Wikibooks:Reading room/Archives/2011/April

Wikibook on Vtk
I have been using vtk (and wikipedia!) for a long time; i think that the wikibook format is ideal for a compiling a introductory & comprehensive guide to vtk. vtk is an amazingly powerful system which i think is underutilized/not-well-known due to its steep learning curve; this is partly due to the fact that there are not many good introductions available (the official book is quite outdated). After banging my head about the mailing lists (and a lot of other unnecessary waste of time) i finally do know a bit about it; but i would like future readers to be able to easily learn it. Anyone willing to help? I will be able to contribute significantly only starting in June, as i am quite busy at this moment. I wanted to keep this note so that if anyone else is interested, please start it! Pratik.mallya (discuss • contribs) 08:45, 4 April 2011 (UTC) Moved from WB:PROPOSALS Kayau 09:56, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Advanced Economics
I'm typing up my micro notes in 'Advanced Microeconomics' and adding discussion / explanation as I can. Long term, I intend to stick to the project and add exercises, images, citations, et cetera. I want to start 'Advanced Macroeconomics' but I dont know how. As soon as I can get going on advanced macro, I will. That said, I'm not a macro economist, nor do I want to be. I hope I can get the book off the ground, but my primary focus in the future will be micro. The books are intended to be graduate level, and my contributions should provide a reasonable coverage of what an average first year grad student should know. I do not intend on creating a 'math for econ' book. Relevant mathematical references should be included in their respective chapters / books as appendix. Jcress410 (discuss • contribs) 17:39, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Also, I'm brand new to wiki books and wiki markup. I could use help with formatting and making everything look presentable. I'd appreciate any edits to that effect (whether you know anything about 'advanced economics' or not!)Jcress410 (discuss • contribs) 00:21, 8 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I will gladly help with any formatting on your new wikibook. Welcome to the project! --Thereen (discuss • contribs) 01:01, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

How To: upload arbitrary latex
I've created flash cards in latex using flashcards, and i think they'd be good to include in the Advanced Microeconomics text, question: do i need to compile / upload pdf or is it possible to upload the tex and allow edits? I dont mind uploading the file, but that wouldnt allow others to contribute? Jcress410 (discuss • contribs) 17:46, 6 April 2011 (UTC)
 * We support LaTeX within  tags. Please see our tutorial at Help:Formulas. – Adrignola discuss 12:27, 7 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I've figured out , i was just wondering how I should handle supplementary materials (flashcards, beamer presentations, et cetera) Jcress410 (discuss • contribs) 20:14, 7 April 2011 (UTC)
 * If you can't reproduce them effectively using the wikicode, you can upload PDFs or images to Commons using the "upload file" link at left. Feel free to make use of multimedia, since Wikibooks aren't paper and we can take advantage of the electronic medium available to us. – Adrignola discuss 21:46, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Importing books created in English Wikipedia
I have created two books in Wikipedia.org can I import them here?--Akkida (discuss • contribs) 09:23, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The "books" at Wikipedia are simply collections of articles. If you need to import content from Wikipedia to start the writing of a book here, you can request an import of the material.  But books here need to have a unified narrative and style and should not be collections of Wikipedia articles, so you'd have to know the subject material in order to develop a true textbook. – Adrignola discuss 15:14, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Is it inappropriate to copy/paste sections of english Wikipedia articles in order to prevent duplication of effort? If so, how is attribution handled? 74.142.220.58 (discuss) 16:45, 6 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes it is inappropriate, it is a copyright / attribution violation. You need to provide an inline reference back to the permanent URL of the source in WP. Alternatively, the WP page can be imported with its history to WB QU TalkQu 17:18, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Importing, translating a French Wikibook into an English Wikibook
I am interested in writing a Wikibook (in English). A recent search has shown that such a book has already been started on the French Wikibooks site. It makes a lot of sense to import and translate this book as a basis for an English one. Can anyone advise me on how best to do this? Many thanks, Davidc (discuss • contribs) 17:58, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Put the book's name on Requests for import and the first admin to notice it will import it for you. The admin will then advise you where you can find the imported copy.  --Jomegat (discuss • contribs) 00:26, 20 April 2011 (UTC)
 * We can't import from any other language Wikibooks, however (without reconfiguration). Instead, please provide a permanent link to the page at fr.wikibooks (click "permanent link" in the toolbox at left) in the edit summary when you create a new page.  This provides attribution, as required by the license on the site.  Otherwise the content will be deleted as a copyright violation. – Adrignola discuss 00:27, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

History of Hong Kong
History of Hong Kong is 25% finished so I'd like to hear opinions. I've done a lot of the Imperial Years section, and will finish it when I get to borrow the ancient history book again. I also started on the revolution chapter, which I plan to be rather long. I'd like to hear comments on the book. Also, if you're interested in repetitive work, there's some at Talk:History of Hong Kong - I need a lot of help on organising the index. Thanks Kayau 15:27, 3 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi Kayau! Just from my first look at this wikibook, I would say a bit more text explaining the wikibook is needed on its front page. You need to hook potential readers and editors by getting them excited to read the content you've provided. Give them something like "Welcome to the History of Hong Kong wikibook! Hong Kong has a rich history consisting of migration, revolution, war and political strife. This wikibook aims to provide information on the island nation of Hong Kong, covering everything from Prehistoric times to the Hong Kong of today. Please read on and enjoy! If you wish to edit the History of Hong Kong wikibook, please read the About section of this wikibook for style guide information."--Thereen (discuss • contribs) 16:50, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

compile local?
Is there a compiler for wikicode that runs without a server (like latex) so one can edit wikicode locally (in vim) and check the code without using the actual 'edit' button? I find myself copy-pasting from vim into my browser a lot. Jcress410 (discuss • contribs) 00:24, 8 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I personally don't know of any, since MediaWiki's renderer operates on a server. You could set up a local installation of MediaWiki on your local desktop computer (also installing Apache and PHP to preview the output of the wikicode if you so desired. – Adrignola discuss 01:38, 8 April 2011 (UTC)