MathsPIC(Perl) is a development of the earlier MathsPIC(DOS) program, now implemented as a Perl script, being much more portable than the earlier program. MathsPIC parses a plain text input file and generates a plain text output-file containing commands for drawing a diagram. Version 1.0 produces output containing PiCTeX and (La)TeX commands, which may then be processed by plain TeX or LaTeX in the usual way. MathsPIC also outputs a comprehensive log-file. MathsPIC facilitates creating figures using PiCTeX by providing an environment for manipulating named points and also allows the use of variables and maths (advance, multiply, and divide)—in short—it takes the pain out of PiCTeX. Both the original DOS version and the new Perl version are available.

The authors are Apostolos Syropoulos and Dick Nickalls.