davejarvis

keenwrite

HISTORICAL RECORD2020–2023

davejarvis / keenwrite · Not publicly available

keenwrite

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dgiagio/warp · linked in 3 of the same discussions
davejarvis/keentype · linked in 2 of the same discussions
mermaid-js/mermaid · linked in 2 of the same discussions

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Observed mentions: 2020-09-20 00:20:50 UTC to 2023-08-17 04:21:56 UTC.

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Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Submissions	Comments
2020	2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	6	1	5
2021	2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	18	2	16
2022	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	30	3	27
2023	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	24	3	21

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78 sources

thangalin·Aug 17, 2023

KeenWrite is my free, open-source, cross-platform desktop Markdown editor that can produce beautifully typeset PDFs. I started working on it years ago to help write a novel having a complex timeline and I couldn't find a text editor that allowed me to integrate a character sheet with the story itself. https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite Here's what I mean by using variables from the character sheet directly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFCqe3A5dFg Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9... CommonMark doesn't propose a standard for bibliographic references. I'm wondering if anyone would find cross-references and citations in Markdown to be useful?

In Ask HN: Tell us about your project that's not done yet but you want feedback on

thangalin·Jul 31, 2023

My Typesetting Markdown series goes into creating a number of scripts that use pandoc, knitr, and a YAML interpolator to do just that: https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/05/22/typesetting-markdow... Later, I wrote KeenWrite, which is both a GUI and command-line application for converting Markdown documents to PDF. KeenWrite separates the content layer from the presentation layer and uses ConTeXt to do so. I've tried to keep my software backwards compatible with pandoc. https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite

In LaTeX3: Programming in LaTeX with Ease (2020)

thangalin·Jul 31, 2023

> modern languages like Markdown Markdown was created in 2004. From the creator: > ... the single biggest source of inspiration for Markdown’s syntax is the format of plain text email. Email goes back to 1965, though I suspect Markdown's influence stems from the more widely adopted email usage of the 1990s. I'm not sure if I'd call Markdown "modern". Quite popular though! > Part of LaTeX's success was the absolutely beautiful documents it can make with nothing but a personal computer. I'd say that was TeX's success, with LaTeX bolted on later to greatly improve TeX's extensibility. Keep in mind, there are a number of TeX-centric implementations beyond LaTeX. For example, my fork of NTS, called KeenType, is a pure Java version of TeX that can typeset beautifully and has at its core Knuth's original TeX files. I specifically avoided integra

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ting LaTeX. https://github.com/DaveJarvis/KeenType/tree/main/tex/src/mai... My Markdown text editor, KeenWrite, uses KeenType to preview math in documents. https://github.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/blob/main/docs/scree... When exporting to PDF, KeenWrite uses ConTeXt to typeset the final document. ConTeXt being another TeX-based system. This is the reason why KeenWrite only uses TeX: to give users the ability to choose what TeX flavour to use for typesetting the PDF. https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Main_Page

In LaTeX3: Programming in LaTeX with Ease (2020)

thangalin·Jul 31, 2023

My cross-platform desktop text editor, KeenWrite, allows users to define variables in an external YAML file. The editor calls out to Kroki[1] to convert text-based diagrams to SVG. The diagrams can reference variables and are rendered using EchoSVG[2]. KeenWrite[3] can produce PDF documentation from Markdown documents that has PlantUML diagrams with elements stored in an external, machine-readable file. Here are screenshots showing variables on the left, diagram text in the middle, and a real-time render on the right: * https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/main/... * https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/main/... KeenWrite supports all diagrams offered by Kroki, which includes "diagram-plantuml". [1]: https://kroki.io/ [2]: https://github.com/css4j/echosvg/ [3]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite

In Documentation as Code for Cloud Using PlantUML

thangalin·Jul 20, 2023

> Thanks again for posting and replying. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Likewise! > I use a Front Matter header to pass structured data The impetus for developing that shell script (ergo KeenWrite) was using variables in documents. KeenWrite injects structured, interpolated YAML strings back into documents by replacing Moustache syntax (or `r# ...` syntax for R docs). This means that the same structured data can be reused for multiple documents, allowing for single sources of truth and a clean separation of content from presentation. Also, variables can be used in diagrams. As for Front Matter, data can be passed in from the command line[1]: -v metadata.yaml \ --metadata="title={{book.title}}" \ --metadata="author={{book.author}}" Under the hood, KeenWrite places the metadata inside the intermediate XHTML document as <met

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a> tags inside the <head>. These are parsed by ConTeXt using an XSLT-like syntax that converts them into TeX instructions[2]. Do post any questions you may have on the discussions forum[3]. [1]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite/blob/main/docs/cmd.m... [2]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite-themes/blob/main/xht... [3]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite/discussions/

In On why Markdown is not a good, or even a half-decent, markup language

thangalin·Jul 19, 2023

It's written in Java. People have run it on MacOS. I don't have a .dmg file, though. https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite#other If that doesn't work for you, please open an issue and describe what you'd like for MacOS.

In On why Markdown is not a good, or even a half-decent, markup language

thangalin·Jul 19, 2023

Here are a few Markdown documents I've typeset into PDF: * https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf * https://pdfhost.io/v/4FeAGGasj_SepiSolar_Highlevel_Software_... * https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2020/04/28/typesetting-markdow... My text editor, KeenWrite[1] (see tutorials[3] for details), converts from Markdown to XHTML. The XHTML is then typeset using the ConTeXt typesetting software to create a PDF. The PDF is stylized using a theme[2]. What Markdown is missing, in particular flexmark-java, is a standard CommonMark extension for cross-references and citations[4]. [1]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite [2]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite-themes/tree/main/exa... [3]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9... [4]: https://talk.commonmark.org/t/cross-references-and-citations...

In On why Markdown is not a good, or even a half-decent, markup language

msravi·Jun 30, 2023

So far, in this thread (in no particular order): - [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) - [Hugo Book](https://github.com/alex-shpak/hugo-book) - [MdBook](https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/) - [MkDocs](https://www.mkdocs.org/) - [MkDocs Material](https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/) - [GitBook](https://www.gitbook.com/) - [Antora](https://antora.org/) - [Docusaurus](https://docusaurus.io/) - [Nextra](https://nextra.site/) - [Astro](https://astro.build/) - [Starlight](https://starlight.astro.build/) - [Clowncar](https://github.com/secretGeek/clowncar) - [Keenwrite](https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite) - [Quarto](https://quarto.org/) - [Honkit](https://github.com/honkit/honkit) - [JupyterBook](https://jupyterbook.org/)

In MdBook – A command line tool to create books with Markdown

thangalin·Jun 30, 2023

I wrote KeenWrite, a free and open-source cross-platform tool, to create Markdown-based books. KeenWrite calls out to ConTeXt to typeset the documents and uses my KeenType fork for typesetting math while in preview mode. KeenWrite can generate PDF files from the command-line. * https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite For example: java -jar keenwrite.jar \ --all \ --r-dir=$PWD/bin \ --r-script=$PWD/bin/editor.R \ --image-dir=$PWD/images \ --variables=$PWD/variables.yaml \ --theme-dir=$HOME/dev/java/keenwrite/themes/boschet \ --metadata=title={{book.title}} \ --metadata=byline={{book.author.byline}} \ --metadata=keywords={{book.keywords}} \ --metadata=copyright={{book.copyright}} \ --metadata="reviewer=$1 $2, $3" \ --chapters="-14" \ --input="$PWD/chapter/01.R

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md" \ --output="${TEMP_NAME}" That mouthful compiles the book that I'm writing. The book defines numerous variables that are referenced throughout the prose and defined in an external file. Variables can also be passed in as metadata, which tells ConTeXt various PDF properties to embed. The chapters argument allows selecting a subset of chapters to build (e.g., 1-3,5,9-15,22). Lastly, the theme directory points ConTeXt to the instructions to use when typesetting the document, which controls colours, fonts, layout, annotations, etc. Some sample outputs: * https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite-themes/tree/main/exa...

In MdBook – A command line tool to create books with Markdown

thangalin·Jun 25, 2023Submission

KeenWrite 3.3.2: MermaidJS diagrams (with caveat)

3 points · Open discussion

thangalin·Jun 25, 2023

Although not interactive, I've created a video series that shows advanced usage of Markdown. Namely R, external variables, diagrams, math, annotations, and a different approach to metadata: * https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9... Tutorial 4 shows basic Markdown: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNbGSiRzx-0 The top-right of each video shows keyboard and mouse clicks to help follow along.[1] My desktop text editor, KeenWrite[2], is used in the tutorials. [1]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/kmcaster [2]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite

In Interactive CommonMark Tutorial

thangalin·Jun 20, 2023

https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite/blob/main/scripts/bu... My template script provides a way to make user-friendly shell scripts. In a script that uses the template, you define the dependencies and their sources as comma-separated values: DEPENDENCIES=( "gradle,https://gradle.org" "warp-packer,https://github.com/Reisz/warp/releases" "tar,https://www.gnu.org/software/tar" "wine,https://www.winehq.org" "unzip,http://infozip.sourceforge.net" ) You define the command-line arguments: ARGUMENTS+=( "a,arch,Target operating system architecture (amd64)" "o,os,Target operating system (linux, windows, mac)" "u,update,Java update version number (${ARG_JAVA_UPDATE})" "v,version,Full Java version (${ARG_JAVA_VERSION})" ) You define the "execute()" method that is called after t

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he arguments are parsed: execute() { // Make the computer do the work. return 1 } If the script takes arguments, handle each one individually: argument() { local consume=2 case "$1" in -a|--arch) ARG_JAVA_ARCH="$2" ;; -o|--os) ARG_JAVA_OS="$2" ;; esac return ${consume} } Then call the template's main to start the script rolling: main "$@" For 99% of the scripts I write, this provides: * Built-in software dependencies verification. * Instructions to the user when requirements are missing. * Simple command-line argument parsing. * Help and logging using ANSI colour. Here's a complete script that builds the Windows, Linux, and Mac installers for my Markdown editor: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/blob/main/installer.... There's a write-up about creating the script that has a lot more details about how the template works: https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/05/22/typesetting-markdow... Note that it is technically possible to improve the scripts such that handling individual arguments can be done in the template itself. This would require a slightly different argument definition semantics: ARGUMENTS+=( "ARG_JAVA_ARCH,a,arch,Target operating system architecture (amd64)" "ARG_JAVA_OS,o,os,Target operating system (linux, windows, mac)" "usage=utile_usage,h,help,Show this help message then exit" ) By detecting an `=` symbol for the first item in the lists, it's possible to know whether a command-line argument is assigning a variable value, or whether it means to perform additional functionality. (PR welcome!)

In “Exit traps” can make your Bash scripts more robust and reliable (2013)

thangalin·Jun 13, 2023

RichTeXtFX[1] has these abilities[2] along with demo code[3] that provides an entry point for sleuthing. My text editor, KeenWrite[4], uses RichTeXtFX, but takes a different approach due to its usage of inline variable references. Rather than edit the document in a WYSIWYG-like fashion, users edit the Markdown document as plain text then export as PDF by selecting a theme to apply for typesetting. This cleanly separates content from presentation. The "themes" video tutorial demonstrates how theme selection works.[5] [1]: https://github.com/FXMisc/RichTextFX/tree/master/richtextfx/... [2]: https://gluonhq.com/presenting-a-new-richtextarea-control/ [3]: https://github.com/gluonhq/rich-text-area/blob/master/sample... [4]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite [5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QpX70O5S30&list=PLB-WIt1cZY...

In Text Editor Data Structures

thangalin·Jun 8, 2023

KeenWrite Themes[1] are instructions that tell ConTeXt how to typeset XHTML documents (content) into PDF files (presentation). I made a tutorial[2] that shows how my FOSS desktop text editor, KeenWrite[3], allows users to write in Markdown to typeset a document against a particular theme. Before it can be used for scientific papers, KeenWrite (by way of a flexmark-java extension) needs cross-references, which, unfortunately, aren't part of the CommonMark specification. I posit that the vast majority of LaTeX users don't grok how to separate content from presentation. When I asked a question on TeX.SE[4] about how to adjust the line spacing between enumerated items (spanning a couple dozen enumerated lists), the vast majority of people voted for the answer of using `\itemsep0em` to tweak each list individually. The correct answer, IMO, is

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to fix the problem globally, and not waste time tweaking individual lists. [1]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite-themes [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QpX70O5S30 [3]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite [4]: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/6081/reduce-space-be...

In Cost of ‘reformatting’ prompts a call for journals to change their requirements

thangalin·Jun 8, 2023

I developed KeenWrite[1] to make using variables in documents trivial[2]. My editor has no search and replace function. For my sci-fi novel, there's a variable {{location.protagonist.tertiary.Type}} that has the value "Bavarian Village". I could change this to "apartment" and every instance throughout the document prose and reference diagrams would update automatically and contextually. My typical example for explaining the use case is changing the name "May" to "June", but flat/apartment is hilarious. [1]: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite [2]: https://youtu.be/CFCqe3A5dFg?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9KWzP...

In Windows 11 calls a zip file a 'postcode file' in UK English

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