NAME
   LaTeX::Pod - Transform LaTeX source files to POD (Plain old
   documentation)

SYNOPSIS
    use LaTeX::Pod;

    $parser = LaTeX::Pod->new('/path/to/source');
    print $parser->convert;

DESCRIPTION
   `LaTeX::Pod' converts LaTeX sources to Perl's POD (Plain old
   documentation). Currently only a subset of the available LaTeX language
   is supported; see SUPPORTED LANGUAGE SUBSET for further details.

CONSTRUCTOR
 new
   The constructor requires that the path to the LaTeX source is defined:

    $parser = LaTeX::Pod->new('/path/to/source');

   Returns the parser object.

METHODS
 convert
   There is one public *method* available, namely `convert()':

    $pod = $parser->convert;

   Returns the computed POD as a string.

SUPPORTED LANGUAGE SUBSET
   LaTeX currently supported:

   * abstracts
   * chapters
   * sections/subsections/subsubsections
   * description, enumerate and itemize lists
   * verbatim blocks (and indentation)
   * plain text
   * bold/italic/code font tags
   * umlauts
   * newlines
   * comments

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
   The current implementation is based upon LaTeX::TOM (the framework being
   used for parsing the LaTeX source) and its clear distinction between
   various types of nodes. As an example, a `\chapter' command has a
   separate text associated with it as its content. `LaTeX::Pod' uses a
   "look-behind" mechanism for commands and their corresponding texts since
   they currently cannot be easily detected without such a mechanism.

   Thus `LaTeX::Pod' was designed with the intention to be
   *context-sensitive* aware. This is also being aimed at by eventually
   registering which type of node has been seen before the current one --
   useful when constructing logical paragraphs made out of two or more
   nodes. `LaTeX::Pod' then finally unregisters the type of node seen when
   it is no longer required. In addition, a dispatch queue is built
   internally which is executed after all nodes have been processed.

   Considering that the POD format has a limited subset of directives, the
   complexity of keeping track of node occurences appears to be bearable.
   Leading and trailing newlines will be removed from the node's text
   extracted where needed; furthermore, trailing spaces and tabs will also
   be purged from each line of POD resulting.

BUGS & CAVEATS
   It is highly recommended to ensure that the structure of the LaTeX input
   file follows the format specification strictly or the parser may not
   succeed.

SEE ALSO
   LaTeX::TOM

AUTHOR
   Steven Schubiger <[email protected]>

LICENSE
   This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
   under the same terms as Perl itself.

   See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/