Re: [Axiom-developer] debian layout

[Tim Daly]

>  I have been surprised to see a few .as files in axiom-test.  I
>thought they were specific to Aldor (and not Axiom).  Are they just
>lying there without ever been used (I have not checked what they
>were)?

The .as files are there because in the fullness of time the plan calls
for restoring aldor functionality (I'm now an Aldor developer). So
they are "in plan" but not yet in use. Axiom has a couple "hanging"
portions waiting for the missing functions to be rebuilt. This takes a
surprisingly long time but there is progress you can't see because it
is happening locally. Graphics test cases are there but the graphics
code is not. However graphics code is coming to life and, hopefully,
might see the light of day by the end of this summer.

>  What would you think of a (new) axiom-source-doc package that would
>also include the output of noweave in .dvi or .ps or even .pdf.  I
>mean giving the sources with their comments in typeset format as
>expected by Tim from his literate programming pamphlets (maybe even
>the typset makefile...).

mnt/linux/doc contains .dvi files which are the output of running
noweave -> latex -> dvi on the pamphlet files. The long term plan
is to integrate the dvi files into the mythical new front end.
I've skipped using pdf and ps as I consider them to be write-only
formats (once info is in pdf or ps form I can't use it anywhere).
However it is trivial to make pdf or ps files if we want since
the dvi files exist. See, for example,
mnt/linux/doc/src/algebra for the dvi files from the algebra code.

In particular see 
mnt/linux/doc/src/algebra/dhmatrix.spad.dvi (algebra)
mnt/linux/doc/src/interp/setvars.boot.dvi  (interpreter internals)
for examples of documentation.

Every file I set out to modify I first set out to document. This
is very time consuming but necessary for the long term. Thus 
development is slowed even further because I have to reverse-engineer
code I wrote in the last century. For algebra it involves finding the
original research work and securing permission to use it (and then
understand it enough to document it).

Progress (albeit glacial) is happening.

Tim