Re: Writing technical text
On 10/19/05, m@de-minimis.co.uk <m@de-minimis.co.uk> wrote:
> Be prepared to ask lots of questions when using latex, rather than get
> frustrated. It's like unix - there's a simple way of doing most things
> but sometimes it's non-obvious. If there is a latex mailing list out
> there join it, and let us know about it too whilst you are at it!
LaTeX is also not nearly as complicated to use as many people seem to
think, at least not for the majority of what you're likely to need.
If you have very complex equations, a lot of images and tables that
require formatting tricks, or you need a lot of custom commands or
environments, then sure, you'll have to spend a lot of time learning
the ins and outs.
On the other hand, for a book you'll more likely have something like:
--------------------------------------------------------------
\documentclass{book}
\begin{document}
\input{chapter1}
\input{chapter2}
\end{document}
--------------------------------------------------------------
and in chapter1.tex:
--------------------------------------------------------------
\chapter{A Chapter}
Here's the first paragraph. There are two sentences in it.
This is the second paragraph.
All that matters from \LaTeX's perspective is that there are one or
more blank lines between paragraphs.
A more complicated paragraph might have
\begin{verbatim}
void f()
{
/* pre-formatted text */
}
\end{verbatim}
--------------------------------------------------------------
The "verbatim" environment can also be embedded in a floating figure.
Mostly, I find that using LaTeX means I just type my text in my
favorite editor, and every so often I need a special command. And
that's for fairly technical papers. It's much less markup than HTML.
--
Michael A. Marsh
http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~mmarsh
http://mamarsh.blogspot.com
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