Paul Taylor writes: (2) if you are writing about the foundations of the theory of braids, by definition you are doing something which is novel, peculiar and not main-stream, I take exception to this - one has only to look at (e.g.) New Developments in the Theory of Knots, a 900-page reprint volume, to see that while this work may be novel (it took off in '85) and may be peculiar (that's a matter of taste), it is very much mainstream. One might argue that this is not category theory, but in fact the most significant recent applications of category theory to mathematical physics (my field) are connected with braids and the like. Whether LaTeX 3 should attempt to take this fact into account is of course another question; I would *hope* it would, but it might be too much of a bother. John Baez +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John Baez takes exception to my excluding braids from asking about commutative diagrams syntax. Why? Would you take exception if I put out a general enquiry about topology and said I was specifically interested in applications to computer science rather than analysis? You know perfectly well what kind of diagrams we are talking about, and I am asking you (those of you who draw such diagrams, which, I guess, is more or less everyone on this list) how to express them in ascii. Moreover I defend my use of the words "novel" and "peculiar". I have seen thousands of "commutative" diagrams and know what the idiom is, and have developed a TeX macro package which has an input and output graphical language matching this idiom. I know conceptually what braids are, but I have not seen enough diagrams of them to know what the idiom is. Previously when we got on to this topic and I had no response besides counterexamples I made a public invitation to propose an ascii idiom but had no useful response. I have no wish to denigrate knot theory, but I would like members of the community to apply their minds to the question which has been asked ... Paul ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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baez＠ucrmath.ucr.edu -
Paul Taylor