LaTeX editors for beginners: LEd and TexnicCenter

At the beginning of LaTex study, it is quite helpful if you choose a right editor. WinEdt is a wellknown shareware, but not worth it. Some other freewares provide more functions and powerful help documents without charge.

LEd and TexnicCenter are the two that outperform. They both provide document structure view (TexnicCenter displays it in a project only) and help documents in detail. Although they are not perfect, at least, it is better than WinEdt. By the way, till now, TexnicCenter lacks of unicode support.

It is a good idea to start a project in TexnicCenter, both LEd and TexnicCenter can edit the tex files.

For the use of these two latex editors, please refer to their documents.

Free software 15: Folder Guide

If you have lots of folders you need to visit frequently, what windows can do for you is to display thousands of folder shortcuts in your desktop or IE favorite bar. It is not elegant for people who wish to keep their desktops as clean as possible. Folder Guide is a helpful utility to keep your PC clear.

Running as a part of the context menu of Windows Explorer, assist you in quick jumping to your frequently used and favorite folders.

Save your time, save your mouse, try Folder Guide;P.


The official website is http://www.freeware365.com/desktop/folderguide.htm .

Boring breakfast in Australia

My roommate has the same breakfast everyday: weet-bix (this is the only brand he buys), milk, and a few dry fruits, which makes me extremely curious: why does he never get bored of the same breakfast? Finally one day, I asked him this question. He didn't answer me, but told me, every Australian kid is a weet-bix kid. At that time, the idea flashed in my mind was that kids living in Australia are quite poor, they don't have choices for breakfast but weet-bix. Of course, it is impossible for me to bear such boring breakfast, that is why I always try different breakfast and life is rich and colorful. But you know, I do have the wheat biscuits too, just because it is easy to make...;P.

However, my roommate is getting tired of the same breakfast in my point of view. At the beginning when I moved in, he did have the "same 3" everyday. But recently, he may have instant noodle instead, or just have a little "same 3", then some leftovers (usually cooked by me ;P ).

Anyway, I missed, am missing, will miss varied Chinese breakfast, lots I have already known, lots I even haven't tried....

Update: 23 Jan.
My roommate insists that the same breakfast he has every day is not boring at all. To prove his viewpoint, he got his parents involved. He said his mother has a piece of toast, a cup of milk and one weet-bix every single day; his father has two and a half pieces of toast (the left half is enjoyed by the dog ;P), a cup of tea and some dry fruits for breakfast every day. I got the picture: his evidence strongly supports my opinion-how boring breakfast is in Australia!

Chinese version:

澳洲的早餐

http://time360.blogspot.com/2007/01/blog-post_18.html

MiKTeX 2.5 and TeXnicCenter

In my previous post, I gave out a solution that configures MiKTeX 2.5 and TeXnicCenter. However, there will be some tiny problems if you follow that guide.
Ghostscript is recommended to install first. When TeXnicCenter ask you to pick up a PDF viewer, don't leave or make it blank, specify the PDF viewer.

Issues on MiKTeX 2.5 and TeXnicCenter, LEd

When MikTex2.5 came out, I tried it immediately, but have found something wrong with my favorite latex editor TeXnicCenter, as well with LEd, so uninstalled immediately. In fact, this is not a big problem, which is caused by default installation root change in MikTex2.5. It is 'C:\texmf' in the 2.4 but 'C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.5' in the 2.5 version.
Here is the solution from http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/LaTeX/AoPS_L_Downloads.php:

1. Click here to open the TeXnicCenter download site in a new window.
2. Click on "Downloads" on the left side of the page.
3. Click on the link next to "TeXnicCenter Setup..." in the "End-User Downloads" section (next the top of the page). (It will probably have a green bar next to it.)
4. Find the 'Location' that's nearest you, then click on the 'Download' link corresponding to that location. A 'File Download' window will probably pop up after a few seconds - choose to Save the file. Pay attention to where you save the file. It doesn't matter where you save it, but you will have to find it later.
5. Once the download is finished, run the program that you just downloaded. We recommend accepting the default options, except that you may wish to add a desktop shortcut icon when you are asked.
6. If you elected to have a shortcut on the desktop, just click the icon on the desktop. Otherwise, click Start on the main Windows window, then 'All Programs', then 'TeXnicCenter', then choose the TeXnicCenter option.
7. When the program starts, a Tips window will open. Click Close. The program will then walk you through the configuration wizard:
   • When it askes you for the "full path of the directory where the executables" are located, type C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.5\miktex\bin (Note: if you changed the default location when installing MiKTeX, then you'll need to replace "C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.5" with the directory to which you installed MiKTeX.)
   • If it asks you to pick a PostScript viewer, you may just leave everything blank and just click "Next". Similarly if it asks you to pick a DVI viewer, just leave everything blank and click "Next". (It may or may not ask you these things, depending on how your computer is configured.)

In fact, there is second solution. Just simply change the MikTex 2.5 installation root to 'C:\texmf', TeXnicCenter can auto-configure your latex again like in 2.4.

The problem between MikTex2.5 and LEd is the issue of build-in DVI viewer. Download the patch from http://www.latexeditor.org/download.htm or just simply wait for the LEd 0.5 version ;).

PS: I upgraded to MikTex 2.5 today, here are some tips:
1: Don't change the install directory if you are using MiKTeX 2.5.2492 DVD ISO image, or error will occur:
An error occurred: source file: C:\work3\miktex-2.5\Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\process.cpp source line: 298 message: The operation failed for some reason. info: D:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.5\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe

2: If you want to get rid of
"The DVI document cannot be rendered properly because interpretation of postscript special is disabled. Temporarily enable interpretation of postscript special".
which is created by YAP, simply go to View- Options- display -render, change it to Dvips.

Free software 14: eLibPro - book collection manager

When 'Pro' becomes a part of software name, it usually implies that you have to pay for it. But eLibPro is an exception. eLibPro is a free book collection manager. Here are the features from the official website:

Features:

• Use tree structure to manage book categories. It has a familiar Windows Explorer-like user interface
• Unlimited "Related Links" can be added for each book. The "Links" can be URLs, eBook files on local hard disk, or even folders
• Use XML/XSL to display book details. Its content template and display style are completely configurable by the user
• Most of the book's information can be retrieved from the web. It can query online (Amazon.com) by ISBN, or by a combination of book title, author and/or publisher
• Multiple selection (using Ctrl, Shift or Mouse) is supported in the book list window, and the book detail window can update on the fly
• Sort on any column in the book list window
• WYSIWYG editor for books' "Description" and "Notes" fields
• Drag & Drop support
• Search in the book collection
• "Favorites" and "Reading List" support
• Multiple Language Interface (MUI) support
• Native Unicode support
• Barcode scanners are supported.

I have searched the Internet, and found some commercial softwares. In terms of the features and screenshots provided, they are not worthy of their prices. The current version of eLibPro is V1.3. The author promised to release a new version 2.x long time ago. Unfortunately, we still have to wait, wait, wait.

MATLAB code for Luo and Ward's algorithm

MATLAB code for Luo and Ward's algorithm

JPEG (short for Joint Photographic Experts Group) is one of the most popular still image compression standards, especially in the internet because of its high compression ratio. The JPEG baseline coding system is based on the block-based discrete cosine transform (DCT). In this block-based DCT transform process, it may bring in visible artefacts at block boundaries as a result of coarse quantization of the coefficients.Luo and Ward's algorithm is effective to remove blocking effects in low frequency areas and high frequency areas [1].

MATLAB code for Luo and Ward's algorithm

function x=remove_ba(f)

%Remove the blocking artifacts horizontally and vertically

ff=f;

[height,width]=size(f);

f1 = double(f) -128; % Level shift input

fun1 = @dct2;

g = blkproc(f1,[8 8], fun1); % F= T*f*T'

%%Horizontally

f2=f1(:,5:width-4);%Block C matrix

g2 = blkproc(f2,[8 8], fun1);% DCT of C

i8=width/8;i82=i8-1;

t12=350;t22=120;t32=60;%Thresholds

alfa0=0.6;beta0=0.2;

alfa1=0.5;beta1=0.25;

for j=1:i8

for i=1:i82

a1=g((j-1)*8+1:j*8,(i-1)*8+1:i*8); %Block A

b1=g((j-1)*8+1:j*8,i*8+1:(i+1)*8); %Block B

c1=g2((j-1)*8+1:j*8,(i-1)*8+1:i*8); %Block C

t1=abs(a1(1,1)-b1(1,1)); %T1

t2=abs(a1(1,2)-b1(1,2)); %T2

t3=abs(c1(4,4)); %T3

if t1

ind(j,i)=1; %Modification indicator

v1=1:1:2;

c1(1,v1)=alfa0*c1(1,v1)+beta0*(a1(1,v1)+b1(1,v1));

v2=4:2:8;

c1(1,v2)=alfa1*c1(1,v2)+beta1*(a1(1,v2)+b1(1,v2));

g2((j-1)*8+1:j*8,(i-1)*8+1:i*8)=c1; % Modification

else ind(j,i)=0;

end

end

end

fun2 = @idct2;

fr2 = blkproc(g2,[8 8], fun2);

fr2 = uint8(fr2 + 128);

for j=1:i8

for i=1:i82

if ind(j:i)==1

ff((j-1)*8+1:j*8,(i-1)*8+1+4:i*8+4)=fr2((j-1)*8+1:j*8,(i-1)*8+1:i*8);

end

end

end

%%Vertically

fv2=f1(5:height-4,:);%Block C matrix

gv2 = blkproc(fv2,[8 8], fun1);% DCT of C

i8=height/8;

i82=i8-1;

for j=1:i8

for i=1:i82

av1=g((i-1)*8+1:i*8,(j-1)*8+1:j*8); %Block A

bv1=g(i*8+1:(i+1)*8,(j-1)*8+1:j*8); %Block B

cv1=gv2((i-1)*8+1:i*8,(j-1)*8+1:j*8); %Block C

tv1=abs(av1(1,1)-bv1(1,1)); %T1

tv2=abs(av1(1,2)-bv1(1,2)); %T2

tv3=abs(cv1(4,4)); %T3

if tv1

indv(i,j)=1; %Modification indicator

v1=1:1:2;

cv1(v1,1)=alfa0*cv1(v1,1)+beta0*(av1(v1,1)+bv1(v1,1));

v2=4:2:8;

cv1(v2,1)=alfa1*cv1(v2,1)+beta1*(av1(v2,1)+bv1(v2,1));

gv2((i-1)*8+1:i*8,(j-1)*8+1:j*8)=cv1;

else indv(i,j)=0;

end

end

end

fun2 = @idct2;

frv2 = blkproc(gv2',[8 8], fun2)';

frv2 = uint8(frv2 + 128);

for j=1:i8

for i=1:i82

if indv(i,j)==1

ff((i-1)*8+1+4:i*8+4,(j-1)*8+1:j*8)=frv2((i-1)*8+1:i*8,(j-1)*8+1:j*8);

end

end

end

x=ff;

[1] Luo Y. and Ward R.K. (2003), "Removing the Blocking Artifacts of Block-based DCT Compressed Images", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing [database], v. 12 (7), pp. 838-842, Available: IEEE Xplore.

Chinese blog of Night Walker is online today!

The brother blog of Night Walker, called 时光 （http://time360.blogspot.com/） got online today!

From now on, articles in Night Walker will focus on problems relating to my major. Other topics will be posted in 时光 and most articles will be written in Chinese there.

人生若只如初见
何事秋风悲画扇
等闲变却故人心
却道故人心易变

骊山语罢清宵半
泪雨零铃终不怨
何如薄倖锦衣郎
比翼连枝当日愿

（纳兰性德）