{"id":676,"date":"2009-12-12T15:18:56","date_gmt":"2009-12-12T19:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/wordpress\/?p=676"},"modified":"2011-12-17T12:31:40","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T16:31:40","slug":"learning-latex-to-remix-the-think-python-book-to-produce-python-for-informatics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/2009\/12\/learning-latex-to-remix-the-think-python-book-to-produce-python-for-informatics\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning LaTeX to remix the “Think Python” book to produce “Python for Informatics”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am thinking seriously about adopting “Think Python”<\/a> by Allen B. Downey<\/a> as the SI502 textbook. I like this book in particular because it is open and as such, I can alter it towards my ultimate goal of a book titled “Python for Informatics” which is focused on data analysis in Python. Think Python is a good starting point and saves me from writing the basic stuff about variables, loops, etc.<\/p>\n

\nIt is written in LaTeX and so I need to learn LaTeX – here are my notes so far for getting LaTeX up and running under Mac OS\/X and getting the ThinkPython book to render.<\/p>\n

\nInstall the MacTeX-2009 Distribution\nhttp:\/\/www.tug.org\/mactex\/2009\/\nIt needs a style file which you install in the main book directory:\nLATEX to HTML - http:\/\/hevea.inria.fr\/\ncurl -O http:\/\/hevea.inria.fr\/distri\/hevea.sty\nThen I run these commands manually since I don't\nhave make installed because it is my\nAir is always short on disk space :(\nlatex book\nmakeindex book\nlatex book\ndvips -t letter -Ppdf -o thinkpython.ps book\nopen thinkpython.ps\n<\/pre>\n
\nThen the issue is how to make new figures – Allen uses the classic XFig – I am looking for an alternative – I found two.<\/p>\n
\nI found  jPicEdt<\/a> described on a Forum on MacRumors<\/a>.  But I simply could not figure out how to change Font size – so I kept looking.<\/p>\n
\nThen I found  LaTeXDraw<\/a> – and while the UI confuses me – I did figure out how to put up a text box and change the font in about 45 minutes – urrg.  So I think I can make new EPS figures if I want to add a chapter or two to the book.<\/p>\n
\nSo it looks like I can write text, make figures and off I go.  I might even learn to like LaTeX… Many thanks to Allen B. Downey for having a great book with a nice copyright.   Off I go remixing your stuff…  :)<\/p>\n
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I am thinking seriously about adopting “Think Python” by Allen B. Downey as the SI502 textbook. I like this book in particular because it is open and as such, I can alter it towards my ultimate goal of a book titled “Python for Informatics” which is focused on data analysis in Python. Think Python is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2787,"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions\/2787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dr-chuck.com\/csev-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}