SymCat — symmetricfunctions.com

A static catalog of symmetric functions and related mathematical topics, built with a custom LaTeX → HTML pipeline. Live at symmetricfunctions.com.

Build pipeline

bibliography.bib
  → Pandoc + bib_math_filter.lua → temp/bibliography.json
  → bibtex_extract.lua           → temp/bibtex-entries.json

tex-source/*.tex
  → preprocess.lua          normalize TeX before Pandoc
  → Pandoc + gather.lua     extract metadata, produce temp/*.json
  → merge_meta.lua          aggregate labels, todos, polydata, sitemap,
                             relation graph
  → render.lua              .json + template.htm → www/*.htm
  → copy assets             www/ (deployed via rsync to ns12.inleed.net)
  → pagefind                build search index (www/_pagefind/)

svg-tex/src/*.tex
  → tex_to_svg.lua          TikZ → SVG assets under assets/

make              # full build (8 parallel jobs)
make Q=1          # quiet full build
make FILE=foo.tex # single-file rebuild (uses stale metadata)
make bib          # regenerate bibliography JSON and raw BibTeX JSON
make svg          # rebuild TikZ-sourced SVG assets
make search       # rebuild pagefind search index
make deploy       # rsync www/ to server
make ship         # clean, build, then deploy
make clean        # rm temp/ www/
make unittest     # run tests/*.tex through the test pipeline

Directory structure

tex-source/         LaTeX source files (one .tex per topic page)
assets/             CSS, JS, icons (copied verbatim to www/)
  style.css         CSS with layers: reset, base, layout, components
  site.js           KaTeX, sidebar, TOC, copy buttons, BibTeX controls, tables
  tex-init.js       184+ KaTeX macro definitions
  nav-images/       Topic-card SVGs
  svg-images/       Inline figure SVGs
svg-tex/            TikZ sources and shared local definitions for SVG assets
temp/               Generated intermediates (gitignored)
  *.pre.tex         preprocessed TeX
  *.json            Pandoc AST + metadata
  bibliography.json CSL-JSON bibliography
  bibtex-entries.json raw BibTeX entries for reference copy/download controls
  site-labels.json  cross-reference labels (id → href, title, page)
  site-polydata.json structured metadata per polynomial family
  site-todo.json    extracted \todo{...} items
www/                Final HTML output (gitignored)
untracked/          Notes, drafts, assets not in git
template.htm        Shared HTML shell (header/nav/footer)
docs/               CHANGELOG, LICENCE, CONTRIBUTING
bibliography.bib    BibLaTeX references (2,300+ entries)

Prerequisites

lua, pandoc, jq, npx pagefind, rsync (for deploy).

Key Lua files

File	Role
preprocess.lua	Text-level TeX normalization before Pandoc sees it
gather.lua	Pandoc Lua filter: traverses AST, extracts labels/citations/polydata/todos
merge_meta.lua	Aggregates all .json → site-wide indexes
render.lua	Pure Lua renderer: .json → HTML using template
bibtex_extract.lua	Extracts source BibTeX entries to JSON for copy/download controls
bibhandler.lua	CSL-JSON + raw BibTeX → formatted HTML bibliography entries
figure_to_html.lua	LaTeX tables (ytableau, tabular, array) → HTML/CSS Grid
polydata_to_html.lua	Renders the symmetric function family index table
relation_graph.lua	Builds relation graph data and HTML from polydata
relation_registry.lua	Defines supported relation metadata and directions
tex_to_svg.lua	Standalone: TeX → PDF → SVG (TikZ figures)
utils.lua	Shared: slugify, html_escape, ascii_fold, print_color
file_reading.lua	JSON I/O abstraction (detects available library)
bib_math_filter.lua	Pandoc filter: preserves math in bibliography entries

Conventions

• Naming: kebab-case for HTML/CSS; snake_case for Lua variables
• Lua modules: M export pattern; (result, error) tuples for error handling
• LaTeX custom commands:
  • \metatitle{...}, \metadescription{...} — page metadata
  • \name{Person} — wrap proper names
  • \defin{term} — definition markup
  • \polydata{...} — structured metadata block for a polynomial family
    • Relation rows inside polydata use targets that are other polydata ids. Preferred form: RelationKey & target | BibKey[,BibKey...] | attr=value; attr=value \\. Existing short forms target | BibKey and target [BibKey] are still supported.
  • \todo{...} content is collected but excluded from output prose
  • \section[label]{Title} — label is used for cross-references
• Math: rendered client-side by KaTeX via tex-init.js macros
• Bibliography: temp/bibliography.json drives displayed references, while temp/bibtex-entries.json preserves source entries for the inline BibTeX copy/download controls.
• eprint fields: The CSL-JSON bibliography build converts all BibLaTeX eprint/EPrint/EPRINT fields to url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/ID} before Pandoc sees the bib file. The raw BibTeX controls use the source entry from bibliography.bib.
• SVG assets: Add or edit card and figure images through svg-tex/src/*.tex, then run make svg. Do not hand-edit generated SVGs unless there is a deliberate one-off fix.

Content editing checklist

• Ignore content inside \todo{...} during prose, citation, and name cleanup.
• Replace raw arXiv or journal \href{...} links with \cite{key} when the source is already in bibliography.bib. Do not invent citation keys.
• Wrap plain-text mathematician names in \name{...} outside citations and theorem labels.
• Use \defin{...} or \hyperref[label]{...} for important technical terms when it improves navigation or clarity.

Run make all after broad page edits and make unittest after Lua or pipeline changes.

Deployment

make deploy rsyncs www/ to the production server. Do not deploy unless the deployment is intentional.

GitHub

Repository: https://github.com/PerAlexandersson/symmetricfunctions.com