\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
% \usepackage{times}
\usepackage{easytitle}%
\usepackage{easytable}%

\let\package\texttt % so \package{foo} comes out in \tt
\let\envname\textsf % so \envname{foo} comes out as \sf

\newbox\tempbox

\def\BOX{%
    \setbox\tempbox\hbox\bgroup
    \begin{minipage}{0.9\textwidth}
}
\def\endBOX{%
    \end{minipage}
    \egroup
    \par\bigskip
    \begin{center}
        \fboxsep=10pt\fbox{\box\tempbox}
    \end{center}
    \bigskip\par
}

\title{The package \package{easytable}}
\author[E. Bertolazzi]{Enrico Bertolazzi}
\address{
  Laboratorio di Matematica Applicata e Meccanica Computazionale\\
  Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Strutturale\\
  Universit\`a degli Studi di Trento\\
  Mesiano, Trento, Italy}

\mailto{enrico.bertolazzi@ing.unitn.it}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
The \package{easytable} package is 
a macro package for writing tables, with equal column widths 
or equal rows heights or both, with various
kinds of rules~(lines) between rows and columns. It
uses an array/tabular-like syntax. 
\end{abstract}

\section{How to use it}
Load the package in the usual way:
\begin{BOX}
\begin{verbatim}
   \documentclass{article}
   .
   .
   \usepackage[thinlines,thiklines]{easytab}
   .
   .
\end{verbatim}
\end{BOX}
The options \texttt{thinlines}, and \texttt{thiklines} are self explanatory.
\package{easytab} provides the \envname{tab}~environment which is a
simple re-implementation of the
array/tabular environment, with some limitation and some additional features.
The syntax is
\begin{BOX}
\begin{verbatim}
   \begin{TAB}`(eq)'`[ex]'`{cc...c}'`{cc...c}'
      a & b & ... & n \\
   .
   \end{TAB}
   
   or 
   
   \begin{TAB}`(eq,mx,my)'`[ex,MX,MY]'`{cc...c}'`{cc...c}'
      a & b & ... & n \\
   .
   \end{TAB}
\end{verbatim}
\end{BOX}
\begin{itemize}
\item \verb+(eq)+ or \verb+(eq,mx,my)+. By \verb+eq+ you can balance the rows or
the column or both, as shown in this table:
\begin{center}
\textbf{Table 1.} \\[1em]
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
value of $x$ & effect \\
\hline
\verb+@+ & no balancing \\
\verb+r+ & equal rows heights \\
\verb+c+ & equal column widths  \\
\verb+b+ & equal rows heights and equal column widths \\
\verb+e+ & equal rows heights and column widths \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
By \verb+mx+ and \verb+my+ you can modify the minimum size of the box in the 
TAB environment. This must be a valid measure e.g. 2pt.
This is  useful in writing matrices an vectors.

\item \verb+[ex]+ or \verb+[ex,MX,MY]+. By ``\verb+ex+'' you can specify
the amount of extra space around the item 
in the \envname{TAB} environment. The default is \verb+2pt+.
By \verb+MX+ and \verb+MY+ you can modify the minimum size of the whole 
table in the TAB environment. This must be a valid measure e.g.10cm.

\item The first \verb+`{cc...c}'+ is the definition of the columns
and their alignment. The possible alignment for
the columns are:
\begin{center}
\textbf{Table 2.} \\[1em]
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
\verb+c+ & centering \\
\verb+l+ & flush left \\
\verb+r+ & flush right \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\item The second \verb+`{cc...c}'+ is the
definition of the rows their alignment.
The possible alignment for
the rows are:
\begin{center}
\textbf{Table 3.} \\[1em]
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
\verb+c+ & centering \\
\verb+t+ & flush top \\
\verb+b+ & flush bottom \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{itemize}
\textbf{IMPORTANT:} The package can manage matrices with a maximum 
of $30$ rows by $30$ columns.

\noindent\textbf{IMPORTANT:} The functionality of the environment ``TAB'' is 
the same of the environment ``BMAT'' the only difference is that its 
entries are in ``text'' mode not in ``mathematic'' mode. Please read 
the documentation of the package \package{easybmat} to understand
how to use ``TAB''.

\end{document}

