[Tioga-news] Version 1.2.0 is available !

[Bill Paxton]

On Oct 3, 2006, at 12:25 AM, Vincent Fourmond wrote:

> This version has
> dealt with one of the most annoying 'problem' with previous  
> versions of
> Tioga: it is now possible to set the exact size of the PDF file
> produced, with the page_setup function. You can then simply include
> directly the PDF file produced into LaTeX documents (or even others).

I just want to add to Vincent's comments on this particular aspect of  
the new release.

Use the page_setup function!

Now, for a few more details:

In Tioga, the problem of page setup has finally been solved.  At  
least, that's what I'm going to believe until I start hearing to the  
contrary from users!   I think Tioga is coming to that delicious  
stage in the evolution of any software when it starts to shrink.   
While you're feeling your way into a problem, the system expands as  
new approaches are tried and new features are added.  Once you  
finally begin to see how to do things in a good way, the design can  
be cleaned up and trimmed down.

For me at least, this has involved a "paradigm shift" concerning the  
role of the PDF file produced by Tioga.  In the "old fashioned" model  
I was carrying around in my head, that PDF was just a "preview" of  
what would be constructed later in a TeX document using the separate  
*_figure.txt and *_figure.pdf files.  In the "new vision", the so- 
called "preview" PDF has become the final product, and the *_figure  
files are strictly temporary steps in creating it.  I have a hunch  
that most of you have been using Tioga with the "new vision" in mind  
all along!  But the lack of a good way to do the page setup was  
making it difficult to do.

So...  I predict that in a not-to-distant release,  the word  
"preview" will be gone from Tioga's vocabulary.  The *_figure files  
will be automatically deleted along with the *.aux and *.log files  
that currently litter the landscape.  The enter_page routine will be  
used as a place to setup the default style for figures and plots --  
not just page size and margins, but also things like fonts and font  
sizes.

I have started converting all of my plot files to the new paradigm --  
I urge you to do the same.

Cheers,
Bill

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