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I have heard a few people here violently advocate LaTeX as a document system. I am just curious how many people here actually use it.
I understand the concept of logical markup, and have written a couple of papers in HTML, but I would like to know how LaTeX goes beyond this.
Also, I am curious to know what you use for spell checking, and what formats you can read the final files in (.pdf, .doc, .html,...)?
scanez
10-17-2001, 02:20 PM
In LaTeX you can pretty do whatever you want. You can use it as a word processor, prepare reports, presentations, slides, use images, etc. I use it mainly for writing mathematical papers (nothing comes close to LaTeX in that!). Really, I can't think of something off the top of my head that you can't do in LaTeX. For spell checking I use ispell and with LaTeX you can produce .dvi, .ps, .pdf, and .html (with latex2html) files that I know of.
Give it a shot, it rocks!
SC
Strike
10-17-2001, 02:22 PM
I use LaTeX for most of my documents. The benefits it has over HTML include:
* Automated indexing, referencing, etc
* Less worry about the appearance, more emphasis on content (LaTeX has very sensible, elegant, professionally-inspired defaults for typesetting - these can, of course, be altered to however you want with relative ease though)
* Can generate PDFs, Postscript files, HTML, DVIs, and a number of other files (these are the most common ones)
* Has EXCELLENT equation support (very helpful for me)
Ok... So what are some good learning resources for LaTeX? Got any Links, or books I should check out?
Strike
10-17-2001, 02:31 PM
http://www.ctan.org/ctan/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf
The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX
Originally posted by Strike:
<STRONG>http://www.ctan.org/ctan/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf
The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX</STRONG>
I downloaded this file and started reading it. I don't see how to transform these files (.dvi it think) into .pdf or .html. Is this done with a seperate program?
Is there a good GUI LaTeX edtior/tool out there?
Thanks!
Blackknight
10-17-2001, 02:43 PM
You use dvipdf, latex2html, dvips, etc. Just type it on the command line and you're done.
I don't know of any guis for latex, but if you actually learn how to use it you won't need one. The beauty of it is you can edit your documents anywhere and you're not tied to a certain interface. Just use any text editor.
[ 17 October 2001: Message edited by: Blackknight ]
Strike
10-17-2001, 02:54 PM
if you are a vim user, I have a swank vimrc.latex that I source for all .tex files - it has a bunch of sweet macros that make using LaTeX a lot simpler and faster. Anyone interested, post here and I will post it.
scanez
10-17-2001, 03:08 PM
Originally posted by Strike:
<STRONG>if you are a vim user, I have a swank vimrc.latex that I source for all .tex files - it has a bunch of sweet macros that make using LaTeX a lot simpler and faster. Anyone interested, post here and I will post it.</STRONG>
Alright, usually I use emacs by default but please post it so we can all enjoy the goodness.
SC
Strike
10-17-2001, 03:41 PM
" vimrc.latex - (La)TeX vimrc by Danny DiPaolo
"
" This one has had the most work done on it by far. Just about every TeX tag
" has some sort of input macro that assures proper brace closure and tabbing.
" And to go along with that, there are command macros for doing just about
" every useful thing I ever do with LaTeX. The hardest thing is to remember
" them all. Solution - print a cheat sheet or use the mnemonics I provide.
set syntax=tex
set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4
set foldmethod=indent
set textwidth=78
" ==== Command macros
" == Atomic commands
map ,rl :w<CR>:!latex %<CR> " run latex
map ,dvi :w<CR>:!xdvi %<.dvi &<CR> " (make) DVI
map ,cps :w<CR>:!dvips %<.dvi -o %<.ps<CR> " create PS
map ,cpdf :w<CR>:!dvipdfm -o %.pdf %<.dvi<CR> " create PDF
map ,gv :w<CR>:!gv %<.ps &<CR> " ghostview (PS)
map ,acro :w<CR>:!acroread %<.pdf &<CR> " acroread (PDF)
" == Combined commands
map ,vdvi ,rl,dvi " View dvi
map ,vps ,rl,dvi,cps,gv " View ps
map ,vpdf ,rl,dvi,cpdf,acro " View pdf
" ==== Input macros
" == Environments
"
" Each of these begin with "b" because they all "begin" some sort of
" environment. So "ba" is "Begin Abstract", even though it does both. You
" hit this macro when you want to insert one, so it's just beginning :)
map! ]ba \begin{abstract}<ESC>o<CR>\end{abstract}<ESC>ki<TA B>
map! ]bc \begin{center}<ESC>o<CR>\end{center}<ESC>ki<TAB>
map! ]bdm \begin{displaymath}<ESC>o<CR>\end{displaymath}<ESC >ki<TAB>
map! ]bea \begin{eqnarray}<ESC>o<CR>\end{eqnarray}<ESC>ki<TA B>
map! ]ben \begin{enumerate}<ESC>o<CR>\end{enumerate}<ESC>ki< TAB>
map! ]beq \begin{equation}<ESC>o<CR>\end{equation}<ESC>ki<TA B>
map! ]bfi \begin{figure}[]<ESC>o<CR>\end{figure}<ESC>?figure<CR>nwlli
map! ]bi \begin{itemize}<ESC>o<CR>\end{itemize}<ESC>ki<TAB>
map! ]bt \begin{tabular}{}<ESC>o<CR>\end{tabular}<ESC>?tabu lar<CR>nwlli
" == Style modifiers
" Series modifiers
map! ]mds \mdseries{}<ESC>i
map! ]bfs \bfseries{}<ESC>i
map! ]tmd \textmd{}<ESC>i
map! ]tbf \textbf{}<ESC>i
" Family modifiers
map! ]rmf \rmfamily{}<ESC>i
map! ]sff \sffamily{}<ESC>i
map! ]ttf \ttfamily{}<ESC>i
map! ]trm \textrm{}<ESC>i
map! ]tsf \textsf{}<ESC>i
map! ]ttt \texttt{}<ESC>i
" Shape modifiers
map! ]ups \upshape{}<ESC>i
map! ]its \itshape{}<ESC>i
map! ]sls \slshape{}<ESC>i
map! ]scs \scshape{}<ESC>i
map! ]nor \normalfont{}<ESC>i
map! ]tup \textup{}<ESC>i
map! ]tit \textit{}<ESC>i
map! ]tsl \textsl{}<ESC>i
map! ]tsc \textsc{}<ESC>i
map! ]tno \textnormal{}<ESC>
" == Other commands
map! ]ite \item<TAB>
map! ]ca \caption{}<ESC>i
map! ]em \emph{}<ESC>i
map! ]fn \footnote{}<ESC>i
map! ]fr \frac{}{}<ESC>hhi
map! ]la \label{}<ESC>i
map! ]mrm \mathrm{}<ESC>i
map! ]np \newpage<CR>
map! ]ref \ref{}<ESC>i
map! ]sec \section{}<ESC>i
map! ]sse \subsection{}<ESC>i
map! ]sss \subsubsection{}<ESC>i
map! ]upk \usepackage{}<ESC>i
map! ]cl \cline
map! ]hl \hline
map! ]vl \vline
[ 17 October 2001: Message edited by: Strike ]
proffy
10-17-2001, 06:35 PM
sym,
I've used LaTeX extensively and I feel the biggest plus was the equation formatting. There is simply nothing that compares to it. MS equation editor (in Word) is okay, but will not format equations in a paragraph. It also looks a little "amaturish" (is that a word?).
How is LaTeX different than HTML. Well they are simular in that they are both markup type languages. However, a HTMl page can be viewed with a browser. A LaTeX document must be "compiled". It's not very forgiving so you need to dot all your 'i's and cross your 't's
A LaTeX file is Typically compiled into a postscript file (.ps). Also, latex can be converted to HTML with the command latex2html.
Sym, sort of docs do you want to use LaTeX to create?
colnago
10-18-2001, 01:58 AM
There is a front end for LaTeX. It is LyX. I have not used it myself, but I have used other editors that do the same sort of thing. Not a lot of help if you are used to the syntax, but okay for starting out.
The best way to learn is just to find an uncompiled paper and read the .tex. It is not that bad.
You can just use spell for the checking.
The worst part is image placement. There are ways to get it to try and place them where you would like (use a [h] at the start of the image), but it is never guaranteed to work.
fow99
10-18-2001, 08:49 AM
sym: There is a couple of GUI there, including Lyx and Gnu TeXemaxs(???). But non of them is perfect. I still prefer a pure source editor as I do with HTML authoring.
Originally posted by proffy:
<STRONG>...
Sym, sort of docs do you want to use LaTeX to create?</STRONG>
I am just looking in a general sense. Some people here talked/raved about how they use it to do everything, so I just wanted more info on it ( i'm the curious type, mostly why I got into Linux). I conceptually like the idea of seperating content from presentation, and have several thoughts about doing papers and work reports that way.
I also use a plain text editor to do all my HTML (jEdit), and it does have a syntax highlighting for TeX files. I wasn't sure what most people use to work with LaTeX documents.
What format do most people compile it into?
scanez
10-18-2001, 01:09 PM
Originally posted by sym:
<STRONG>I also use a plain text editor to do all my HTML (jEdit), and it does have a syntax highlighting for TeX files. I wasn't sure what most people use to work with LaTeX documents.
What format do most people compile it into?</STRONG>
I always output a dvi file, once in a while I will also make a ps file and still less of the time a pdf file. Oh yeah, I use latex2html when writing up solutions to math homeworks and stuff like that, but I'm not a TA this semester so I haven't done that in a while.
SC
Strike
10-18-2001, 02:30 PM
Originally posted by colnago:
<STRONG>The worst part is image placement. There are ways to get it to try and place them where you would like (use a [h] at the start of the image), but it is never guaranteed to work.</STRONG>
Use h! and it will put it there no matter how bad it looks :)
irlandes
10-18-2001, 05:27 PM
I have used LyX, and while it takes a learning period, it takes care of a lot of stuff for you. Also, you can insert LaTeX commands any time you need it.
Drake 8.0, and I assume 8.1, includes tutor files which walk you through the basics.
My son is a research math prof, and a lot of their stuff pretty well MUST be done on LaTeX, or pay more money than he has, to get someone to typeset it. There are templates, available as well on LyX, for various main journals that demand it.