Python for Poets
The Idea
- Use Mobile Devices for Writing
- Go from text files to finished publication
Mobile Devices - Tandy WP2
- Wonderfully Retro. Built by the Citizen Watch Co. for Tandy
- 8 line text display
- Runs on 4 AA Batteries
- 9 Pin Serial Connection
- http://www.larwe.com/museum/tandywp2.html
Mobile Devices - Palm TX
- Soon to be Retro
- works great for first drafts
- CardTXT Palm app writes text files to SD Card
- http://cardtxt.spaces.live.com/
- No need to sync to laptop
Starting at A - ReST Text
- docutils native Line Block formatting property is crucial
- http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#line-blocks
- Line blocks are useful for address blocks, verse (poetry, song lyrics), and unadorned lists, where the structure of lines is significant.
- Line blocks are groups of lines beginning with vertical bar ("|") prefixes.
Line Block Example
| There was an old party of Lyme
| Who married three wives at one time.
| When asked: ‘Why the third?’
| He replied: ‘One’s absurd,
| And bigamy, sir, is a crime.’
Arriving at X: Verse Package for LaTeX
- http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/verse/
- The verse package assists with the typesetting poetry in LaTEX
- This allows for creating a manuscript as a pdf
- Gain the full range of LaTEX formatting options:
- Tables of Contents, Page Numbers, Gutters, etc.
- Allows for the creating of a printed manuscript
LaTeX Verse Package Example
begin{verse}
There was an old party of Lyme \\
Who married three wives at one time. \\
hspace{2em} When asked: ‘Why the third?’ \\
hspace{2em} He replied: ‘One’s absurd, \\
And bigamy, sir, is a crime.’
end{verse}
The Initial Process - ReST to XML
a) Worked with Jacob Smullyan at WNYC to convert from ReST: http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/drafts/AllMyExes.txt
- using the standard docutils XML writer: http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/scripts/docutils/rst2xml.py
The Initial Process (cont.) - XML to LaTEX
c) convert the xml (using libxml2, libxslt and a modified version of Stefan Merten's xslt script, xml2rst.xsl):
http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/scripts/libxml/xml2latex.py and http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/scripts/libxml/xml2latex.xsl
- to a latex file http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/drafts/AllMyExes.tex
The Initial Process (cont.) - LaTEX to PDF
- then finally, included in a master latex document for conversion to pdf/publication: http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/scripts/latex/poetry202.tex
- using Texmaker for the conversion http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/
d) to arrive at the finished PDF: http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/scripts/latex/poetry202.pdf
The Refined Process
- I admit it. It takes too long.
- Worked with Engelbert Gruber (one of the docutils maintainers) to create a new process using the docutils rst2verse writer: http://svn.berlios.de/svnroot/repos/docutils/trunk/sandbox/verse-writer/
- which converts entire directories of ReST files directly to LaTEX: http://svn.johntynan.com/poems/trunk/drafts/
- Then, Texmaker is used to arrive at the finished PDF: http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/
Screenshot
To Do
- Provide use cases of poems to Engelbert Gruber to further refine the script
- Research physical printing and binding options
- Research alternate book formats: chapbooks, art books, broadsides...
- Research alternate outputs: ReST to HTML, mobi text ebook formats...
- Use Subversion Tags / Branches to submit shorter sections of poems to journals
Python for Poets
- docutils / ReST: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html
- rst2verse: http://svn.berlios.de/svnroot/repos/docutils/trunk/sandbox/verse-writer/
- Texmaker: http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/
- Verse Package: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/verse/
Hope you found this useful.
Thank You.