[vtkusers] Request for Feedback: VTK Textbook Strawman

[Bill Lorensen]

Folks,

Following my "bull in the china shop" approach to design by committee,
I have converted Chapter 6 of the VTK Textbook to markdown and the
mkdocs flavor.

See: https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/VTKBook/Chapter6/

This approach is meant to be a Strawman.

Here is what I did:

1) I used pandoc to convert the VTK Textbook PDF to .txt and .md
files. The conversion of the main text was excellent. Figures, tables,
and equations not so good.

2) I cleaned up much of the cruft manually with emacs.

3) I added links to all of the VTKBookFigures
(https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/VTKBookFigures/). Andrew
and I had created these a while ago. The figures contain links to the
C++ and Python code that generated the figures.

4) The chapter passes through the normal ScrapeRepo and
SyncSiteWithRepo scripts that are used to maintain the static website.
As part of this process, I insert doxygen links to any vtk class
mentioned in the document. I still have a small issue with this
process.

Once I figured out an approach to handle figures, it took about 8
hours of manual labor to convert the chapter.

What needs to be done on the Chapter 6 Strawman?

1) Add the math.

2) Add the non-vtk generated figures.

3) More cleanup.

Other than 1 and 2, I will continue on cleanup.

There are several future issues.

Converting the text to markdown does not require a brain surgeon. But,
editing the content to modern VTK will require more effort. Also,
there are lots of old concepts. Andrew and I have already converted<
all of the .tcl scripts to C++ and Python. They exist as examples on
this page (https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/VTKBookFigures/).
But subjects like the web should probably be replaced with the
javascript stuff that is going on at Kitware.

Also, there are concepts that are not addressed in the current VTK
Textbook including shaders, color management, etc.

Please provide feedback/suggestions. I don't have much skin in this
game. If the approach looks wrong I'll gladly remove the current
strawman and reconcentrate my efforts on making the VTKExamples
better.


Bill