Re: [Vim-latex-devel] Re: Review of vim-latex status

[Carl M. <cm...@ma...>]

Dear Srinath,

On Sun, Dec 29, 2002 at 07:23:11PM -0800, Srinath Avadhanula wrote:
> I remember that you used the fact that
> amsmath is used to change some behaviors... 

The presence of 

\usepackage{amsmath}

was used for the function key macros for entering
environments, and to replace them.  I picked out the most
common environments in each case (most common for me).  

"  KEY         LATEX                    AMSLATEX
" 
"  F1          equation                 equation
"  F2          \[...\]                  equation*
"  F3          eqnarray                 align
"  F4          eqnarray*                align*
"  F5          asks for environment     asks for environment

For me, the environments are logically ordered in this way,
that is, 

one-line, with numbering
one-line, without numbering
mulitine, with numbering
mulitine, without numbering

Of course, the current scheme of picking out an environment
with a number is nice, too.  The user can always bind the
function keys if he/she wants to save an extra key stroke or 2.
Maybe, the choices presented to the user could depend on the
presence of \usepackage{amsmath}.

In general, I like to use the fewest number of keystrokes.
That's why, for \mathbf, I have the user type a letter and
then press <Alt-b> (which then capitalizes the letter and
encloses it in \mathbf{} ).  Then I realized that with this
method, the same key could be used for several purposes,
depending on the key that preceded it.  For instance, 
<Alt-l> preceded by a bracket inserts \left...\right, but if
it is not preceded by a bracket, it produces \label{}.
Actually, the "smart brackets" were the earliest case of this
that I know of;  These were part of emacs auctex.  

In general, we should pay close attention to existing
packages.  In addition to emacs auctex, there is a related
emacs package called ultratex.  It has the auctex mappings,
but also has "lightning completion", which is sort of the
same thing as word completion with <C-N> or <C-P>.  But you
do not have the option of rejecting the completion.  This
never appealed to me, but I know a number of mathematicians
who like it.  Also, in ultratex, typing $$ results in 
$$

$$
Typing more dollar signs will make the environment cycle
through \begin{equation}...\end{equation}, and so on.  I
decided that it was easier to just get what you want with a
single keystroke, with F1 - F4.

Best wishes,
Carl