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Lurch Changelog

What's new in Lurch 0.8

Apr 4, 2014
  • Improvements:
  • Typeset mathematics is now available throughout the application, for both meaningful and non-meaningful mathematics.
  • A new set of classroom-tested topics has been added to Lurch.

New in Lurch 0.7992 (May 9, 2013)

  • Tweaking behavior of sub/superscript actions: Now pressing subscript when text is in superscript just returns it to normal. Also, pressing superscript when text is in subscript just returns it to normal.
  • Lurch now optionally (on by default) makes an autosave of your file every 30 sec with the same filename in the same folder but with the extension .lurch~ instead. The autosave file is deleted whenever you save the original file and is not created if the document in the Lurch editor has not been edited since the last save.

New in Lurch 0.7991 (Apr 11, 2013)

  • Enhancements:
  • Lurch rules can now have multiple block starters in them (variable declarations and assumptions) and the conclusion is assumed to discharge all blocks at once.
  • Significant extension and reorganization of built-in math topics, including these particulars:
  • Started a new abstract algebra ruleset, not yet finished
  • Categorized topics into Definitions, Basics, and Theorems
  • After installing this version of Lurch, the app will now notify you on launch if a newer version becomes available
  • Bug fixes:
  • Improved confusing validation message for replacement restrictions
  • Fixed significant (though subtle) logic error in universal introduction rule
  • Tab stop sizes did not zoom with the rest of the document; now they do, making it so that font size changes do not mess up tabbed columns
  • Document margins did not zoom with the rest of the document; now they do, making it so that numbered lists no longer fall off the left edge
  • Fixed bug in finite set rule in set theory library

New in Lurch 0.799 (Mar 21, 2013)

  • Enhancements:
  • Lurch rules can now have multiple block starters in them (variable declarations and assumptions) and the conclusion is assumed to discharge all blocks at once.
  • Significant extension and reorganization of built-in math topics, including these particulars: Started a new abstract algebra ruleset, not yet finished Categorized topics into Definitions, Basics, and Theorems After installing this version of Lurch, the app will now notify you on launch if a newer version becomes available
  • Bug fixes:
  • Improved confusing validation message for replacement restrictions
  • Fixed significant (though subtle) logic error in universal introduction rule
  • Tab stop sizes did not zoom with the rest of the document; now they do, making it so that font size changes do not mess up tabbed columns
  • Document margins did not zoom with the rest of the document; now they do, making it so that numbered lists no longer fall off the left edge
  • Fixed bug in finite set rule in set theory library

New in Lurch 0.798 (Mar 6, 2013)

  • Enhancements: Tags above Meaningful Expression bubbles now report the main operator of the expression. For instance, the expression 3*2+5 no longer has a tag saying only "expression," but now "+ expression," to let the user know that the main operator is the addition operator. New keyboard shortcuts for expanding and collapsing Meaningful Expressions: Alt+[ is collapse and Alt+] is expand. (As with all shortcuts, these are customizable from the Help menu.)
  • Bug fixes: Properties were able to modify Meaningful Expressions even if a Context was in between them. This was not according to our specification, and thus was a bug. It is fixed in this release.

New in Lurch 0.797 (Mar 4, 2013)

  • Enhancements:
  • Parser now understands not only statements of the form "X is a Y" but
  • also "X is a Y of Z" such as "H is a subgroup of G".
  • Selecting an option from the format menu when there is no text selected
  • allows you to then begin typing in that format.
  • A first draft of a number theory library was added, but futher drafts
  • expect to improve it significantly.
  • Some minor reorganization of rules and styles in various libraries,
  • as well as removing old libraries.
  • United context menu and bubble menu into one, for simplicity.
  • Added \sum, \prod, \bigcup, and \bigcap operators to the math language
  • as quantifiers, because they bind variables.
  • Bug fixes:
  • The current parser sometimes takes ages and ages to determine that an
  • expression is unparseable. This can hang the whole app. This
  • version cuts parsing off after 2 seconds of an attempt; this is a
  • kludgey fix until we get a better parser, but it prevents the app
  • from hanging.

New in Lurch 0.796 (Feb 23, 2013)

  • Enhancements:
  • New "red comment pen" style for teachers grading student documents
  • Zoom way in/way out menu items (with keyboard shortcuts) for use when showing documents on an overhead projector, or frequently opening files from users with lower resolutions
  • Lists now default to numbered lists instead of bullets, for line-numbered proofs; also added and improved other list-related tools/actions
  • Topic dialog now lets you import the topic's definitions into your current document, rather than create a whole new one
  • Making default document on first Lurch launch be the one with the most definitions and rules (Famous Sets of Numbers)
  • Lurch remembers size/position of rule list dialog
  • Bug fixes:
  • Copy and paste could introduce "duplicate IDs" into a document silently, making Lurch refuse to open the document later
  • Wrong dependencies for Famous Sets of Numbers and its ruleset corrected
  • Some Meaningful Expressions in expanded form were unable to collapse due to a bug in how text representations of MEs were computed

New in Lurch 0.795 (Feb 15, 2013)

  • Enhancements:
  • Warns before changing default font to one without unicode math symbols
  • Blank document opened in new Lurch installation now includes a stylesheet
  • Removed unused fonts, to shrink size and complexity of distribution a bit
  • Bug fixes:
  • Small typo and format fixes In validation
  • Removed rarely occurring infinite loop
  • Made subproof/declaration blocks respect contexts
  • Fixed confusing feedback message when a condition failed
  • Two successive numbered lists misread one item's number

New in Lurch 0.79 (Feb 5, 2013)

  • Lurch now opens .lurch files on Mac OS X when double-clicking in Finder
  • Corrected drawing of bubbles at the end of a line of text
  • Corrected placement of boundaries of deeply-nested bubbles
  • Copy and paste now preserves list (and other paragraph) formatting
  • No more blank buttons on the task bar on Windows XP
  • Linux preferences dialog check boxes now function correctly (they had been acting as if they were always checked)

New in Lurch 0.78 (Jan 22, 2013)

  • Bug fixes, including (but not limited to):
  • Improvements to the math expression parser
  • Bug fix in the validation engine
  • Problems with search paths are fixed silently on launch
  • Compilation bug on some Linux systems removed
  • Linux install script updated again, including bug fix that installed in the wrong folder
  • Some documents with errors in 0.76 have been corrected
  • Removed built-in computer algebra system and related library,
  • until upstream bugs in it can be fixed
  • User interface improvements, including (but not limited to):
  • Ugly, limited fonts on Windows corrected
  • Math symbol palettes better organized
  • "Open by Title" dialog is better organized
  • User cannot choose "no topic" because this caused confusion
  • Fixed premise renumbering bug in numbered lists
  • More math topics added, including nearly an entire intro to proof course, and a significant reorganization of the topics dialog
  • Tutorial improvements based on user feedback
  • Updated installers to clean out old Lurch files before installing, and Windows installer now has silent (/S) option for both install and uninstall, easier for network administrators

New in Lurch 0.77 (Jan 12, 2013)

  • Bug fixes, including (but not limited to):
  • Improvements to the math expression parser
  • Bug fix in the validation engine
  • Problems with search paths are fixed silently on launch
  • Compilation bug on some Linux systems removed
  • Linux install script updated
  • Some documents with errors in 0.76 have been corrected
  • User interface improvements, including (but not limited to):
  • Ugly, limited fonts on Windows corrected
  • Math symbol palettes better organized
  • "Open by Title" dialog is better organized
  • User cannot choose "no topic" because this caused confusion
  • More math topics added, including nearly an entire intro to proof course
  • Tutorial improvements based on user feedback

New in Lurch 0.76 (Jan 8, 2013)

  • Bug fixes, including (but not limited to):
  • Improvements to the math expression parser
  • Bug fix in the validation engine
  • Problems with search paths are fixed silently on launch
  • Compilation bug on some Linux systems removed Linux install script updated
  • User interface improvements, including (but not limited to): Ugly, limited fonts on Windows corrected
  • Math symbol palettes better organized "Open by Title" dialog is better organized
  • User cannot choose "no topic" because this caused confusion
  • More math topics added, including nearly an entire intro to proof course
  • Tutorial improvements based on user feedback

New in Lurch 0.75 (Jul 2, 2012)

  • Solid, stable word processor as the foundation
  • Do your proofs in any style you like; no rigid limitations
  • Far less restrictive user interface
  • Use of familiar, Equation-Editor-like bubbles to overlay meaning onto text
  • This makes marking up your math for Lurch to check just as easy as marking text with bold or italic font
  • Complete freedom to write new mathematical rules (indeed, entire math topics) with ease, no programming needed at all
  • As always, free software for Windows, Mac, and Linux

New in Lurch 0.4 (Sep 22, 2010)

  • New math topic:
  • The very, very old classical propositional logic math topic was removed, and replaced with
  • a new version in the same style, but with explicit validation instead of implicit.
  • This means you construct the statements, indentation levels, reasons, and line number
  • references as a user, and Lurch checks them; it no longer helps you construct the proof.
  • Some functionality has been lost (can't save theorems or replacement rules now, f.ex.), but
  • some has been gained (word processing and cursor placement, f.ex.). This new library
  • will continue to improve in future releases.
  • That math topic was authored using a new Fitch Proofs Library, but how to create your own
  • math topics using that library has not yet been fully documented, nor fully streamlined.
  • (I.e., it's not nearly as user-friendly as it might one day get.)
  • Enhancements:
  • Significant speedup in document rendering time.
  • (But more improvements on this front still to come.)
  • Significant improvement to CAS (replaced SymbolicC++ with REDUCE).
  • This should give much more accurate results, and also allows for undefined functions to
  • be used (as in f(x), without any previous definition of what f means).
  • Significantly improved cursor in word processing and math-editing modes.
  • Still not perfect, but a major improvement.
  • Bug fixes:
  • If Lurch crashed and gave you the opportunity to re-open autosaved data the next time you
  • launched it, the "Ignore" button did not actually delete the files, so it would bug you
  • with the same request again. This has been fixed.
  • Missing Circle Dot help file was added.
  • CAS package had lone variables in wrong font, now fixed.
  • Many small user interface/word processing bugs stomped out.
  • Statements and their reasons were not correctly vertically aligned in equational proof
  • topics, now fixed.

New in Lurch 0.35 (Aug 4, 2010)

  • Other math topics:
  • Old libraries were also updated to use many of the new tools introduced by doing so,
  • including a much more word-processor-like document structure that does not require
  • tools to start/end/manipulate proofs:
  • Line-numbered proofs (no validation except simply keeping line numbers in sync)
  • Algebra/calculus using an internal CAS
  • Other libraries that remain largely the same for this release include these three.
  • Math word processing
  • Circle-dot logic game
  • Classical propositional logic (implicit validation style)
  • Other major improvements:
  • Lurch can now open multiple documents at a time. This is tremendously useful because now
  • Lurch has an integrated help system, so that you can read a help document side-by-side
  • with the document in which you need it. See more on help in the next bullet.
  • (Multiple document viewing is also very useful to developers, who may be working on several
  • files at once, or using one file as a reference when working on another.)
  • The help menu has links for opening help on the current document and any of its
  • dependencies that have help documents. These help files are Lurch documents, and thus
  • may contain examples, tools, and other useful interactive items. This help suite also
  • means that math topics no longer provide documents with (spammy) instructions at the top;
  • all instructions are out of the way in a help file.
  • Cut, copy, and paste works in general now. In fact, images can also be pasted into text
  • regions in documents (as embedded img tags).
  • The tools pane now has a palette when you're editing math! All math zones in the document
  • now use it, whether they expect LaTeX, calculator notation, group theory syntax, whatever.
  • Also, a small tooltip appears when you're editing math to give general syntax instructions.
  • Other minor improvements:
  • Lurch now auto-saves your documents, and prompts you on the next launch after a crash, to
  • let you recover any almost-lost data.
  • You no longer need to save your document in order to change dependencies, modes, or do a
  • full reload.
  • You can open documents by title, which is often more convenient than filename.
  • Added toolbar buttons and menu items for adding and editing hyperlinks in Lurch documents.
  • Only one Lurch now runs, and attempted launches of other copies just open new windows in
  • the existing copies. This is most useful on Mac, but also prevents settings conflicts.
  • Documents can now have CSS stylesheets embedded in them or their dependencies.
  • (See the Format menu.)
  • There are now handy File > Open recent and File > Recent topics menus.
  • Simplified the Tools menu in word processing mode to just have "insert math" and
  • "toggle display/inline" tools.
  • Minor improvements to the user interface, such as in-document link icons (green checks,
  • red X's, etc.).
  • The LaTeX engine (a version of jsMath) in Lurch now supports more math symbols (specifically
  • those listed on the http://www.math.union.edu/~dpvc/jsMath/symbols/AMSsymbols.html page.)
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed several bugs in the word processor, although of course some remain.
  • Fixed some bugs in some packages and the UI.
  • Justification buttons on the toolbar are temporarily removed, because they were broken.
  • They will be re-enabled when I have time to make them work correctly.
  • Changes relevant to developers:
  • Miscellaneous improvements to console help() feature
  • Significant improvements to how Lurch displays JavaScript objects in the console,
  • including ones with cyclic internal references.
  • Dramatic speedup of the developer console when it gets full of output.
  • Improved usability of the view source dialog.
  • Lurch now has the ability to open packages (all of which now self-document!), and can open
  • both documents and packages by title and author from the File menu (as mentioned above),
  • including a convenience for opening a dependency of the current document.
  • Images can now be pasted into code (as data URI strings).

New in Lurch 0.3 (Apr 15, 2010)

  • Lurch is much faster! (We updated to Qt 4.6, which does JavaScript dramatically faster.)
  • Fixed very, very many word processor bugs with a complete overhaul of the word processor.
  • Also added several conveniences/enhancements to the word processing experience in general.
  • Mac version is a universal binary.
  • Indent/outdent buttons work again.
  • Cursor now highlights Lobs that cannot be edited without first pressing enter.
  • Other minor improvements in this release:
  • Lurch now verifies at launch that fonts are installed correctly, or issues a warning.
  • Updated website to include a tutorial on using Lurch for algebra/calculus via CAS topic.
  • (This tutorial is now a bit out-of-date due to CAS topic improvements, but we'll get to
  • that!)
  • Enabled active links in Lurch documents (hyperlinks that can take action in the document).
  • Upgraded context menus in Lurch documents to be able to have separators and submenus.
  • Enabled expanding/collapsing action categories in sidebar
  • Significant improvements to UI regarding adding and viewing document dependencies.
  • Removed recent topics list (it was distracting). Will eventually move it to the File Menu, which is more natural anyway.
  • Bug fixes in this release:
  • Fixed bug in which the Windows version always gave a search path warning, even if it
  • was not really appropriate to do so.
  • Fixed bug in which it was possible to press undo right after choosing a topic, and
  • put the document in an undesirable state.
  • Fixed bug in which sometimes the document would flicker while jsMath rendered TeX.
  • Fixed bug in which holding down Windows key (or Ctrl on Mac) allowed typing anywhere in a document, even where it wasn't supposed to be permitted.
  • Fixed bugs that could cause topics built using the internal CAS to hang/crash.
  • Improvements specific to developers:
  • Added developer help() function and data supporting it. (Try typing ? in console.)
  • Lurch now remembers the positioning of the web inspector from one run to the next.
  • Enhanced developer console to have a toolbar, menus, and history. Also added font
  • resizing through toolbar buttons and/or Ctrl+MouseWheel (as in main window).
  • Added modes to Lurch Lite, mostly of use to developers (release comes with Scripting mode).
  • Now script edit windows remember both their geometry and their font size.
  • Added find/replace to code editing windows, and a few small related UI improvements.
  • Scripts can now enable/disable and hide/show actions in both the sidebar and Tools menu.
  • Added developer-mode control-click feature (evaluates code resulting in clicked Lob).
  • Console now syntax-highlights OpenMath XML.
  • Default document representation routine now uses syntax-highlighted XML.
  • Added Lurch-specific HTML source viewer to Developer Tools.
  • Improved efficiency of Developer Console.

New in Lurch 0.25 (Apr 2, 2010)

  • The big new feature is an integrated computer algebra system, together with a new topic that takes advantage of it.
  • This release includes the same 9 topics as the previous, plus a CAS topic in which you can do basic algebra and integral or differential calculus proofs, each step validated. This
  • makes Lurch useful in many, many courses!