a number of scientific journals have adopted text formatting as their method for article submission. The author can work on the paper and have it print out on his or her own system, then when the journals accepts it, it can be easily adapted right into the journals format, usually without modification of the file itself. Presently we have two families of text formatters. They are TeX, and its derivatives LaTeX and Texinfo, and Nroff with its variation, Troff. We'll give you an overview of their use here. More details on their use can be found on the Unixinfo web site, http://bama.ua.edu/~unixinfo, or in Unix or Tex/LateX manuals. Nroff and Troff Nroff has been a part of Unix for many years. The "man page" system is built around using Nroff codes to format the information. To see Nroff in action you can just type: `man nroff` and you will have used it to show you the help page for Nroff. Troff is the typesetting version of Nroff, designed to send its output to more sophisticated printers than nroff is capable of working with. Nowadays, just about all printers are capable of handling Troff output. Nroff is probably best suited to producing output for terminals. Equations and tables can be incorporated into documents and are handled with a "preprocessor." The text is processed through "tbl" and "eqn" before it is sent to Troff. Unix books are your best source of complete information on using this system of text formatting. TeX and Friends The first point to be made about TeX is that it is not the nickname for someone from Texas. The "X" is really a Greek chi so the proper pronunciation rhymes with "blechhh" (as pointed out in "The TeXbook" by Donald Knuth). TeX is a large set of text formatting codes, although most people use it in the form of macro packages, such as LaTeX or, more recently, Texinfo. The reason for this is that TeX forces you to pay attention to a lot of details that you would rather not think about. LaTex and Texinfo lift you above all this and let you concentrate on content rather than control of the visual output. Tex formatters can easily handle tables and formatting equations is one of its strong points. Scientific journals have moved towards using LaTex, and often provide their own version of macros with which you would format the text. Details on conforming text to each journal's style should be obtained from the journal's editors. Texinfo is a documentation system developed by the GNU Free Software Foundation. It is designed to produce on-line and printed documentation from the same source file. Special Texinfo codes are put into the documentation so that it can be formatted by several programs. The printed documentation formatter is usually TeX. Once prepared for use with Texinfo, a documented does not have a "TeX" look to it since the formatting commands are all prefaced with a "@". In "real" TeX the commands all start with a back-slash, "\". Due to its dual nature as an on-line and printed manual formatter, Texinfo is more limited in what it allows you to do than is LaTex or Tex. When a document is processed through TeX (or LaTex) it is put into a device-independent form, or ".dvi" file. This is then processed for the desired output device. The most commonly used of these processors is "dvips" which creates a PostScript file, although we also have a formatter for PCL on HP LaserJet printers. Type `man dvilj` (or type `man dvips`) for more information on this. The results of using the "dvixx" program will be another file, which you must then send to the printer with the "lp" command. There is also a TeX output previewer, called "xdvi" which will display your results on an X-Windows system so that it can be previewed for formatting problems before it is printed. Files formatted in the LaTeX style can be prepared for display on the World Wide Web by using the latex2html processor. Users who would like to display equations of the Web will find this quite useful since it processes all the equations into separate "gif" files for inclusion in the ".html" page. That completes the TeX roundup. Other utilities may be added in the future so stay tuned. © 1999, The University of Alabama. The information included here is for the University of Alabama central computing facility as it was configured on the document date. It may or may not apply to other Unix systems.
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