This directory contains the source code for the Euler Notebook, a project of Public Invention.
Euler Notebook seeks to make an electronic notebook for doing math with an emphasis on stylus (handwritten) input, with an "expert assistant" typesetting formulas, verifying the work, and making helpful suggestions. The notebook should also allow writing prose, drawing diagrams, performing calculations, plotting results, etc.
Math has been done for 300 years in a conventional way with convential syntax, typography, and style. Using Euler Notebook should feel like doing math on paper, only better.
Euler Notebook was created by David Jeschke, and he is the Invention Coach and "Benevelont Dictator For Now" of this project. The project is currently licensed under the Affero GPL. We actively seek volunteers and contributors.
For Euler Notebook we use the Google Chrome browser on computers and devices. There is a good chance that Euler Notebook will not work properly on other browsers because we currently do not test them.
As for devices with a stylus, we test with the Apple iPad Pro (12.9" 3rd gen). Note that Google Chrome is not the default browser on this device, so you will need to install it.
You need to turn off the iPad's Scribble feature when using Euler Notebook (Settings -> Apple Pencil -> Scribble). If you don't turn it off, then when writing quickly with the Apple Pen every other stroke will be dropped.
Tip: If you would like a more paper-like feel when using the Apple Pencil with the iPad you might consider a Paperlike screen protector.
We run the server on Apple Mac computers with the latest version of OS X.
If you want Euler Notebook to support other browsers, devices, or operating systems, let us know.
You may already have node and git on your computer.
We use the most recent LTS release of node, version 18.12.1 as of this writing.
git clone git@github.com:PubInv/euler-notebook.git ~/euler-notebookThis will create a configuration directory and a directory to store user notebooks.
mkdir ~/.euler-notebook
mkdir ~/euler-notebook-usrThis is a temporary step required in the absence of program functionality to create user accounts.
This step assumes a username of sam. Replace it with the username of your choice.
mkdir ~/euler-notebook-usr/sam
cp ~/euler-notebook/server/config-dir/user-info.json ~/euler-notebook-usr/sam/.user-info.jsonAlso, obtain a 26-pixel square .PNG image for the user account and place it in ~/euler-notebook/server/public/images/profile-pics/sam-26x26.png.
In step 6, you will be able to log in to this account using username sam and password abracadabra.
You can change the password by editing the .user-info.json file that you copied into the sam directory, above. Yes, we know it is a bad practice to keep passwords in plain text, and we will store the passwords encrypted when we implement functionality to create user accounts.
If you add additional users, ensure clientObj.id is a unique integer in the .user-info.json file for each user.
This will install dependencies, build, run unit tests, and run the euler-notebook server.
scripts/goPoint your browser to localhost. Log in with the username and password from step 4.
We actively encourage you to send us feedback about these instructions and your experience with Euler Notebook. Thank you!
See the Development section below for more information about running locally.
Euler Notebook can do a lot more when connected to some third-party services. MyScript has a Cloud API that can typeset handwritten, stylus-input formulas and text.
To connect Euler Notebook to MyScript, first create a MyScript developer account.
After you create an account, MyScript will send you an email message with an applicationKeyand an hmacKey.
Copy server/config-dir/myscript.json to ~/.euler-notebook/ and edit the file to insert the keys you received from MyScript.
Restart the Euler Notebook server for the configuration changes to take effect.
Mathpix OCR is a Cloud API that can recognize typeset and handwritten formulas and text in images.
To connect Euler Notebook to Mathpix, create a Mathpix account.
TODO: describe how to get the keys from Mathpix.
Copy server/config-dir/mathpix.json to ~/.euler-notebook/ and edit the file to insert the keys you received from Mathpix.
Restart the Euler Notebook server for the configuration changes to take effect.
WolframScript is a free functional scripting language with extensive mathematical capabilities.
To connect Euler Notebook to WolframScript, install the free Wolfram Engine for Developers.
Then install WolframScript.
You will need to set up a Wolfram Account to get a license.
Run the Wolfram Engine app once in order to activate it.
Copy server/config-dir/wolframscript.json to ~/.euler-notebook/ and edit the file to insert the keys you received from Wolfram.
Restart the Euler Notebook server for the configuration changes to take effect.
Wolfram|Alpha is a mathematical search engine.
To connect Euler Notebook to Wolfram|Alpha, ... TODO.
Copy server/config-dir/wolfram-alpha.json to ~/.euler-notebook/ and edit the file to insert the keys you received from Wolfram.
Restart the Euler Notebook server for the configuration changes to take effect.
In the Chrome browser on Windows, press F11 to go fullscreen,
or tap the three vertical dots to the right of the browser address bar,
then tap on the incomplete square icon to the right of "Zoom".
To exit fullscreen mode, press F11 again,
or hover the mouse cursor at the top of the screen with pen or mouse,
and a close button will appear.
To delete any automatically-generated files run scripts/clean.
To install libraries that euler notebook depends on run scripts/install.
To build an executable euler-notebook client and server from source run scripts/build.
To run unit tests after euler notebook has been built run scripts/test.
To start the euler notebook server run scripts/run.
The scripts/go command runs the above scripts in the order listed.
The source code is divided into two subdirectories, client and server.
The server is an express server, so it would be helpful to be familiar with that. Along with express, we use Pug for HTML templating and Stylus for CSS simplification.
You need to restart the express server if you modify any of the web-server JavaScript files. You do not need to restart the server if you modify PUG HTML (server/views/.pug) or Stylus CSS (server/public/stylesheets/.styl) files. Just refresh the browser page.
Static assets to be served by the web server are placed in the server/publicdirectory.
If you modify a client source file you need to rebuild the client before re-running the server.
This can be accomplished with scripts/build && scripts/run.
To rebuild the client every time there are changes: ~/euler-notebook/client$ npx webpack --watch
To restart the server every time there are changes: ~/euler-notebook/server$ npx nodemon
We use the debug library for emitting debugging information.
For server debug information, set the DEBUG environment variable to turn on debugging information:
DEBUG="server:*" npx nodemonFor client debug information, use the browser console to set localStorage.debug:
localStorage.debug="client:*"
To get debugging information from a specific file, specify the filename instead of the asterisk wildcard, e.g.
DEBUG="server:client-socket. You can specify multiple files by comma-separating them, and exclude debug
messages from a specific file by prefixing it with a minus sign. See the documentation for debug.
To see JavaScript console messages in Chrome on an iPad, open another tab to chrome://inspect.
To run a specific file of unit tests, in the server directory:
DEBUG="server:example" npx mocha -r ./node_modules/ts-node/register test/example.spec.ts- Various icons, IconMonster.