General ⇒ LaTeX formula shortcut hotkeys and keystrokes

[Quothmar]

Hello,

I am thinking of writing a piece of software that will simplify the entry of LaTeX formulas by allowing the user to type a hotkey or a sequence of keys ('hotstring') corresponding to a LaTeX formula for quick entry. An example might be,

Typing jklf; returns \frac{\partial _}{\partial _}

My question is three-fold:

1. Does any shortcut feature or program exist that performs the above? If so, to what extent?
2. How frequent are such features seen in LaTeX software?
3. If the new shortcut program featured 'hotstrings' such as the one used here (jklf;), what would you like to see? What would you like to see in general in a program or feature for LaTeX shortcuts?

[paul]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use a proper editor (i.e., Emacs)?

[localghost]

Your example of a partial derivative has already been made (partially) obsolete by the esdiff package. And I think with future development short-cuts like will not be necessary any more. For example there is the unicode-math package which will allow to type in math symbols directly instead of using their corresponding commands.

TeXworks offers interesting approaches by its auto-completion system. For example typing 'be' at the beginning of the line and then pressing the »Tab« key lets you choose between the environments enumerate, equation(*) and eqnarray(*). And this is highly customizable because the configuration files are present in plain text. Similar short-cuts are available for other LaTeX structures. And in theory this system can be expanded to all available packages and their syntax.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten