texmax

Introduction

Texmax is a minimal frontend for the free computer algebra system maxima. It uses LaTeX for output rendering while maxima commands are supplied via a named pipe. This program is designed to follow the unix philosophy and thus allow for easy integration into other software, while the main purpose is, of course, the integration into extensible text editors.

Usage

If you run texmax it creates the following directories/files

.texmax/
    cmd
    doc.tex
    res.tex
    max.log

Among these files cmd is a named pipe which can be used to send a command to texmax, for example

$ echo "com\nintegrate(1/x,x);" > .texmax/cmd

texmax then evaluates the action com with the argument integrate(1/x,x);, which means "compute the expression integrate(1/x,x); via maxima". The output will then be appended to res.tex which content gets included in doc.tex, such that doc.tex can be compiled via LaTeX which can generate the maxima output as a pdf.

Once texmax is finished a return code will be written to cmd which shows potential errors while also indicating that doc.tex is ready for compilation. A return code of 0 declares that texmax finished successfully, while a positive value declares that an error occurred. This happens for example if the semicolon after integrate(1/x,x) would be missing. One can retrieve the return code, while simultaneously waiting for texmax, for example, with

$ cat .texmax/cmd

Aside from the action com there is also bat to evaluate a file (the filename is given as the argument) with maxima commands line by line, cls to clear the latex document rst to restart maxima and end to terminate texmax (the argument is ignored for the last two actions).

The file max.log simply serves as a log file for the maxima text output, which can be consulted if something goes wrong with the LaTeX version.

Examples

Integration in vim

To integrate texmax in vim add something like the following to your vimrc

function! TexmaxStart()
    silent exec "!texmax &"
    silent exec "!latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -output-directory=.tex .texmax/doc.tex"
    silent exec "!mimeo .tex/doc.pdf &"
endfunction

function! TexmaxStop()
    silent exec "!echo \"end\" > .texmax/cmd"
endfunction

function! TexmaxRestart()
    call TexmaxStop()
    silent exec "!texmax &"
    silent exec "!latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -output-directory=.tex .texmax/doc.tex"
endfunction

function! TexmaxClear()
    silent exec "!echo \"cls\" > .texmax/cmd"
    silent exec "!cat .texmax/cmd >/dev/null"
    silent exec "!latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -output-directory=.tex .texmax/doc.tex"
endfunction

function! TexmaxRestartMaxima()
    silent exec "!echo \"rst\" > .texmax/cmd"
    silent exec "!cat .texmax/cmd >/dev/null"
endfunction

function! TexmaxExecLine()
    let s:line = getline(".")
    silent exec "!echo \"com\\n" . escape(getline("."), "%\"") . "\" > .texmax/cmd"
    silent exec "!cat .texmax/cmd >/dev/null"
    silent exec "!latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -output-directory=.tex .texmax/doc.tex"
endfunction

function! TexmaxExecFile()
    call TexmaxClear()
    let s:line = getline(".")
    silent exec "!echo \"bat\\n".@%."\" > .texmax/cmd"
    silent exec "!cat .texmax/cmd >/dev/null"
    silent exec "!latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -output-directory=.tex .texmax/doc.tex"
endfunction

function! TexmaxExecFileAdd()
    let s:line = getline(".")
    silent exec "!echo \"bat\\n".@%."\" > .texmax/cmd"
    silent exec "!cat .texmax/cmd >/dev/null"
    silent exec "!latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -output-directory=.tex .texmax/doc.tex"
endfunction

autocmd BufRead *.mac command! TexmaxStart :call TexmaxStart()
autocmd BufRead *.mac command! TexmaxStop :call TexmaxStop()
autocmd BufRead *.mac command! TexmaxClear :call TexmaxClear()
autocmd BufRead *.mac command! TexmaxRestart :call TexmaxRestart()
autocmd BufRead *.mac command! TexmaxRestartMaxima :call TexmaxRestartMaxima()
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>s :call TexmaxStart()<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <space> :call TexmaxExecLine()<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <enter> :call TexmaxExecFile()<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>a :call TexmaxExecFileAdd()<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>c :call TexmaxClear()<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>v :!mimeo .tex/doc.pdf<cr><cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>vd :split .texmax/doc.tex<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>vr :split .texmax/res.tex<cr>
autocmd BufRead *.mac nnoremap <leader>vl :split .texmax/max.log<cr>
autocmd BufUnload *.mac silent exec "!test -p .texmax/cmd && echo \"end\" > .texmax/cmd"

Installation

Platforms

Texmax is currently only being tested on linux.

Requirements

To use texmax you should install dmenu (for question prompts in maxima) and probably a LaTeX compiler, otherwise it will be pretty useless.

Building

To build texmax use

$ make

For installation and deinstallation use

# make install

and

# make uninstall