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Julius Smith

JOS tasks this summer, in addition to project oversight/management/communications, included the following:

At the present time, there are no complete automated software tools for converting LATEX to CNXML, as needed for the Connexions website. We have therefore decided, for the time being, to disseminate REALSIMPLE work products on the CCRMA website in both HTML and PDF formats, using substantially the same terms of license (Creative Commons License 2.5) as materials on the Connexions website. This license allows anyone to perform the necessary conversions for contributing REALSIMPLE work products to the Connexions or any other website.

The principal technical barrier to generating CNXML from high-level source is the creation of MathML (Math Markup Language) from high-level source (LATEX in our case). A macro package is under development by Michael Kohlhase and others that will enable LATEX authors to specify semantic information in their mathematical formulas (in addition to the information needed for display, as is already provided by LATEX ). Such enhanced LATEX source is called ``semantic LATEX''. From this source, one can generate PDF files as usual, but also CNXML, which enables advanced Web applications such as searching of math formulas and copy/pasting formulas into symbolic mathematics applications such as Mathematica. Our present conversion from LATEX to HTML, on the other hand, renders most formulas as embedded images in the HTML, making mathematics a ``second-class citizen'' relative to text in the context of Web documents. While we feel MathML is valuable long term, using it now was deemed too large a task for our project at present. We will continue to monitor developments.

The first monochord laboratory assignment has been written and posted on the website. It contains what we consider to be appropriate beginning elementary experiments with the monochord.

Near the end of the summer quarter, all source materials for the REALSIMPLE project at CCRMA were consolidated into a Subversion source-control directory, from which project members (and ultimately anyone) can obtain a working copy of the source tree using the Subversion svn program. Software was written for conveniently generating the website automatically from the consolidated source tree, including automatically generated download-links for PDF versions, etc. This software was an adaptation of software developed over the years by JOS for his CCRMA website.


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Download rsadmin.pdf

``REALSIMPLE Project at CCRMA: Progress Reports'', by Julius Smith,
REALSIMPLE Project — work supported by the Wallenberg Global Learning Network .

Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA),   Stanford University
CCRMA