Section: Software

Catex

Participant : Yves Guiraud [correspondant] .

Catex is a tool for (pdf)Latex, used in the same way as Bibtex, that automatically produces string diagrams from their algebraic expression. It follows the same design as Tom, a Catex file being a Latex file enriched with formal islands corresponding to those algebraic expressions, such as:

\deftwocell[red]{delta : 1 -> 2}

\deftwocell[orange]{mu : 2 -> 1}

\deftwocell[crossing]{tau : 2 -> 2}

\twocell{(delta *0 delta) *1 (1 *0 tau *0 1) *1 (mu *0 mu)}

Catex dissolves such an island into Latex code, using the PGF/Tikz package. Executed on the result, (pdf)Latex produces the following diagram:

Figure 4.

Catex is distributed through the page: http://www.loria.fr/~guiraudy/catex . We want to extend Catex in two directions. First, to produce diagrams not only for Latex but also for web publications. Then, Catex will be adapted to a tool for the automatic production, in scientific papers, of certified algebraic computations, which are a three-dimensional equivalent of string diagrams.