# Scala Language Reference
First of all, the language specification is meant to be correct, precise and clear.
Second, editing, previewing and generating output for the markdown should be simple and easy.
Third, we'd like to support different output formats. An html page per chapter with MathJax seems like a good start, as it satisfies the second requirement, and enables the first one.
## Editing
At the time of writing we are using Jekyll 3.3.0 and [Redcarpet 3.3.2](https://github.com/vmg/redcarpet) to generate the html.
Check `Gemfile` for the current versions.
We aim to track the configuration GitHub Pages use but at times differences will arise as GitHub Pages evolves.
## Building
Travis CI builds the spec automatically after every merged pull release and publishes to http://www.scala-lang.org/files/archive/spec/2.12/.
To preview locally, run `bundle exec jekyll serve -d build/spec/ -s spec/ -w --baseurl=""` (in the root of your checkout of scala/scala),
and open http://0.0.0.0:4000/. Jekyll will rebuild as you edit the markdown, but make sure to restart it when you change `_config.yml`.
## General Advice for editors
- All files must be saved as UTF-8: ensure your editors are configured appropriately.
- Use of the appropriate unicode characters instead of the latex modifiers for accents, etc. is necessary. For example, é instead of `\'e`.
- MathJAX errors will appear within the rendered DOM as span elements with class `mtext` and style attribute `color: red` applied. It is possible to search for this combination in the development tools of the browser of your choice. In chrome, CTRL+F / CMD+F within the inspect element panel allows you to do this.
### Macro replacements:
- While MathJAX just support LaTeX style command definition, it is recommended to not use this as it will likely cause issues with preparing the document for PDF or ebook distribution.
- `\SS` (which I could not find defined within the latex source) seems to be closest to `\mathscr{S}`
- `\TYPE` is equivalent to `\boldsymbol{type}'
- As MathJAX has no support for slanted font (latex command \sl), so in all instances this should be replaced with \mathit{}
- The macro \U{ABCD} used for unicode character references can be replaced with \\uABCD.
- The macro \URange{ABCD}{DCBA} used for unicode character ranges can be replaced with \\uABCD-\\uDBCA.
- The macro \commadots can be replaced with ` , … , `.
- There is no adequate replacement for `\textsc{...}` (small caps) in pandoc markdown. While unicode contains a number of small capital letters, it is notably missing Q and X as these glyphs are intended for phonetic spelling, therefore these cannot be reliably used. For now, the best option is to use underscore emphasis and capitalise the text manually, `_LIKE THIS_`.
### Unicode Character replacements
- The unicode left and right single quotation marks (‘ and ’ (U+2018 and U+2019, respectively)) have been used in place of ` and ', where the quotation marks are intended to be paired. These can be typed on a mac using Option+] for a left quote and Option+Shift+] for the right quote.
- Similarly for left and right double quotation marks (“ and ” (U+201C and U+201D, respectively)) in place of ". These can be typed on a mac using Option+[ and Option+Shift+].
