[Texmacs-dev] Russian language support

[Andrey G. Grozin]

Hello,

Last week I gave a talk at Software Freedom Day Novosibirsk about free 
computer algebra systems. Naturally, I used TeXmacs-1.0.7.16, and 
demonstrated maxima, reduce, and fricas. And I noticed a few problems 
which, I thought, were fixed during the Faro workshop or soon after it, 
but still not fixed in the release.

If I choose Document -> Language -> Russian, switch the keyboard to the 
russian mode, and press, say, the Russian letter a, nothing appears in 
the TeXmacs window. When started with --debug-keyboard, TeXmacs writes

Keyboard] Pressed #430 at 55931
        ] #430 -> #430 -> #430
Keyboard] unrecognized key #430 is probably missing in the encoding files.

I think this has been fixed during the Faro workshop; but in 1.0.7.16, I 
still cannot input Russian in the normal way. This is very inconvenient.

After fixing this, it would be good to remove Edit -> Preferences -> 
Keyboard -> Russian input method completely, because it is no longer 
needed. However, to prepare my talk I had to use jcuken input method 
(which should not be used now).

Another thing. When I export a Russian document to LaTeX, in 1.0.7.16 I 
get something like

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[russian]{babel}

\begin{document}

{\cyra}...

\end{document}

This is correct in the sense that running it through LaTeX produces the 
right result. However, it would be a nightmare to edit such a .tex file in 
a text editor. I definitely remember that during the workshop a much 
better export has been done, and I have an example .tex file produced 
using this method. It looks like

\documentclass{letter}

%%%%%%%%%% Start TeXmacs macros
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[russian]{babel}
%%%%%%%%%% End TeXmacs macros

\begin{document}

<Russian text in utf-8>

\end{document}

Such a file can be conveniently edited in, say, emacs. Why is this 
improved LaTeX export not in 1.0.7.16?

And one more thing, not directly related to Russian. Here I don't really 
understand what's happening. When I use a variable name like a2b in a cas, 
the cas writes it (in LaTeX) as \mathrm{a2b} (inside $ ... $, of course). 
Before the workshop, this was displayed as a*2*b in TeXmacs. During the 
workshop, this has been fixed. And indeed, when I import a LaTeX file 
containing $ ... \mathrm{a2b} ... $, I now (in 1.0.7.16) see a2b in the 
roman font - the desired result. In the maxima interface, I also see a2b. 
However, in the reduce interface I see a*2*b ! When started with 
--debug-io, TeXmacs writes

[INPUT]a2b;
[BEGIN]latex:\black$\displaystyle  \mathrm{a2b}$[END]

Why is it displayed as a*2*b here, but in maxima it looks OK? I don't 
understand. In maxima, I get

[INPUT]a2b;
[BEGIN]latex:$\displaystyle \mbox{\tt\red(\mathrm{\%o1}) \black}
 \mathrm{a2b}$[END]

and it displays correctly. I don't understand.

By the way, is there any interest in a .tm file about computer algebra 
with sample maxima, reduce, and fricas sessions? Currently, it's in 
Russian, but I can translate it to English.

Andrey