Where Can I find Sources for Learning LaTex? 116
the_2nd_coming asks: "I am currently in college and I am majoring in math and computer science. Writing papers in Word and OpenOffice, while not a pain, is slow work due to formating. I have learned that LaTex is used for writing Math and Science papers a lot and once learned makes writing papers quick. I have found few good comprehensive resources on the web, and few books in the book stores. I was amazed that O'Reilly did not even have a book on it. What good sources are there that can teach me LaTex for Mathematics and BibTex?"
Learning LaTex (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Learning LaTex (Score:2)
I also recommend the Kopka and Daly book listed below in the "people also shopped for..." section. It was the textbook for engineering students at my uni back in the day. Quite good.
Also, the documentation directories in the standard TeTeX distribution are very helpful, once you learn the basics.
Further, make bare bones template files of standard things (reports, letters)--and use them!
Re:Learning LaTex (Score:3, Informative)
The Not So Short Guide to LaTeX2e [ctan.org]
The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List [ctan.org]
Unless you are looking to do seriously advanced things (and even if you are), LaTex and BibTeX are things that can be learned very easily from online resources. Spending money on a book is totally wasteful. Just google for keywords relating to what you are trying to do (and include the word "latex" in your search). Also look around for
Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:1)
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:4, Interesting)
That's harsh, linzeal. Should the asker browse 100's of mini-reviews by any old posters and order books for $$$ on that basis alone?
Asking /. readers for opinions and reading highest-moderated posts seems like a sensible way to qualify the list.
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:1)
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:1)
Obviously the words of someone who didn't look very hard. Why would you expect them to have actually looked at Amazon?
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:2)
No, they should use Google- just like those of us with a brain do. When I type in the two keywords- latex tutorial - into Google, *every* link on the first page is topical. LaTeX tutorials- huh, who knew? If I was on a platform where I didn't know how to grab the LaTeX distro- that is, if it wasn't something like apt-get install latex - I would then ask google about latex and get a link to an i
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:2)
Not only is that statement funny, it's often true.
LaTeX is one area of interest for folks for which there are a ton of good books and a veritable cornicopia of stuff to read online. I am no LaTeX guru, but it is what I use for writing papers these days- straight code, no Lyx. A two second search on google yields many sites, and I got my start from one of the first few listed. I then took a leap of intelligence and google
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:1)
It's much easier to set up than the other port (with Cygwin).
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:4, Insightful)
Lyx is not very easy to use in conjunction with plain source editting. It uses its own tags and seems to handle some things slightly different than you would do yourself. In this sense you can compare it to Dreamweaver for HTML. When only using dreamweaver it is sort of OK, but if you want hybrid editing and use more advanced things (only style sheet layout for example), the WYSIWYG becomes more and more frustating as it edits your carefully crafted source.
Espacially if you use a lot of custom commands and advanced positioning system, lyx is NOT the way to go. I use rather advanced and hacked sty files for letters, advanced reports and PDF-presentations and lyx cannot deal with these files properly.
So stuck with lyx only if your needs are not to advanced and you have no interest in editting the source by yourself.
On a side note, the best way to learn latex is read the sty and cls files, which often come bundled with your tex distribution. I learned a lot from them (also how NOT to do it..). For example the Seminar files and examples contain a lot of interesting material.
This, again, is beyond the basics, but they are to easy... (\begin{bla} \end{bla} is al you need, where bla is section, enumerate etc. (all logical keywords, only the manual is needed)).
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:3, Informative)
Texmacs has a built-in renderer if you don't want to run stuff through LaTeX. It's got links to computer algebra systems --- never used it as I don't do maths any more, but it sounds suspiciously like a Mathematica Light built in to your word processor... and there's even a Windows version.
Re:Use Lyx, WYSIWYM Latex Interface (Score:2, Informative)
Go to the source (Score:5, Informative)
That's because the definitive text [bookpool.com], by LaTeX author Leslie Lamport, was published in 1986 by Addison-Wesley two years before O'Reilly got into the publishing business. Nobody's seen a need to improve on it I guess. Interestingly enough, Leslie Lamport works at Microsoft now, so I would assume if he published any new books on LaTeX they'd be Microsoft Press.
Once you get into more advanced usages, The LaTeX Companion [bookpool.com] is a good second book to pick up.
Re:Go to the source (Score:3, Informative)
I highly recommend "A Guide to LaTeX" by Kopka and Daly. It's extremely user-friendly, especially for the beginner. The book gave me enough to write my CS thesis (including figures, citations, and drawings), even though I had no prior knowledge of LaTeX.
Even after you've learned the basics, it makes a handy reference when you can't quite remember how to do something. I've been usi
Re:Go to the source (Score:2)
Once you get into more advanced usages, The LaTeX Companion is a good second book to pick up.
Be sure to get the new, second edition, due out at the end of the month and not the older edition, which is now about ten years old and definitely showing its age. (Parent links to the new edition.)
Now that The LaTeX Companion is being updated, can BibTeX 1.0 be far behind?! :)
Re:Go to the source (Score:1)
LyX (Score:2, Informative)
I find it particularlly useful for the math formulas.
Re:LyX (Score:2)
Look at sources... (Score:3, Insightful)
Then start creating your own documents, and trying out things. Search on google or groups.google if you are getting errors---someone else has run into them before you.
Good luck!
Re:Look at sources... (Score:3, Interesting)
Google is your friend (Score:2, Informative)
And you get this: LaTeX: Math into LaTeX Short Course [loria.fr]
Don't know where to look? (Score:1)
Re:Don't know where to look? (Score:5, Informative)
LaTeX for Word Processor Users (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a great intro document that allows you to translate all of the habits you've picked up from Word/OOWriter in LaTeX commands. I don't write reports without it.
Re:LaTeX for Word Processor Users (Score:1)
(for the lazy man like me)
Well.... (Score:5, Informative)
Start at the LaTeX project site [latex-project.org].
Go buy Leslie Lamport's "LaTeX: A Document Preparation System" book.
Take a look at the Indian TeX Users Group's LaTeX tutorial [cam.ac.uk].
Then read Tobias Oetiker's "The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2e" [ctan.org]
If you need a quick start then start using Lyx [lyx.org] and their Tips and Tricks [s-v-p.de] section.
Re:Well.... (Score:2)
If you think it's slow using a word-processor... (Score:2, Insightful)
No, really...Latex has many advantages. If you are happy to let it pick all your formatting settings, then speed is one of them. Otherwise, if you need things formatted a certain way, it's a HUGE time-sink. I personally like more control
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:5, Informative)
I took 150 pages of Word documentation, exported it as text. In less then 2 days (most of which was spent proofing the document, and pulling out the graphics, diagrams and screenshots), I had the document fully sourced in Latex. I setup macros for various things. The headers, footers I wrote custom cut macros to size for it. I wrote three or four different types of list customizations (instructions, feature lists, outlines, and possible something else).
I write about a dozen different macros most of which ended up being bold or italics for each different type of item. Then I read the document, as I came across things, I used the macro to define what they were. \button{OK}, \windowTitle{Main Screen}, stuff like that.
I customized a wrap-around package for the graphics.
Then when I wanted something to change, I changed the macro, and everything was fixed. No searching the document to find them all. I just setup a .cls file (a Class/Style file), and that was it. Then I just typed. Everything looked exact. Everything looked consistant. Everything was a single render away from finishing. Version of the doucment could be "diff'ed" using standard text tools. I could integrate the changes from a half dozen people with relative ease.
If you are fiddling around with things a bunch, you should have just written a document style, and let Latex handle all of the spacing for you. If you are fiddling with the layout of your document all the time, you are doing it wrong. Stop applying asethetics to it. It's just a document, not a work of art. Drag the style file that has every technique you've ever used around with you. Comment them in and out as you need them.
Consistancy looks better then perfection to me at least. I suppose I could see fiddling with the inter-spacing of mathematical formulas, and possible a bit of tinkering with table column sizes. However, most of that is quick and easy relative to doing it in Word/WordPerfect/Office. In my experince resizing anything in an Office document that is 300 pages long is a good way to crash office, run your machine out of memory, and really be frustrated.
The beauty of Latex is that you setup a style guide, and then just type your document. It's over. Maybe you include a handful of images. Layout a style for each different type of object you want to use, and then just use the macros for those objects. That's all you ever have to do. Fiddling with sizing, spacing, and control is over. Along with the fact, that Latex has far better control in my experience then any other Word Processing system I've ever used.
Kirby
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:3, Insightful)
And since it's a text document you can do a load of magic with it, just as you mention. Take a large document and break it into pieces and you can work on it concurrently. (Try that in any Word version or clone.) You c
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
But if you want to layout something only once, it is often faster too use a program meant for that, like Adobe Pagemaker/Indesign, Quark etc.. La
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
My experience from doing Highschool papers / yearbook designs was that there was a pretty tight feedback from layout to writer. So every now and then a few words were added or removed to make columns line up better and stuff like that. Also the individual page design
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
Actually, you are incorrect IMHO. It is possible and even easy to do paper layouts in Latex. It's designed specifically do deal with it. Okay, Latex might not be, but Tex is. Read up on Donald Knuth. He's a very interesting guy. His Dad actually typeset things manually with an old, old, old school, put a single letter into a big box, put ink on it, press it down on paper, style printing press.
TeX
If you are doing things like API descriptions (Score:2)
Often I find that using LaTeX is faster than a word processor, because with a WP the rendering has to occure concurently with every little change. In LaTeX it's an edit, compile, then render cycle so I wait until the are big enough to justify the compile.
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
I was expecting a more robust defence of Latex, but must say have been disappointed by your assertion that aesthetics is less important than form. The point here isn't to let the tool decide how you should think or exposit, but to choose a tool that fits in to your needs and way of work. Or perhaps you intended to say that, but somehow, it was lost in that rambling against the GP's need t
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
My only grouse was that the poster I was responding to didn't comment on the grandparent's point that Latex, apparently, didn't allow layout placement, but instead went off on a rant on why such control is unnecessary.
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
For example, Latex would be perfect for generating pre-filled out forms on the web. You could generate a latex template of the form, and take values in a CGI program and dynamically merge the template and the data to produce a temporary latex document, then generate a PDF from it for the web user to download and print. Problem is, latex is a BEAR to get text placed in specific places and constrained to specific rectangl
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
Fine-grained control in LaTeX is possible via TeX (or even just using PostScript for the truly hard-core). Also, the whole point to LaTeX was to alleviate the burden of typesetting large documents by having the software do most of it automatically. The strength of LaTeX is literally just typing away, running the latex and dvips commands, and having a gorge
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
Be double-sure that all the tools have similar default settings. Is the PS to PDF converter assuming A4 instead of Letter or vice versa? These kind of things can lead to the inconsistency you mention. Otherwise, I have had extrememly good luck with the PS and PDF output from LaTeX.
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
I still use Latex for some things, but I really think there's a place in the world for something that's geared more towards people with the need for more, and easier, control over the formatting, b
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:2)
I haven't used them, but it looks like LaTeX's concept of "boxes" might fit the bill.
Re:If you think it's slow using a word-processor.. (Score:1)
At least, from what I could tell.
If I'm wrong, suffice it to say that Google didn't turn me up any answers, and learning latex in its entirety, including the practice needed to completely understand it to place text boxes in specific locations, is out of the question. I spent 3 days fighting with latex just to generate and print an
A Guide to Latex (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A Guide to Latex (Score:1)
Re:A Guide to Latex (Score:2)
Now that brings back memories! I did my M.A.Sc. thesis with LaTeX, and this was my reference on the finer points of LaTeX. I did the diagrams with xfig. This was also my first non-trivial use of a digital camera, taking pictures of antenna feeds and radios and things.
I do lots of documents with LaTeX. Still. I'd rather type first and worry about the formatting later. WYSIWYG processors almost gu
Resume-ing in LaTeX [Was Re:A Guide to Latex] (Score:1)
Yes, it does! I tried MS-Word, OO.org and xmlresume [sf.net] before switching back to good old LaTeX and the excellent res [ctan.org] class.
Not So Short Guide To LaTeX (Score:4, Informative)
you can find a very good short guide to LaTeX. It is not comprehensive, but it can get you started fast, and contains all the basic to intermediate material you need to typeset technical documents. It is used widely at my university.
Equation Editor? (Score:3, Informative)
It is really simple to use in documents/spreadsheets/etc., it has a speedbump sized learning curve, it's WYSIWYG, and you've already got it.
Re:Equation Editor? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now go write a math text, or any other math/tech-related text with lots of expressions, and have a glimpse of how hell can be.
Re:Equation Editor? (Score:2)
Re:Equation Editor? (Score:2)
Besides, it costs a lot of time to enter a function (latex takes longer in the begin, but shorter if you are used to it). And replacing small parts in all equations in your document is a lot easier
Re:Equation Editor? (Score:1)
It's no replacement for latex but at least you can spend your time writing equations instead of looking for the right button to click.
I started learning LaTeX some months ago (Score:5, Informative)
There are lots of free documentation as well. The not so short introduction to LaTeX2E [ctan.org] is a very good introduction. If you use some kind of *nix, you should install the documentation that comes with your LaTeX distribution. At least TeTeX comes with a nice browsable help system: texdoctk. You probably have more documentation than you thought you had.
BibTeX is complicated. You should learn about it before you are halfway through your thesis, because there are lots of options and styles, and the styles take different options. BibTeX Tutorial [www.ntg.nl] is a bit helpful, but it doesn't tell you everything you want to know. There are many different citation styles -- natbib and jurabib are the only ones I've looked at. The former lets you choose between author-year and numerical citation styles, whereas the latter is based on footnotes. You probably want natbib in mathematics (but I'm not sure!).
LaTeX is actually quite easy to use, but you'll need an editor you can use with it, and one that you're comfortable with. Most people prefer Emacs, for some silly reason. It might have something to do with the fact that you can run the whole environment from within the editor. But don't be fooled! Vim is still the best editor out there! *ducks*
(More seriously: you can use any editor that will let you write plain ASCII text. If you prefer vim to Emacs, you can use that. But Emacs has loads of good LaTeX modes. I think AucTex is preferred among those who use it.)
Re:I started learning LaTeX some months ago (Score:1)
TeXmacs (Score:2)
You can always use it for the mundane stuff and do the fancy stuff by hand later.
Plus, it's not so ugly it makes you want to claw your own eyes out, unlike LyX.
Useful reference website (Score:1)
Check out Hypertext Help with LaTeX [nasa.gov] if you need a quick, online reference. Not so great if you actually need to learn LaTeX from scratch, however.
Hey, what about.. (Score:1)
Read latex source (Score:2)
Mac OS X and LaTeX (Score:2, Informative)
Other than getting the software installed, I simply used Google for tutorials on LaTeX and BibTex.
LaTeX for Linux + Google (Score:2)
btw, i started using LaTeX because )(*@#&* word wouldn't put pictures where i told it to
Re:LaTeX for Linux + Google (Score:2)
Re:LaTeX for Linux + Google (Score:2)
Modify Existing Source Code (Score:2)
The best way to learn LaTeX is to take and modify someone else's source code.
For that reason, I have the source code for my thesis and an IEEE technical publication on my website here [michael-forman.com]. It should work with a vanilla LaTeX installation in both Linux and MacOS (just type "make preview"). In Windows you'll need to install MikTeX and TeXnicCenter.
Michael. [michael-forman.com]
Essential - a good IDE (Score:1)
I have been using LaTex since forever .. written my Physics thesis in it and still use it for writing letters and stuff. It is just simpler since I have all my templates set up and dont need to worry about layouting at all anymore.
I have found that it is essential to have a good IDE (powerful editor). The ones I can recommend are either Vim or Emacs with the respective addons if you are already familiar with either of those editor or otherwise make sure you check out Kile (http://kile.sourceforge.ne [sourceforge.net]
Re:Essential - a good IDE (Score:2)
Lyx (Score:1)
Versioning support and lots of yumminess.
http://www.lyx.org
Cheers,
Roger
Latex for Word Processor Users (Score:2)
--Bud
Math into LaTeX (Score:3, Informative)
I'm honor bound to put in a plug for George Gratzer's Math into LaTeX [amazon.com], which is the only book I'm aware of that covers most of the intricacies of AMS LaTeX. If you have a lot of math to write, George's book will probably tell you what you need to type (and will also probably have an example that's pretty close to what you need).
MiL also has a nice introduction to LaTeX, walking you through creating your very first LaTeX article; covers BibTeX reasonably thoroughly; and introduces you to some of the additional minutiae you should be aware of when writing a book with LaTeX.
ObAdditionalHonorableMention: I edited Math into LaTeX, but I don't see a cent from sales. I do use the book all the time when I'm trying to figure out something new or remember how to do something I haven't done for a while.
other tools you'll want to make friends with (Score:4, Informative)
what else... oh yeah, a couple word of advice: i'm a big fan of the amsmath and amssym packages (so math actually looks the way you expect it to). hyperref is nice if you want live links in your docs (so bibliography citations are linked to the bibliography entries, for example). i believe hyperref also lets you put in urls. there's a little weirdness in getting LaTeX to actually use an 8.5" x 11" page with 1" margins (it's fairly non-obvious). drop me a message and i'll show you the preamble that fixes this.
if you're going to be spending a lot of time writing up algorithms, a package like alg (or newalg) is pretty nice. i don't remember the specifics of its usage off hand, but if you check your handy dandy local ctan mirror (http://ctan.org), they'll have docs (+ sources) for all these packages and a ton more. there is a package which will even allow you to include C/C++/Java/Pascal/etc. code into your docs and pretty print that too (again, i forget which package, but i can check for you).
hope this helps.
Re:other tools you'll want to make friends with (Score:1)
\usepackage{vpage}
\setpapersize{USletter}
\setmarginsrb{1in}{1in
Hope this helps
Re:other tools you'll want to make friends with (Score:2)
\setlength{\evensidemargin}{1in}
\setlength{\o
\setlength{\hoffset}{-1in}
\s
\setlength{\textwidth}
\textheight=9.0in
Alternatives (Score:2, Offtopic)
If you want to check it out, the creator wrote a free (GPL) implementation named "Basser" Lout (after his university IIRC), which comes with loa
I Love LaTeX (Score:1)
Mod parent down (Score:1, Informative)
Them Fonts (Score:1)
You might have the best text layout program but what's the use when the results look like amost any book by Springer-Varlag.
Blah blah blah, rant rant rant - I'm trying to ask whats the quickest way to use Times ... ;-)
tablet? (Score:2)
TeXmacs (Score:2)
Pybliographer (Score:2)
To manage your BibTeX database, use Pybliographer [pybliographer.org]. It has a simple GUI [pybliographer.org], and it even integrates well with LyX. If both applications are running, just hit the Cite button in Pybliographer, and the cross-reference is inserted into your LyX document!
My only criticism of Pybliographer is that it can be a little cumbersome to install, depending on what distro you are running, because it requires Python and a particular version of the GNU Recode library.
My wife, who isn't much of a computer expert, wanted
comp.text.tex (Score:1)
Use Kile (Score:1)
Of course, you'll need more than that--an IDE can't teach you everything. I particularly like this LaTeX tutorial [maths.tcd.ie]--it was the first one I found when I first started learning LaTeX a little over a year ago, and it's pretty good for starting one off.
Besides learning LyX (1.4 soon) try Kile for KDE (Score:2)
Until LyX 1.4 is released and has full-native support for Memoir and other packages I have been using Kile LaTeX Editor for KDE 3.2.2 (1.7a version currently).
When I want to see exactly what code is doing what Kile is that sort of LaTeX editor but with many helpful features that don't completely hide the code that LyX does for you.
When LyX releases 1.4 and subsequent 1.4.x releases to refine it my time will be 50/50 along-side Kile.
Besides the texts that are currently being listed I didn't read an
Re:ARGH! (Score:1)
Ok, there is currently a great deal of information over the net for TeX, LaTeX, and derivatives. Knuth is the authoritative guide, useful for the mechanics of typesetting and the internals of the whole system. LaTeX is an augmented set of macros useful in preparing articles, books, reports, even letters.
And since O'Reilly is THE source of educational material in computing, they DO have a book about TeX but it is out of print [oreilly.com]. It explains how TeX distributions such as TeXLive [tug.org], the official distribution by