Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Art of MetaPost

最开始写这个东西是因为有一段时间希望能找到一些简单的软件画示意图,而 MetaPost 正是这类软件。最初写了一个比较简单的版本,作为那时候一个使用软件的心得列表,而后发现我对 MetaPost 的了解甚为肤浅,决定重写一个,这就是现在的 The Art of MetaPost。


这部分计划中的东西实在是太宏大,这导致我一度没有机会写完。不过值得欣慰的是,把理论篇写完的时候,文章的结构基本上定下来了,我对其语法的了解又加深了一步,这正是可以继续读代码以增加一些更具体的心得时候。无奈时间又隔了很久,该项目一直停滞不前。

如果你对它感兴趣,可以在 CTeX 论坛上下载该文件。也许,我有空了,还会继续写。

English Ver:
I have long been finding a simple software with which I can create illustrations of flow control, relationships of difference parts of a system. Luckily, MetaPost just hits my fancy. A very short introduction was written after a few days of trials. But soon I found out my understanding of MetaPost is so limited that I decided to get it rewritten, which became the current version(c.f. the picture above).

However, the objective might be a little far away from me and I haven't got to it. To my pleasure, the structure of it had almost been set when the theoretical part was finished. At that time, as my knowledge of MetaPost grew, it was high time for me to enrich the text with my experience. I was unfortunately busy then and the project has been laid aside since then.

In you are interested in it, you can download it from the CTeX Forum, which is the largest Chinese TeX forum in China. I might update it when I can spare a few days.