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GSoC2008-lyxtab

LyX tabular modernization

Current status

Tabular-type objects appear in both text and math. The LyX front-end to them is partly unified ("Rows & Colums"), but the back-end logic is mostly separate.

This project involves the text version of tabulars. The LaTeX interface, and functionality, is very versatile and only partly supported by LyX.

Work to be done

• clean up and re-factor the code, which is currently rather messy
• make the user interface more consistent and implement (most of) the unimplemented features
• speed up the code, which is slow esp. for big tables
• implement support for packages like colortbl, and clean up longtabular support
• an easy way to import, e.g., CSV tables, as well as convert textual "naive" tables into true tables
• figure out how to do cut and paste right, for text within cells, and for multi-cell material. This requires understanding of X clipboard and selection and same (or rather: not the same) on Windows.

Formal items

1. lyx-devel: our organization has, since the mid-1990's, been involved in the development of LyX, a WYSYWIM -- what you see is what you mean -- document processor. The principal typesetting back-end of LyX has been LaTeX, with its world-class typesetting quality; also docbook is supported.
   
   LyX supports, like XML/SGML and LaTeX, a structured editing paradigm, but in a user-friendly, visual way. Current LyX versions, based on the Qt toolkit, offer very broad support for anything the scientific/technical, or merely demanding, author could demand.
   
   The lyx-devel organization activity has at times been quiet, but the last couple years has seen a revival, with many young contributors coming in. In addition to a few "old hands", also a number of "alumni" take care of upholding coding standards and the unique atmosphere of the community.
2. What stands lyx-devel to gain: a better functioning tabular is very much needed -- this has been a trouble spot for some time. Tables are especially important to the power users making up a large part of the user base.
3. lyx-devel did not apply in 2005 or 2006
4. ...or in any other year.
5. project administrator: Jose Abílio Matos, Google account ?
6. license: GPL
7. Ideas page: http://wiki.lyx.org/Devel/GSoC2007
8. mailing list: lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org
9. IRC: no official channel
10. application template: none yet
11. backup admin: ?, Google account ?
12. mentors: Martin Vermeer, ...
13. why these mentors? A history of involvement with LyX, some understanding of this specific code area, skill in LyX/LaTeX "doublethink", ...
14. how to handle disappearing students? In addition to the payment mechanism, we would give preference to students who have already contributed code.
15. how to handle disappearing mentors? These are people with a history of contributing to LyX, and no history of disappearing (at least permanently)
16. How to ensure continued involvement after SoC? The LyX community is a rather cohesive lot, with its own special subculture. We would expect contributors to remain users, and thus occasional contributors.

Misc