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Adjustments to «styling text» and «Ada Lovelace» to get to 41 pages

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Kenneth John Odle 2026-02-11 20:56:37 -05:00
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3 changed files with 15 additions and 21 deletions
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6
006/chapters/ada_lovelace.tex
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@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ It was at one of these soirées that Babbage introduced his ``Difference Engine'
There are a couple of things to note about Babbage's Analytical Engine. First, it was never built (Babbage had a lot of disagreements with his chief engineer and had difficulty funding its development,\footnote{By 1842, the British government had already given him £17,000—the modern day equivalent of almost £1,700,000—to fund the development of his Difference Engine, which was only partially built and then abandoned when he moved on to the Analystical Engine.} so it was an entirely theoretical construct. Second, it was considered to be the world's first Turing complete computer, which is pretty impressive for a 19th century device. There are a couple of things to note about Babbage's Analytical Engine. First, it was never built (Babbage had a lot of disagreements with his chief engineer and had difficulty funding its development,\footnote{By 1842, the British government had already given him £17,000—the modern day equivalent of almost £1,700,000—to fund the development of his Difference Engine, which was only partially built and then abandoned when he moved on to the Analystical Engine.} so it was an entirely theoretical construct. Second, it was considered to be the world's first Turing complete computer, which is pretty impressive for a 19th century device.
There are a lot of technical details behind what it means for a computing device to be Turing complete, but it basically boils down to its capabilities. A Turing complete device means that you can program it to find any answer, provided you have unlimited runtime and memory\footnote{Because no computer has unlimited runtime or memory, no device is \textit{truly} Turing complete—as Captain Barbossa said, it's more of a guideline than a rule.}. Your computer is Turing complete, whereas your calculator and kitchen timer are not. The Difference Engine was not Turing complete because its intended output (and what the British government wanted and was willing to give Babbage so much money for) was tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions and as a result its initial numerical constants consisted of polynomial differences set physically, but that was all that it could produce. The Analytical Engine had the same basic structure as modern computer design, albeit in a larger, clunkier fashion.\footnote{An interesting, modern\textit{ish} aside: In 1984, James McCurry and Gary M. Kusin started a software retailer in Dallas (Texas, US) called ``Babbage's'' named after Charles Babbage himself. They eventually sold more video games than software and in 1994 merged with a Minnesota based company called Software Etc. to form a new company called NeoStar Retail Group (which is about as clunky a name as you can possibly come up with). The company went through several more changes—bankruptcy, being purchased by Barnes \& Noble, a merger with the B\&N owned Funco) before eventually being spun off through an intial public offering in 2002 to become—you guessed it—GameStop.} There are a lot of technical details behind what it means for a computing device to be Turing complete, but it basically boils down to its capabilities. A Turing complete device means that you can program it to find any answer, provided you have unlimited runtime and memory\footnote{Because no computer has unlimited runtime or memory, no device is \textit{truly} Turing complete—as Captain Barbossa said, it's more of a guideline than a rule.}. Your computer is Turing complete, whereas your calculator and kitchen timer are not. The Difference Engine was not Turing complete because its intended output (and what the British government wanted and was willing to give Babbage so much money for) was tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions and as a result its initial numerical constants consisted of polynomial differences set physically, but that was all that it could produce. The Analytical Engine had the same basic structure as modern computer design, albeit in a larger, clunkier fashion.
The fact that it was Turing complete meant that it had a \textit{lot} of potential, and Ada Lovelace was the first person to figure out a way to tap that potential. Despite her close association to Babbage, it was not a very direct path to unleashing that potential, however. In 1840, Babbage gave a seminar about the Analytical Engine at the University of Turin. This seminar was transcribed into French by a young Italian engineer (and future prime minister of Italy—oh, for the day when there are more scientists in politics!) named Luigi Menabrea. A couple of years later, Charles Wheatstone (who was a member of Saturday night soirées that Babbage had hosted) conmmissioned Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English, which she did, adding seven notes (labeled A-G). The notes were three times longer than the actual translation, so she not only translated Babbage's seminar, she greatly expanded the understanding of how the Analytical Engine could be used for practical purposes. The fact that it was Turing complete meant that it had a \textit{lot} of potential, and Ada Lovelace was the first person to figure out a way to tap that potential. Despite her close association to Babbage, it was not a very direct path to unleashing that potential, however. In 1840, Babbage gave a seminar about the Analytical Engine at the University of Turin. This seminar was transcribed into French by a young Italian engineer (and future prime minister of Italy—oh, for the day when there are more scientists in politics!) named Luigi Menabrea. A couple of years later, Charles Wheatstone (who was a member of Saturday night soirées that Babbage had hosted) conmmissioned Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English, which she did, adding seven notes (labeled A-G). The notes were three times longer than the actual translation, so she not only translated Babbage's seminar, she greatly expanded the understanding of how the Analytical Engine could be used for practical purposes.
@ -52,6 +52,6 @@ Even Babbage didn't seem to be aware of the potential of the Analytical Engine.
Sadly, Ada Lovelace passed away at the age of 36 from cervical cancer. What our world would look like had she not died so young and if the Analytical Engine had been built and she continued to develop programs for it is something we will never know. Sadly, Ada Lovelace passed away at the age of 36 from cervical cancer. What our world would look like had she not died so young and if the Analytical Engine had been built and she continued to develop programs for it is something we will never know.
Fortunately, her contributions \textit{are} acknowledged today. In the latter part of the twentieth century the United States Department of Defense developed a programming language called, naturally, ``Ada'' which was designed to develop very large software systems. The British Computer Society awards an annual Lovelace Medal to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the understanding or advancement of computing, which is the top award in computing in the United Kingdom. The Association for Women in Computing also presents an annual Ada Lovelace Award, which is given to individuals who have either outstanding scientific or technical achievements or have given extraordinary service to the computing community on behalf of women in computing.\footnote{See \kref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace_Award}{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada\_Lovelace\_Award}.} And of course, there is Ada Lovelace Day, which is celebrated on the second Tuesday of October and is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.\footnote{See \kref{https://findingada.com/}{https://findingada.com/} for more information.} Fortunately, her contributions \textit{are} acknowledged today. In the latter part of the twentieth century the United States Department of Defense developed a programming language called, naturally, ``Ada'' which was designed to develop very large software systems. The British Computer Society awards an annual Lovelace Medal to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the understanding or advancement of computing, which is the top award in computing in the United Kingdom. The Association for Women in Computing also presents an annual Ada Lovelace Award, which is given to individuals who have either outstanding scientific or technical achievements or have given extraordinary service to the computing community on behalf of women in computing. And of course, there is Ada Lovelace Day, which is celebrated on the second Tuesday of October and is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.
Despite the current state of the world, I hope we reach a point when everybody's contribution, regardless of race or sex, can be appreciated and celebrated. Despite the current state of the world, I hope we reach a point when everybody's contribution, regardless of race or sex (or whatever), can be appreciated and celebrated.

12
006/chapters/styling_text.tex
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@ -101,13 +101,9 @@ In \LaTeX{}, the command for emphasizing text is \verb|\emph{<text>}|. This gene
\paragraph{Notes:} Most document classes (but not all) use a roman (that is, a serif) family by default; to set entire passages in a different shape, use one of the three shape \texttt{<XXfamily>} switch commands. \verb|\textrm{<text>}| can be used to return to a roman font in an extended passage of either sans-serif or monospace text, for example. \paragraph{Notes:} Most document classes (but not all) use a roman (that is, a serif) family by default; to set entire passages in a different shape, use one of the three shape \texttt{<XXfamily>} switch commands. \verb|\textrm{<text>}| can be used to return to a roman font in an extended passage of either sans-serif or monospace text, for example.
Likewise, \verb|\upshape| can be used to return a regular shape in an extended passage of italic, slanted, or small caps text. Similarly, to return to a regular shape in a shorter passage of italic, slanted, or small caps text, you can use \verb|\textup{<text>}|. Likewise, \verb|\upshape| can be used to return a regular shape in an extended passage of italic, slanted, or small caps text. Similarly, to return to a regular shape in a shorter passage of italic, slanted, or small caps text, you can use \verb|\textup{<text>}|. \verb|\textmd{<text>}| can be used in the middle of a long passage of bold faced text to omit a word or two from being bold.
\verb|\textmd{<text>}| can be used in the middle of a long passage of bold faced text to omit a word or two from being bold. The commands and environments are summarized in the following table. It's a lot easier to remember them when you know what characteristic (family, shape, series) you are targeting, and what the two-letter code (\texttt{rm}, \texttt{bf}, etc.) stands for. \textbf{Note:} An asterisk (*) indicates the typical default for most document classes.
The commands and environments are summarized in the following table. It's a lot easier to remember them when you know what characteristic (family, shape, series) you are targeting, and what the two-letter code (\texttt{rm}, \texttt{bf}, etc.) stands for.
\newpage
\begin{longtblr} \begin{longtblr}
[ [
@ -120,7 +116,7 @@ The commands and environments are summarized in the following table. It's a lot
hlines = {0.5pt,solid}, hlines = {0.5pt,solid},
vline{1,5} = {0.5pt,solid}, vline{1,5} = {0.5pt,solid},
vline{2} = {2-10}{0.5pt,solid}, vline{2} = {2-10}{0.5pt,solid},
rows = {5mm, m, rowsep=3pt}, rows = {4.0mm, m, rowsep=3pt},
rowhead = 1, rowhead = 1,
cells = {font=\sffamily\fontsize{8pt}{10pt}\selectfont}, cells = {font=\sffamily\fontsize{8pt}{10pt}\selectfont},
row{1} = {font=\bfseries}, row{1} = {font=\bfseries},
@ -142,5 +138,3 @@ The commands and environments are summarized in the following table. It's a lot
& Boldface & \verb|\bfseries| & \verb|\textbf{<text>}| \\ & Boldface & \verb|\bfseries| & \verb|\textbf{<text>}| \\
{Return to the default \\style for the \\document class} & & \verb|\normalfont| & \verb|\textnormal{<text>}| \\ {Return to the default \\style for the \\document class} & & \verb|\normalfont| & \verb|\textnormal{<text>}| \\
\end{longtblr} \end{longtblr}
\paragraph{Note:}An asterisk (*) indicates the typical default for most document classes.

18
006/codex-006.tex
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@ -164,23 +164,23 @@
\begin{document} \begin{document}
% \maketitle \maketitle
% \input{include/impressum} \input{include/impressum}
% \tableofcontents \tableofcontents
% \input{chapters/open_source} \input{chapters/open_source}
% \input{chapters/flash_cards}
\input{chapters/basic_terminal_commands} \input{chapters/basic_terminal_commands}
% \input{chapters/styling_text} % \input{chapters/flash_cards}
% \input{chapters/ada_lovelace} \input{chapters/styling_text}
% \input{chapters/coda} \input{chapters/ada_lovelace}
\input{chapters/coda}