I use Mma mainly to solve relatively small problems.
I want to start using it also to prepare my presentations and documents, but I am having troubles to learn how to do it from the embedded help, and I guess some good resources may be available elsewhere.
Do you know any useful pointers (books, papers, videos ...)?
Do you have a "bag of tricks" to post here?
Edit
This question received two answers so far (#mzabsky's and Mr.Wizard's) and although both are useful, perhaps my concerns are much more basic. So I am posting an example of the kind of things I am unable to do (or understand how to discern how others did them).
I took the following example from The Mathematica Journal (the notebook at the left on the following image - click on the image to see full size):
So, some issues, just to get the idea of my troubles:
1) I copied the text to my .nb on the right, formatted it with the same style (text), but the appearance is different, so I guess the style definition is different. How can I copy the style definitions from one .nb to the other?
2) The table below the text block doesn't have an attached style. How was it formatted? Where is the background color defined?
I would like pointers to read (or videos to look, or whatever) about these issues. I don't want you to write down here a book on Mathematica formatting!
Summary of the links posted in answers
A Mathgroup thread (John Browne) and here (David Park and
Selwyn Hollis)
Advice from Bob Ueland
The Writing Assistant Palette
David Park's notes
Simon's documents
Tips for Mathematica SlideShow presenters
Notebook formatting
Presentations with Mathematica
Videos
Tips for Mathematica Slide Show Presenters
How to - Automatic Slide Show
Create a Lecture Notebook
I use Mathematica to take lecture notes in real time without any major issues (while the proud TeX guys struggle hard to keep up :) ). I have also used it for most math-related homework/assignments I wrote during past two and half years on university.
Before you start, you may want to look at some of these video tutorials.
Also, a few recommendations from me:
Keyboard shortcuts are the key to type fast. Ctrl+9 for inline math cell, Ctrl+6 for superscript, etc.
Learn symbol identifiers for the "esc - symbol - esc" notation. "sum" for Sum, "es" for empty set...you can find list of these in the Mathematica documentation. I have encountered only very few symbols I wanted to type that don't have the esc notation name (for example, leftwards double arrow or double right tee).
Type all math-related stuff into inline math cells. The math cell will do some of the math related formatting for you - put spaces where they belong, render all variables and symbols in italics, etc.
Use the preformatted templates found in "New"->"Styled Notebook".
Do not use ENTER for breaklines, individual paragraph should go into separate text cells (Ctrl+Shift+D) so Mathematica can break the content into individual pages/slides correctly.
In-built Mathematica PDF export sucks big-time; I use CutePDF printer for this.
Also, save often and back up often (Dropbox/Syncplicity are the ideal solution), one misplaced keyboard shortcut can turn hundred hours of work worth document into a goulash (trust me, been there) :)
Example of lecture notes I took in real-time during lecture (it is in Czech, but that doesn't matter much).
I agree with all that mzabsky said in his answer.
Here's a few of extra things:
I find it useful to make statements using a Text or DisplayFormula cell then manually group a Mathematica check/proof to the statement which is then collapsed and can be displayed when you want.
The Writing Assistant Palette has quite a few useful constructions in it that you can learn from.
Finally, I found it really useful to make my own style sheet for a couple reasons:
1) the built-in ones are a bit ugly; 2) it really helps you to understand how the notebooks work.
To see examples of the stylesheet I made (which I don't claim to be perfect - I didn't bother making it work in all screen environments) look at some of the files in ftp://ftp.physics.uwa.edu.au/pub/MATH2200/2010/. I use a similar stylesheet in all of my notes - I have many research projects primarily contained in Mma notebooks, eg http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.3043.
Like Mr Wizard, I also recommend David Park's notes as a starting point. Also, you should study stylesheets that you like by going to the Format menu and clicking "Edit Stylesheet". Don't forget to follow the links through the cascade of stylesheets (version 6 onwards).
To answer the questions in your edit: Once you are viewing a notebook's stylesheet, you can save it, edit it, and use it in your own documents. Stylesheets in
$UserBaseDirectory/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/StyleSheets are automatically available in the menu. You can then use that stylesheet in any notebook by simply selecting it from the menu.
The formating in the screenshot that you posted is all contained in the stylesheet. This includes the grey background in the table.
Addendum:
When distributing notebooks to others, if the stylesheet is external from the notebook, then other people will not see it as you do. To include the stylesheet into the current notebook, you need code like
ss = StyleDefinitions /. Options[EvaluationNotebook[]]
fn = ToFileName[{$UserBaseDirectory, "SystemFiles", "FrontEnd", "StyleSheets"}, ss]
If[FileExistsQ[fn],
style=Get[fn];SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[],StyleDefinitions->style];,
Print["Can not find file"]]
(Assuming the file is in stored in the conventional place)
Here's an EmbedStylesheet.m that is an improved version of the above.
A Mathgroup thread on embedded stylesheets, particularly here (John Browne) and here (David Park and Selwyn Hollis) might be of interest.
I find stylesheets problematical. In particular I don't like having to remember to embed a stylesheet before I give the notebook to someone else, or before I try to print from an unfamiliar computer. However, along with David Park's tutorial (referenced above by Mr Wizard), I find this advice from Bob Ueland very useful.
If you browse the back-issues of The Mathematica Journal you will see that articles are available in Notebook format. These may be a useful reference.
Edit
I cannot recall a good formatting tutorial at the moment. You can use Show Expression (Win: Shift+Ctrl+E) to view the code expression for a block, such as the table in your example. While one may not enter code by hand in the same form, it can give indications of the options or methods that are used. Code can also be procedurally produced as needed.
I will add links as I find or recall them.
David Park's StyleSheet creation notes
Tips for Mathematica SlideShow presenters
These are brief, but may still be useful:
Notebook formatting
Presentations with Mathematica
Related
I am new to coding and wanted to get some hands on practice with a project I have in mind. Here it is:
Let's say you have blank page and on the side of a screen you have several items you can choose to draw on the blank page. For example the background can be mountains, the ocean, a forest etc. On top of that you can place a house, a church or another selectable element. Whatever you like.
It is like a picture editor where you can put together a picture with different pre-given elements. Or like in video games where you can create your own character.
What would I need to build a web application for that kind of thing?
This link should get you started but it won't be the complete answer to your question - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/08/how-to-use-html5s-drag-and-drop/
Essentially, you can achieve your image dragging and dropping using similar techniques. It will require a bit of Spike work from yourself, and looking into how HTML5 can handle drag and drop. I discovered this resource fairly quickly and I think the solution you want isn't as complicated as you may think, it just requires a bit of know-how regarding drag and drop operations within HTML5 :-)
Also, there may already be some JavaScript based API's that do this sort of thing easier but I'm not too aware - I suppose starting this way could be a great introduction for you and you may wish to expand once you've done some work for it :-)
Hope this helps you and your coding journey!
I need to maintain some slides in both latex beamer and in powerpoint. (This is to make slides available for instructors elsewhere, too, 90% of which do not know how to use latex and are unwilling to learn it. and I am a latex guy on linux.)
I have tried the route via Libreoffice (and opendocument), but this did not come out well. right now, the best method that I have found is to author pdf in beamer, then run it through a nuance OCR program to get MS Word...and not even go all the way to Powerpoint (which is where I really need to be).
If I only had a markup language that produced nice Powerpoint, I could probably code a perl translator from markdown to this intermediate markup language. (going from markdown to latex beamer is relatively easy.)
I don't think this exists, but hope springs eternal. after all, it is almost 2014 now. does anyone know of a solution?
One solution is to use odpdown: It converts markdown to the OpenOffice Presenter format, which can be imported into PowerPoint.
It is not yet complete, i.e. table support is missing and possibly not running on certain Windows setups, but nevertheless it could be a start. Possibly, you have Linux running, where it seems to work.
Steve Rindsberg's answer in the comments works on PP 2007 works! Let me repeat it here:
I suspect that PowerPoint is the likeliest solution. ;-) But what sort
of slides are you creating? If they're simple heading and bullet point
slides, all you need to produce is a simple text file. Any text that
starts in the left column will be the heading of a new slide. Indent
one tab and it becomes a first-level bullet point under the current
heading; indent two tabs, it becomes a second level bullet point and
so on. Simply use File | Open on the text file to pull it into PPT.
Steve: Is this all that PP converts? Or is there a reference of other "sneaky" markup that PP knows about?
(pandoc: unfortunately, the conversion from libreoffice to powerpoint is pretty poor when I tried it last. I also tried to save and understand the powerpoint xml format, but that was REAL bad.)
The easiest way to handle this is to work with:
RStudio (and R if not already installed)
RMarkdown
Pandoc 2.0.5 (minimum)
Install those 3 (or 4) items, then read: https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown/powerpoint-presentation.html
The installation time is worth the time saved copy-pasting everything from scratch.
I also am a Linux guy and I also use LateX engines to create nice documents. Based on my experience, here's what you should do :
Stop writing directly in LaTeX and start using org-mode to write documents instead (I spent years writing in LaTeX and now it's over (except when I use modernv package))
Org supports latex math formulas and .org files are easily exported in .tex files
Org can also be easily exported in markdown
Once you have your markdown, there are several tools that will allow you to create a PowerPoint. Two of them are pandoc and md2pptx
I tried to sign up, but I was unable; perhaps a problem from my side. Hopefully I'll get an answer as anonymous.
I apologize for the grammar/syntax, but English isn't my native language.
Recently I lost my job, so I have enough spare time to try something fun. I decided to create a simple text RPG game for me and some friends. It will very close to the board games like Talisman, Dungeon Run, and HeroQuest, using dice and a simple attribute/skill system. So no 3d graphics. The only 2d element, if I decide to include it, will be a map
that will allow the hero to move between locations. Currently I'm using Windows XP SP3, for the game I use wxDev-C++, and although cross platform would be cool, I don't really care.
I have some experience in C++ (currently using wxDev-C++), but I'm far from being called an expert or even a great programmer. I was about to start writing parts of the code, but I decided to check if creating a GUI for the game is possible. In some forums, many suggested I use Qt, CEGUI or wxWidgets, but most examples I saw are grey boxes that are
indifferent at best, when I want something that fits better in a fantasy setting. I don't claim I would do better, but I want a GUI that is more fantasy related.
What I want from the GUI:
1. A "cool" Gui with decent graphics. I could even create an image to serve as a mask in Photoshop, but the GUI builder will have to support imported images.
2. A relatively large textbox in the middle (with a scrollbar) that will display die rolls, damage and options.
3. The ability to display dynamically values (like the change in the health after each action without requiring to refresh manually)
4. Display an icon or a small image of the character in the area where I display stats/abilities.
5. Open new windows created with tha same GUI builder to allocate points, buy/sell things and open a map.
About the map in the game: I decided to create a map in photoshop. When the hero decides to move to another location, a new window will open showing the map. I thought of 2 possible ways to move between locations: 1) Create hotspots on the image and select one by clicking on the name of the location.(I dare not think about the complexity of this so we
move to idea #2) and 2) Have the image as a backgroung to a grid with vertical and horizontal coordinates. When the hero selects a new area to visit, he clicks on the area, but what he really does is click on the grid, which returns the two values (x,y) of the location and informs the game about the area the hero wants to visit.
Yeah, yeah, I know it's too much, so what I'm most interested in are the 1-3. I know that even if they are possible, it will propably take forever, but as I said I have spare time, and I like learning new things. I apologize for the size of the post, but I decided to post as many info as possible so you know what I want.
If any of you has used Qt, CEGUI or wxWidgets could you tell which covers most of my criteria? I saw some great stuff build with CEGUI, but I don't know if it is too hard to learn?
Thank in advance.
I know my answer comes pretty late, I only recently started using stackoverflow fairly recently, but maybe this response will help anybody.
CEGUI fully supports skinning widgets using XML. Our CEED editor (WYSIWYG) fully supports layout editing, but the skinning editor (LNF editor) is not finished as of now (11.11.2014), the development version supports exchanging images however and changing sizes and proportions, but more advanced adjustments have to be done in XML.
CEGUI has an imageset editor, fully supported by the CEED editor. Creating imagesets (sets of named subimages, with position and dimension inside a big texture atlas) is supported there. Additionally there is a way to create imagesets from just a bunch of jpg/png/... files using a tool. You would have to ask for specifics in the forum though because it is not integrated into CEED yet.
So basically with CEGUI you are free to make whatever fantasy GUI you want. Skinning simple elements like buttons and progress bars isn't much work in XML anyways. Without the finished editor, some more advanced widgets are more work to skin, but many skins have already been created done this way and some of them are even publically available in the forum and in the CEGUI stock files.
StaticText widgets supports what you want, you can even use images in there or change fonts and colours in the text if you want. Scrollbars are supported too.
I am not sure what you mean by this. You have to specify this.
A simple "Generic/Image" widget is available in CEGUI for this purpose. You can use precreated images or even RTT textures.
You can create and destroy windows in CEGUI without issues.
Regarding the map: I m not sure what you mean, but getting the position of a click in respect to an image (representing the map) is possible in CEGUI.
CEGUI is not particularly hard to learn. There is always the forums and the chat if you got questions. For an Open Source project it is quite well documented so if you read all of the API docu, and look at the supplied samples in the sample browser, you should already get quite far. And for everything additional there is the forum (search), the IRC chat and a community wiki (mind the targeted versions of an article there though)
For a project like yours, CEGUI seems perfectly suited (this is what it was created for in the first place). Qt is not really optimal for games for numerous reasons. wxWidgets I have never used.
It should behave like Delicious toolbar for Firefox does; it lists possible tags to click. The effect is shown as below:
The code should be able to find key words for the text. Any good algorithm or open source project to recommend?
I found this post, but it is a bit too general for my specific need.
I think you're looking for one of these answers,
tag generation from a text content
How to extract common / significant phrases from a series of text entries
tag generation from a small text content (such as tweets)
In a nutshell - you're looking to extract unigrams from the text that somehow represent the concepts within it - a technique to do this is called Pointwise Mutual Information, which is illustrated with an example in the first two links. Using the Python NLTK framework (which already has a bunch of these algorithms built in) might be your best starting point to work off from.
Good luck!
A few years ago I read an article about a neat way to analyze a large code-base.
The idea was to zoom out so far that patterns of indentation and block length are all that is really visible.
The author wrote about printing out code with very small fonts and looking at the results from 10 feet back. I believe the author also had some tools for reformatting code and producing images for this technique, in such a way that paper could be avoided.
I can't find the right search query to bring this up. Anyone have any ideas?
The text editor Sublime Text has a zoomed-out overview of your code on the left of the window, and can be used to scroll.
I've done this myself, that is print to paper with very small fonts and step back. If you want to avoid the paper route then perhaps you can print to PDF?
Or use and editor that can zoom in and out by changing font size. I use SciTE and Komodo Edit, both based on the Scintilla code editing engine and both allow me to hold down the ctrl key and use the mousewheel to change font size (just like web browsers).
With a bit of Google-fu I found references that this (ctrl+mousewheel) may also be implemented in Visual Studio and XCode. Can anyone confirm?
I think you are referring to Software Visualization? If you search for Code Visualizer, you maybe able to find a few products out there that does it but there are more focusing on aggregating the measurements information/metrics together for software comprehension and not necessary as a way to view or navigating to code only.
Some of the tools include Code city, code crawler or code visualizer. Michele Lanza and his team did some great work in this area in the recent years, however some only has support for certain language/platform so be mindful if they are going to be useful for you.
http://www.inf.usi.ch/faculty/lanza/
http://www.inf.usi.ch/phd/wettel/codecity.html
Could extract all the types, classes, etcetera, and put them into a tool such as graphviz and generate a graph.