AB-ABOUT.TXT                                              dh:2005-03-25-19:25

                        ABOUT THE AB PROJECT
                        ====================

This project is for development of a refer-style bibliographic system.  This
is so I can have recreated what I want to do for being able to make refer-
format bibliographies that I can transform to a variety of target formats for
publication and my M.Sc dissertation.

I have collected a variety of materials, as well as examples of my past usage.
I now want to start using a manual template, and I will then consider making
a C Language version of the bibliographic construction and editing tool.

JOB JAR

I must make a template that I can use manually.  The only tricky part is to
make a description at a URL somewhere that can also be used as a namespace
if and when needed.

Some of the other packages that I found may have useful code, documentation,
and ideas that I can adapt.

I must also find the EndNotes format that ACM is now providing on ACM Digital
Library and the Collected Works materials.

This is an initial placeholder.

I don't think I want to do all of this using the MS-DOS Editor, but I can see
getting quite a ways with it.  I do think jEdit will serve me better.

2005-04-04: I have been hand-crafting some bibs, after boiling down a set
of keys and descriptions that I find useful. I have some ideas about how
this thing should work:
 1. Blank entries are ignored, even if the tag is present.  This lets people
    use boilerplate and also leave placeholders, and it doesn't have to be
    all tidy.
 2. The processor will attempt to match a template version and the header
    for a given bib file.  The processor will also use the first record as
    an in-line definition if it seems to be a template, or maybe regardless.
 3. The processor is also creative about how it adds new entries at the end
    of the file, depending on what is already on the end.  Consider inserting
    before all comments that are beyond the last entry (with at least one
    separating space).  This sort of thing depends on being able to position.


                                                        -- Dennis E. Hamilton
                                                          Seattle, Washington
                                                       2005-03-25-17:32 -0800

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