Document 100

SWP and SW Version 2.5 Features

Contents

1. Introduction

2. SW Features

   1. Basic Features

      1. Rich Interface

      2. Natural Entry of Text and Mathematics

      3. Mathematical Computations Inside your Document

      4. Easy Creation of Complex Documents

      5. Beautiful Printed Documents

   2. New Features

3. The SW Approach

Introduction

With Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Word, you can create mathematics and text on the same screen and you can produce typeset-quality formulas, equations, and documents. And with Scientific WorkPlace either the Professional or the Student Edition, you can perform a wide range of mathematical computations while writing by using a fully integrated version of Maple, the symbolic computation system, or a link to your Mathematica software. Both Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Word incorporate an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use scientific word processor.

Products from MacKichan Software, Inc. set the stage for your creativity with their straightforward approach to entering and working with mathematics and text. You use familiar mathematical notation, not special codes, to enter and display your mathematics. You enter mathematics in the same window in which you enter text, rather than in a special equation window. Mathematical operations implied in mathematical expressions or equations can be performed immediately with just a keystroke. A wide range of mathematical operations can be applied to equations, matrices, and expressions (even subexpressions) by simply pointing and clicking. And you determine the appearance of your document by choosing a print style instead of entering detailed formatting directions one by one. MacKichan Software, Inc. products use TeX typesetting software to produce documents with a consistent typeset-quality appearance that adheres to internationally accepted mathematical formatting standards. With Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Word, you are free to concentrate on the content of your work, not the details of formatting and computing.

SW Features

The features that are new in Version 2.5 of SW add to those that characterized earlier versions of the software. They enhance your ability to create and edit your content, perform symbolic computations, and produce typeset-quality documents.

Basic Features

If you've used an earlier version of SW, you'll recognize these important features in Version 2.5.

Rich Interface

• Apply what you already know about using Windows applications directly to the SW environment. First, you'll find the available commands in menus, bars, buttons, and popup lists on the screen. Many commands have associated dialog boxes, as indicated by the ellipses that follow certain menu commands and buttons. Second, you can enter commands from the keyboard or with the mouse using standard keyboard and mouse techniques. You can speed your work with drag-and-drop editing and with speed scrolling. And third, you'll recognize many standard Windows keyboard conventions, such as using ctrl+x to cut a selection to the clipboard or shift to extend a selection. For a review of these conventions, see your Windows documentation.

• Use a comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts and key prefixes—special key combinations for performing basic operations and entering symbols, characters, and the most common mathematical objects. The keyboard shortcuts and key prefixes are often faster to use than the mouse.

• Work with pleasing on-screen mathematics and italics created with TrueType and Type 1 outline fonts. SW uses Windows 3.1 (or higher) TrueType fonts. Some of the required fonts are supplied with Windows and some are supplied with SW. You can also use Adobe Type Manager and Adobe Type 1 fonts.

Natural Entry of Text and Mathematics

• Enter text and mathematics in the same paragraph. The SW screen default is to show text in black and mathematics in red so you can easily distinguish them. The Math/Text button on the main window indicates whether the insertion point is in text or in mathematics:
  
  

  Everything you enter is assumed to be text unless you specify otherwise. You can toggle between text and mathematics easily with the mouse or the keyboard.

• Use templates for entering mathematical objects for entering mathematical objects such as fractions, radicals, enclosures, and matrices by inserting and filling the template for the object you want. For example, if you insert a fraction, SW places this template into your document:
  
  

  and places the insertion point in the small input box that appears in the numerator so you can complete the fraction. You do not need templates to enter individual mathematical symbols and characters. You enter them directly into your expression using the menus, buttons, or key prefixes.

• Define automatic substitution sequences to speed the entry of the mathematical expressions you use most often. When the insertion point is in mathematics and you type the substitution sequence, SW replaces the sequence with the corresponding expression. You can turn automatic substitution off or on at any time.

• Use the full set of American Mathematical Society symbols. Incorporate in your documents all the symbols in the AMS fonts. SW supports the full set of AMS fonts, both on the screen and in print.

• Create multiline displays quickly and add numbers selectively to each line of the display for easy cross-referencing throughout your document. You can override the automatically generated numbers with your own labels.

• Place text and mathematics in tables with the easy-to-use table editor.

Mathematical Computations Inside your Document

Perform mathematical computations directly from the main window of Scientific WorkPlace:

• Execute implied operations. Apply Evaluate to display the result of operations implicit in the document, from basic arithmetic operations to computations in calculus and linear algebra.

• Apply mathematical operations. The Maple menu in Scientific WorkPlace provides many operations you can apply to solve mathematical problems. Solve systems of linear equations or differential equations, fit curves to data, and experiment with graphs.

• Obtain mathematical results separately or in place. Select a piece of mathematics and apply an operation to obtain the result directly in your document. Press the ctrl key during the operation to replace the original expression with the result of the computation.

• Create graphics. Create two- and three-dimensional plots with Plot 2D and Plot 3D Rectangular, or use the many other options provided on the Plot 2D and Plot 3D submenus. Use convenient plot tools to zoom and pan two-dimensional plots and rotate three-dimensional plots to obtain optimal views. Use drag-and-drop mouse techniques to add new functions to a graph quickly and easily.

• Create and operate on matrices. Create matrices with Insert Matrix or Fill Matrix. Carry out implied operations simply by applying Evaluate to a sum, product, or power. Apply the numerous mathematical operations displayed on the Matrices submenu.

• Operate with the names of functions, after defining them by expressions. Define generic functions and use them to illustrate rules for differentiation or use the names of generic functions in defining new functions.

• Make use of user-defined Maple functions. Use the Define Maple Name dialog box to access and take advantage of functions that have been programmed in full Maple.

Easy Creation of Complex Documents

• Use tags to add structural elements such as lists, sections, or theorems to your document and to emphasize words or phrases in the text. In SW, each paragraph has an associated tag that determines whether it is a section heading or part of the body of your document.

• Manage large documents with ease by creating a master document that incorporates several smaller, more manageable subdocuments. When you print the master document, SW creates all surrounding front and back matter specified by the print style and resolves all cross-references internal to all subdocuments.

• Import files directly into an active document to speed document creation. Use the Import Contents feature to copy the contents of other files into your active document. SW imports the body of the document but not the style or back matter.

• Illustrate your ideas with graphics created in popular software applications and imported to SW. Enhance your documents with graphics generated in TIFF, PICT, CGM, EPS, WMF, BMP, DIB, CDR, and many other formats.

• Create indexes and bibliographies easily. Simplify the generation of back matter for your document with a streamlined procedure for creating indexes and the ability to create either manual or BibTeX bibliographies.

• Resolve all document cross-references automatically. Create cross-references to sections, pages, and other markers in your document, and then let SW and LaTeX do the work of resolving the references when you compile your document.

Beautiful Printed Documents

• Produce typeset-quality printed documents automatically. Your documents are typeset using LaTeX, a set of macros designed by Leslie Lamport to enhance TeX with document-structuring features such as tables of contents and bibliographies. TeX is the extraordinary mathematics typesetting program and language designed by Donald Knuth. The Windows implementation of TeX and LaTeX that is supplied with SW is TrueTeX, a product of Kinch Computer Company. Because typesetting is automatic, you do not have to know TeX or LaTeX to use SW effectively.

• Determine the appearance of your document by choosing from a wide selection of predefined print styles. Select the typeset appearance of your document from more than 100 print styles for producing books, articles, reports, and other types of documents. Because the styles contain complete document formatting instructions, you can concentrate on writing your document instead of on formatting its appearance.

• Define new print styles with the Style Editor. Use the Style Editor to create special print styles that match your formatting requirements; then save those styles for future use. You don't have to know LaTeX to create print styles with the Style Editor (not available in the Student Edition).

• Create AMS-LaTeX documents. SW now creates documents in AmS-LaTeX format automatically when you choose one of the AmS-LaTeX print styles.

• Produce documents using REVTeX, a package of LaTeX macros designed for preparing physics manuscripts. Version 2.5 includes several styles for producing documents in REVTeX formats.

• Take advantage of the latest in TeXnology. Use the latest versions of TeX and LaTeX to create documents with a much wider variety of scalable fonts. SW includes support for the New Font Selection Scheme, LaTeX2e, and a high-capacity TeX that processes your documents quickly. Your SW package also includes TrueTeX, featuring a previewer that uses TrueType and Type 1 fonts, supports a wide range of graphics formats, and enables you to print on any Windows-supported device including fax boards.

• Preview the typeset appearance of your documents with more than one previewer. Choose from all installed previewers when you're ready to see your document as it will appear in print. You can also use the Compile feature to create a typeset file without previewing or printing until you're ready to see the finished document.

New Features

The following features are new in Version 2.5 of SW. You can find more information about these features in Creating Documents with Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Word, online Help, and the document readme.tex in the docs directory.

• Take advantage of improved performance with 32-bit processing . Create and produce documents faster with built-in 32-bit processing. Use SW in the 32-bit environments of Windows 3.1 with Win32s 1.3, Windows 95, and Windows NT to write, preview, and print your documents.

• Use enhanced computational capabilities. Perform mathematical computations even more intuitively with substitution in expressions, deferred evaluation, subscript variables, and other enhancements to the Maple interface. If you use Mathematica, SW now offers a connection to your Mathematica software.

• Open several windows at once. Open several SW documents and several views of the same document at the same time. The changes you make in one view of a document are recorded in all views of the same document.

• Arrange the screen for your convenience. Dock the toolbars where you want them on the top, bottom, or sides of the SW main window; hide those toolbars you don't need; and display the symbol panels while you work. SW retains the toolbar and panel placement from session to session.

• Speed your work with expanded toolbar operations. Use the buttons on several new toolbars to speed standard file and editing operations and basic mathematical calculations. The buttons mirror commands on the File, Edit, Insert, Go, and Maple menus. Tooltips identify the associated menu commands.

• Develop your own print styles with the new Style Editor. Set the specifications for fonts, paragraphs, and other elements of style more intuitively and with greater flexibility, and preview your style from the completely redesigned Style Editor. (The Style Editor is not available in the Student Edition.) When all you need is a simple document, create letters, memos, and reports with the new easy styles provided with SW.

• Create dynamic documents with hypertext links. Use the links to jump to paragraphs, sections, or objects with an identifying key, and then retrace your steps with the history feature. The ease of entering cross-references has been improved in SW Version 2.5 with drop-down lists of defined markers.

• Insert external program calls into your document. Call demonstrations, interactive tutorials, and other programs from within your SW document.

• Use SW with Western European and some Eastern European languages. SW now provides fonts and hyphenation support for languages other than English. You can switch languages in the same document by using Babel, the multilingual LaTeX package, and you can enter your documents from non-U.S. keyboards.

• Create and edit documents more easily with an improved interface. Use both text and mathematics in the lead-in objects for lists and theorems. Enter spaces, rules, fills, and breaks directly from dialog boxes, and specify tags for standard LaTeX text sizes such as tiny, large, and huge.

• Find more help online. Use the expanded online SW Help feature to get help when you need it. The SW manuals are available through the Help menu, as is a series of tutorial exercises designed to help you learn to use the most important features of the software. The new Style Editor has its own fully illustrated and context-sensitive online Help feature.

• Load documents quickly with the Quick Load feature. Speed document loading by turning on the SW Quick Load feature. This new feature is especially useful for large documents used as interactive texts.

• Set the defaults for your workplace. Use the redesigned User Setup dialog box to set the defaults for measurement units, mouse button uses, start-up styles, placement and size of new graphics, automatic saving, and many other aspects of the SW environment.

• Display program code in SW. Use the new verbatim environment to include portions of programs in your document.

The SW Approach

Please read this section even if you don't read anything else!

The heart of the SW approach to document processing is the separation of content and appearance. The content of your work results from the creative process of forming ideas and putting them into words. The appearance of your work results from typesetting, the mechanical process of displaying the document on the printed page in the most readable format.

The SW approach, which is known as logical design, separates the creative process of writing from the mechanical process of typesetting. Logical design frees the writer to focus on creating the content instead of the format and results in greatly increased productivity. Logical design also leads to a more consistent and higher-quality document appearance, because choices of fonts, spacing, emphasis, and countless other aspects of format are applied automatically.

An alternative approach to word processing, called visual design, focuses on making the screen look as much like the printed page as possible. This approach has also been called WYSIWYG, for What You See Is What You Get.

We feel it's important for you to understand the difference between the two approaches because a logical system requires a very different interface from a visual system. If you are familiar with a WYSIWYG system, you may at first be surprised by some of the differences:

• When you use a WYSIWYG system, you constantly give commands that affect the appearance of the content—you select text and then choose a font, a point size, or a typeface. You apply alignment commands such as center, left justify, and right justify. To center an equation, for example, you select it and choose the center alignment.

  In a logical system, formatting commands are replaced by commands that define the logical structure of the content instead of its appearance. Rather than center text, you create a title, create a section head, or create a displayed equation. The format of the title, the alignment of section heads, and the alignment of equations are all determined separately by the document's print style, a collection of commands that define the way the document appears in print. Print styles are predefined for a variety of document types, and you can easily change from one print style to another. Also, you can create your own styles with the Style Editor (not available in the Student Edition).

• WYSIWYG systems divide documents into pages according to their anticipated typeset appearance. To see an entire line, you often have to scroll horizontally because the screen dimensions and page dimensions do not match.

  In a logical system, working with pages is unnecessary, because the division of a document into pages has no connection to the document's logical structure. Thus, on the screen SW breaks lines to fit the window. If you resize the window, the text is reshaped to fit it. In print, the lines break according to the format defined by the print style.

• In systems that focus on appearance instead of content, pressing the spacebar inserts a space that shows on the screen and is duplicated in print. Pressing the spacebar a second time inserts a second space.

  In a logical system, a space represents a logical division between words. Pressing the spacebar a second time has no meaning, so if you press the spacebar twice in succession, SW asks you to confirm that you want additional space at the insertion point.

Our emphasis on logical structure does not ignore the fact that documents must still be printed in a readable, organized, and visually pleasing format. Any of the many predefined print styles gives your document a high-quality, typeset appearance in print. With the previewer, you can examine the typeset appearance of the document without actually printing it.

Separating the processes of creating and formatting a document combines the best of the online and print worlds. You do the work of creating a good document; SW does the work of creating a beautiful one.

Added 12/14/07

This document was created with Scientific WorkPlace.