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@SubSection
@Tag { cross }
@Title { The cross reference abstraction }
@Begin
@PP
In developing the cross reference abstraction, it seemed best to begin
with the database application, since it is the simplest. Database
relations are naturally mapped into Lout definitions:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"def @Reference"
" named @Tag {}"
" named @Author {}"
" named @Title {}"
" named @Journal {}"
"{}"
}
The set of all invocations of @Code "@Reference" is a relation whose
attributes are the parameters, and whose tuples are the invocations. To
complete the correspondence, we need only declare that the @Code "@Tag"
parameter is special, serving as the key attribute.
@PP
Following the database model, we next need a notation for retrieving the
invocation with a given tag:
@ID @Code "@Reference&&kingston91"
This @I {cross reference} is like an arrow pointing to the invocation. To
access its attributes, we write
@ID @Code "@Reference&&kingston91 @Open { @Author, @Title }"
The @Code "@Open" operator evaluates its right parameter in an
environment which includes the exported parameters of its left.
@PP
An invocation is chosen to be a running header because of its proximity
to the place where it is used, rather than by its tag. Such proximity
is naturally expressed by two special tags, {@Code preceding} and
{@Code following}; for example, @Code "@Sym&&following" will point to
the closest following invocation of @Code "@Sym" in the final printed
document. This is much simpler conceptually than reference to the
internal state of the document formatter at a critical moment, the usual
approach to running headers.
@PP
It turns out that the above design solves all the cross referencing
problems encountered in practice except one, which may be typified by
the problem of finding the number of the page on which the chapter whose
tag is @Code "intro" begins. Two cross referencing steps are needed,
first to {@Code "@Chapter&&intro"}, then from there to
{@Code "@Page&&preceding"}, where the page number is known.
@PP
Given our success so far, this last problem proves to be
surprisingly difficult. We first try
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Chapter&&intro @Open {"
" @Page&&preceding @Open { @PageNum }"
"}"
}
but this fails because @Code "@Page&&preceding" is evaluated in the
present context, not in the context of @Code "@Chapter&&intro" as
required. So our next attempt is
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"def @Chapter"
" named @PageNum { @Page&&preceding @Open { @PageNum } }"
" ..."
}
with the @Code "@Page&&preceding" cross reference attached to the
chapter; we write
@ID @Code "@Chapter&&intro @Open { @PageNum }"
This also fails, because parameters are evaluated after substitution, so
once again @Code "@Page&&preceding" is evaluated in the wrong context. We
could of course define a new operator specifically for this case:
@ID @Code "@Page&&{ @Preceding @Chapter&&intro }"
or some such. This is free of the annoying context-sensitivity, but it
seems quite complex, and the expected cross reference @Code "@Page&&preceding"
does not appear.
@PP
The author was lost in these obscurities for some time, and ultimately
rescued himself by looking ahead to the implementation of the
@Code preceding and @Code following tags, to see if a simple extension
of it would solve the problem. This led to the @Code "@Tagged" operator:
@ID @Code "@Page&&preceding @Tagged intro"
placed at the beginning of the body of the chapter will attach @Code intro
as an extra tag to the closest preceding invocation of {@Code "@Page"},
so that
@ID @Code "@Page&&intro @Open { @PageNum }"
yields the desired page number. There is something low-level and ad hoc
about the @Code "@Tagged" operator, but the two cross references do
appear naturally, and it works.
@End @SubSection
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