[Axiom-developer] RE: TeXmacs+Axiom

[Bill Page]

On May 20, 2007 5:47 PM Ralf Hemmecke wrote:
> ... 
> Oh from
> http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/TeXmacs
> I see that you have (re)written tm_axiom. Cool.
> How come that this is *not* a literate program?
> 

Well technically tm_axiom was originally part of TeXmacs
although arguably it could/should be part of Axiom. If we
agree to make it part of Axiom I would be happy to take
the time to make it at least a little bit literate.

> I don't understand C very well,

Every time someone on this list says "I don't understand X"
but they already program in Aldor/Spad/Lisp or whatever, it
makes me wonder about their motivations as opposed to their
skill ... :-) "C" is a particularly simple language.

> so it would take me ages until I get an idea what the
> program does, except that I know that it establishes the
> texmacs <---> axiom connection. That sources are not very
> helpful for me. :-(

Right, tm_axiom is very simple. The original version (still
used in the Linux version of TeXmacs) was written by Andrey
Grozin. I believe that he is still a member of this email list.
tm_axiom is just a two-way filter. It passes comands generated
by a TeXmacs Axiom "session" (part of a TeXmacs document)
directly on to Axiom console input and it accepts output from
Axiom and parses it for it's LaTeX and type contents, formats
that for TeXmacs and sends it on to TeXmacs. That's all.

My version for Windows makes use of Windows native threads to
implement the filters (many thanks due to Mike Thomas for the
hints required to do this). This just makes the coding a little
simpler and faster under Windows. tm_axiom could also be written
this way under Linux but it would require a slightly different
thread interface.

The only other complication is that currently TeXmacs does
not do a very good job of folding the LaTeX code that is
output by Axiom, therefore in my version ot tm_axiom I
incorporated Robert Sutor's LaTeX line folding code that
is also used to produce the LaTeX in the Axiom book from
Axiom output.

> 
> I only see that TeXmacs' tm_axiom and the one of
> Bill Page start AXIOMsys.
> 
> >>
> >>    Unexpected End5
> >>
> >> (everythinng in read except a black 5).
> >>
> >> And there is an "axiom]" prompt. Unfortunately, the cursor 
> >> then is right in the middle of this prompt.
> >>
> >> So I believe Axiom Gold does not work together with
> >> TeXmacs. Other experiences? Any cure?
> 

I am sure that Axiom Gold works fine with TeXmacs.

> > That the kind of symptom that I recall when tm_axiom
> > starts the 'axiom' script which starts sman and creates
> > the double prompt but tm_axiom has not been modified to
> > accept two prompts.
> 
> Oh, since I haven't changed tm_axiom, it should still
> call AXIOMsys, so there would be another reason for the
> "Unexpected End".
> 
> Anywaym, I feel unable to correct that myself. :-(
> 

In that case the problem is probably just that AxiomSYS
is not executable from your PATH. For this to work you
must set *both* the AXIOM environment variable to the
root of your Axiom Gold installation and set the PATH
like this:

  export PATH=$AXIOM/bin:$PATH

Then exit TeXmacs and try it again.

Regards,
Bill Page.