Progress towards the interactive book

Martin Karrenbach and Dave Nichols

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ABSTRACT

We have been able to use recent advances in workstation technology and software to make progress towards Jon's goal of an ``interactive book''. By using the ``xtex'' previewer we can preview documents written in the typesetting language TEX. Furthermore by using special TEX commands we can add ``hot spots'' to the previewed document, when the user clicks on these areas a sequence of commands is executed on the workstation. This ability makes the document interactive, the text can describe an idea and then clicking on a button will start a program that shows the idea in action. Clicking on the button can also regenerate a figure within the text, either the same figure or a version made with new parameters.