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I would understand a markdown format for chat, because it's easy, short and fun. What made you use something as powerful as LaTeX? With great power comes great

by erikb 11y ago

I would understand a markdown format for chat, because it's easy, short and fun. What made you use something as powerful as LaTeX? With great power comes great responsibility, right?

jhardcastle 11y ago
Not OP, but I would argue that mathematicians and physics folks deserve great tools too.
- S4M 11y ago
  Yes, when I was student I used sometimes to include maths formulas in chats with my friends. Something like this would have been quite helpful.
- erikb 11y ago
  Yeah look, I haven't experienced the problem, therefore I wonder about the solution. Learning about the problem it solves (i.e., sending formulas to friends for homeworks etc) allows me to understand it. It's quite hard to see problems you haven't had yourself, if you only see the solution, right? I see an "Answer: 42" but what was the question?
nmrm2 11y ago
Why would anyone want Markdown in a chat window? No one is sending document-length chat messages with text formatting. That's what email is for. On the rare occasions you want italics or bullets in a chat, you can get close enough with ASCII if whitespace is preserved. The purpose of the LaTeX support is being able to communicate Mathematics with ease. Markdown is useless for that. And it's hugely useful e.g., when tutoring or holding office hours via chat (or even via Skype -- just typing the formula is usually easier than writing it on a piece of paper or aiming the camera at a whiteboard).
- blueblob 11y ago
  Why not? At some point in time someone probably said why do you want a smiley face in a chat window? Now there are lots of "emoji" symbols. Pandoc uses markdown with inline latex, it gives you multiple ways of typing things and it's less verbose to type. Instead of using an equation array in latex, use a numbered markdown list with latex formulae. Skype has it's annoyances too, ever tried to actually communicate "(B)", you get a great beer symbol you likely didn't intend to write.
  - lfowles 11y ago
    A subset of markdown is good in my eyes. To avoid the smiley case, just format and display everything including the formatting characters. Similar to how irssi treats _lines like this_, it will underline all of the characters inbetween while preserving the outer '_' characters.
    - blueblob 11y ago
      Or allow user filters priority on formatting so you can modify the behavior on your own (I guess you already could with greasemonkey or some other plugin). Even with just a toggle for disabling markdown/latex would let you copy and paste the latex code out to get unformatted text.
  - nmrm2 11y ago
    > Instead of using an equation array in latex, use a numbered markdown list with latex formulae That's a plausible benefit if you're editing a document where nice-looking numbering matters (e.g., an email). In chat, if I have multiple equations, I can just do something like: 1. $equation here$ 2. $equation here$ I prefer chat to do as little formatting as possible while still providing a way to write Math. Otherwise you end up with unintended formatting, which is hugely annoying (a la (B) in Skype). > Skype has it's annoyances too, ever tried to actually communicate "(B)", you get a great beer symbol you likely didn't intend to write. Yeah, but it doesn't change the (B) on the white board I have the camera pointed at, which is the way everyone communicates mathematics via skpy.
    - 11y ago
- erikb 11y ago
  Your second paragraph is a perfect response and answers my question. Thanks. No need to feel defensive, though. Some people really come here with the ability to learn something new. ;-)
- pjc50 11y ago
  The LaTeX support is a brilliant move. The world is full of chat systems, so you need to have a unique feature, and this is a great feature for a particular user group.

by erikb 11y ago

I would understand a markdown format for chat, because it's easy, short and fun. What made you use something as powerful as LaTeX? With great power comes great responsibility, right?

jhardcastle 11y ago

Not OP, but I would argue that mathematicians and physics folks deserve great tools too.

S4M 11y ago
Yes, when I was student I used sometimes to include maths formulas in chats with my friends. Something like this would have been quite helpful.
erikb 11y ago
Yeah look, I haven't experienced the problem, therefore I wonder about the solution. Learning about the problem it solves (i.e., sending formulas to friends for homeworks etc) allows me to understand it. It's quite hard to see problems you haven't had yourself, if you only see the solution, right? I see an "Answer: 42" but what was the question?

nmrm2 11y ago

Why would anyone want Markdown in a chat window? No one is sending document-length chat messages with text formatting. That's what email is for. On the rare occasions you want italics or bullets in a chat, you can get close enough with ASCII if whitespace is preserved. The purpose of the LaTeX support is being able to communicate Mathematics with ease. Markdown is useless for that. And it's hugely useful e.g., when tutoring or holding office hours via chat (or even via Skype -- just typing the formula is usually easier than writing it on a piece of paper or aiming the camera at a whiteboard).

blueblob 11y ago
Why not? At some point in time someone probably said why do you want a smiley face in a chat window? Now there are lots of "emoji" symbols. Pandoc uses markdown with inline latex, it gives you multiple ways of typing things and it's less verbose to type. Instead of using an equation array in latex, use a numbered markdown list with latex formulae. Skype has it's annoyances too, ever tried to actually communicate "(B)", you get a great beer symbol you likely didn't intend to write.
- lfowles 11y ago
  A subset of markdown is good in my eyes. To avoid the smiley case, just format and display everything including the formatting characters. Similar to how irssi treats _lines like this_, it will underline all of the characters inbetween while preserving the outer '_' characters.
  - blueblob 11y ago
    Or allow user filters priority on formatting so you can modify the behavior on your own (I guess you already could with greasemonkey or some other plugin). Even with just a toggle for disabling markdown/latex would let you copy and paste the latex code out to get unformatted text.
- nmrm2 11y ago
  > Instead of using an equation array in latex, use a numbered markdown list with latex formulae That's a plausible benefit if you're editing a document where nice-looking numbering matters (e.g., an email). In chat, if I have multiple equations, I can just do something like: 1. $equation here$ 2. $equation here$ I prefer chat to do as little formatting as possible while still providing a way to write Math. Otherwise you end up with unintended formatting, which is hugely annoying (a la (B) in Skype). > Skype has it's annoyances too, ever tried to actually communicate "(B)", you get a great beer symbol you likely didn't intend to write. Yeah, but it doesn't change the (B) on the white board I have the camera pointed at, which is the way everyone communicates mathematics via skpy.
  - 11y ago
erikb 11y ago
Your second paragraph is a perfect response and answers my question. Thanks. No need to feel defensive, though. Some people really come here with the ability to learn something new. ;-)
pjc50 11y ago
The LaTeX support is a brilliant move. The world is full of chat systems, so you need to have a unique feature, and this is a great feature for a particular user group.