Newbie: Help with elisp, please

[Brad Camroux <bgcamroux@shaw.ca>]

Hello,

I'm relatively new to *customizing* emacs.  I've been using emacs for 
a while, though not efficiently.  I would like to learn how to do 
things more effectively and efficiently.  To start with, I'm trying 
to setup some LaTeX keyboard mappings that *I* want.  I have setup a 
few function definitions in a file called latex.el which has a 
general form similar to the following:

<snip>
(setq latex-skel-file '"~//TeX//skeleton.tex")

(defun skel ()
  "Read in LaTeX Document Skeleton"
  (interactive)
  (insert-file latex-skel-file)
)

(defun prit ()
  (interactive)
  (set 'str "\\prit{}")
  (insert str)
  (backward-char 1)
)

(defun prbf ()
  (interactive)
  (set 'str "\\prbf{}")
  (insert str)
  (backward-char 1)
)

(define-key latex-mode-map "\C-cb" 'prbf)
(define-key latex-mode-map "\C-ci" 'prit)
(define-key latex-mode-map [f5] 'skel)
</snip>

Now, whenever I try to byte-compile this code, I get the message:

<snip>
Compiling file /home/frodo/emacs/latex.el at Wed Apr 28 13:00:35 2004
  ** assignment to free variable latex-skel-file
  ** assignment to free variable str
  ** reference to free variable latex-skel-file

While compiling prit:
  ** reference to free variable str

While compiling prbf:
  ** reference to free variable str
</snip>

I have also had messages telling me that the value of the variable 
latex-mode-map is void.  I don't understand how to deal with this.  I 
have been trying to read through the emacs manual and reference 
guides available online, but there is no reference to dealing with 
such problems.

Could someone please help me?  I know that there are pre-defined 
key-bindings for latex-mode, but I'd rather setup my own that I know 
work the way I want them to.

I would very much appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance,

(PS: Please do not CC me in your reply; I read the list)

-- 
+--------------------------+-------------------------------+
|Brad Camroux              | === http://www.debian.org === |
|Student                   | ============================= |
|Geophysics & Applied Math | Proud admin and user of Debian|
|University of Calgary     | since 2003... because Red Hat |
|Calgary, AB, Canada       | just didn't cut it            |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------+