Latex - A new (Exciting???) article series [modified]
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Hi all, I just wanted to ask you all about whether or not putting together a series of articles on Latex would be wanted. Latex is a scripting language used for generating high quality, standardized documents. It's focus is on typesetting the infamously difficult subjects such as complex mathematics for engineering and computer science. Latex is a standard in most tertiary education institutes and is used by scientists throughout the world. It is widely available for all platforms. Latex can be quite difficult for newbies and a series of articles would be valuable for those who want to use it. Please, if anyone wants this series please reply. Thanks -- modified at 4:41 Saturday 9th December, 2006
The best times in life are the ones that you can't remember!!!
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Hi all, I just wanted to ask you all about whether or not putting together a series of articles on Latex would be wanted. Latex is a scripting language used for generating high quality, standardized documents. It's focus is on typesetting the infamously difficult subjects such as complex mathematics for engineering and computer science. Latex is a standard in most tertiary education institutes and is used by scientists throughout the world. It is widely available for all platforms. Latex can be quite difficult for newbies and a series of articles would be valuable for those who want to use it. Please, if anyone wants this series please reply. Thanks -- modified at 4:41 Saturday 9th December, 2006
The best times in life are the ones that you can't remember!!!
Mr Banker wrote:
I just wanted to ask you all
OK, so what's the question? Do we mind self-advertising posts in the forums. 5 for yes, 1 for no.
only two letters away from being an asset
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Mr Banker wrote:
I just wanted to ask you all
OK, so what's the question? Do we mind self-advertising posts in the forums. 5 for yes, 1 for no.
only two letters away from being an asset
Just wanted to check whether people would be interested. It is a huge area and would take up alot of my time so I just wanted to check. :~
The best times in life are the ones that you can't remember!!!
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Mr Banker wrote:
I just wanted to ask you all
OK, so what's the question? Do we mind self-advertising posts in the forums. 5 for yes, 1 for no.
only two letters away from being an asset
A series like this could result in anything between 4 - 30 articles and it would be best to see if anyone wants to know how to make their documents/reports pretty before writing them :)
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
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Hi all, I just wanted to ask you all about whether or not putting together a series of articles on Latex would be wanted. Latex is a scripting language used for generating high quality, standardized documents. It's focus is on typesetting the infamously difficult subjects such as complex mathematics for engineering and computer science. Latex is a standard in most tertiary education institutes and is used by scientists throughout the world. It is widely available for all platforms. Latex can be quite difficult for newbies and a series of articles would be valuable for those who want to use it. Please, if anyone wants this series please reply. Thanks -- modified at 4:41 Saturday 9th December, 2006
The best times in life are the ones that you can't remember!!!
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I've never understood why an author would prefer something like Latex to a more "wysiwyg" approach like this [^]. Thoughts?
The Grand Negus wrote:
I've never understood why an author would prefer something like Latex to a more "wysiwyg" approach like this [^].
:| There is a little thing called "for free" or "for fee" and I think some of us go with the "for free" one.
If you try to write that in English, I might be able to understand more than a fraction of it. - Guffa
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The Grand Negus wrote:
I've never understood why an author would prefer something like Latex to a more "wysiwyg" approach like this [^].
:| There is a little thing called "for free" or "for fee" and I think some of us go with the "for free" one.
If you try to write that in English, I might be able to understand more than a fraction of it. - Guffa
PaulC1972 wrote:
There is a little thing called "for free" or "for fee" and I think some of us go with the "for free" one.
Sorry, foreign thought to me. If God gives one something to do, it can be expected that He will also provide appropriate means (free or not). So the issue of which is "better", "more suited", or simply "more effective" should not hang, so to speak, on the price tag.
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PaulC1972 wrote:
There is a little thing called "for free" or "for fee" and I think some of us go with the "for free" one.
Sorry, foreign thought to me. If God gives one something to do, it can be expected that He will also provide appropriate means (free or not). So the issue of which is "better", "more suited", or simply "more effective" should not hang, so to speak, on the price tag.
The Grand Negus wrote:
So the issue of which is "better", "more suited", or simply "more effective" should not hang, so to speak, on the price tag.
:| It can. I've seen things for free being better than ones for fee...
If you try to write that in English, I might be able to understand more than a fraction of it. - Guffa
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I've never understood why an author would prefer something like Latex to a more "wysiwyg" approach like this [^]. Thoughts?
True, I (as most of you) prefer wysiwyg apps. The current version of Latex (Latex 2e) does not directly support wysiwyg but there are applications that are wysiwyg which use Latex as a backend. These are also free (eg: Lyx[^]). Further, Latex 3 is currently in development that does support wysiwyg editors. I have taught Latex at our university to the first years and the first question (always) is "why should we learn it when we could just use Word?". I also felt the same (when I was their age :)) but now I struggle to use anything but Latex (even Word) to write up documents. Many people are like that for example, some people feel more comfortable typing up an HTML document by source than by wysiwyg. Latex provides far more than is available in, say Word or Open Office. It is free and comes by default with most Linux and Mac installations. Windows versions are also free with many wysiwyg tools available for creating mathematical formulas, graphics and presentations. There is also an article on CP that uses Latex to create images for web pages: http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/Eq2Img.asp[^] Latex is not difficult to learn but takes time because there is alot of features avaliable. If anybody wants an example of a document created in Latex, email me at tal@corpkey.net and I will send you a pdf with an explanation of the document.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
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True, I (as most of you) prefer wysiwyg apps. The current version of Latex (Latex 2e) does not directly support wysiwyg but there are applications that are wysiwyg which use Latex as a backend. These are also free (eg: Lyx[^]). Further, Latex 3 is currently in development that does support wysiwyg editors. I have taught Latex at our university to the first years and the first question (always) is "why should we learn it when we could just use Word?". I also felt the same (when I was their age :)) but now I struggle to use anything but Latex (even Word) to write up documents. Many people are like that for example, some people feel more comfortable typing up an HTML document by source than by wysiwyg. Latex provides far more than is available in, say Word or Open Office. It is free and comes by default with most Linux and Mac installations. Windows versions are also free with many wysiwyg tools available for creating mathematical formulas, graphics and presentations. There is also an article on CP that uses Latex to create images for web pages: http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/Eq2Img.asp[^] Latex is not difficult to learn but takes time because there is alot of features avaliable. If anybody wants an example of a document created in Latex, email me at tal@corpkey.net and I will send you a pdf with an explanation of the document.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
Another thing, if you do any search on Google Scholar[^], any new document you download would have been written in Latex. The scope of Latex is huge in the academic fields and so anybody attempting to publish an article relating to research conducted or discoveries made require the authors to know Latex.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
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Another thing, if you do any search on Google Scholar[^], any new document you download would have been written in Latex. The scope of Latex is huge in the academic fields and so anybody attempting to publish an article relating to research conducted or discoveries made require the authors to know Latex.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
Tal Even-Tov wrote:
The scope of Latex is huge in the academic fields and so anybody attempting to publish an article relating to research conducted or discoveries made require the authors to know Latex.
Which brings me back to my original question. Why should (or would) an author - who is attempting (presumably) to express himself, prefer an indirect method of doing so, when a comparable but more direct method is available? Case in point: Is it good that I have to hit the "Preview" button to see what this very post is going to look like? Wouldn't a wysiwyg editor be more effective here, in every way? Where is the advantage?
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Tal Even-Tov wrote:
The scope of Latex is huge in the academic fields and so anybody attempting to publish an article relating to research conducted or discoveries made require the authors to know Latex.
Which brings me back to my original question. Why should (or would) an author - who is attempting (presumably) to express himself, prefer an indirect method of doing so, when a comparable but more direct method is available? Case in point: Is it good that I have to hit the "Preview" button to see what this very post is going to look like? Wouldn't a wysiwyg editor be more effective here, in every way? Where is the advantage?
Because of inertia. You cannot easily change the methodology that people use; for this and for any technology ( including your own ). I'm certain that there are a lot of younger people that are using Publicon ( or even Word ) to typeset their papers than older "academic" people who are used to type their formulas with vi/emacs/notepag and LaTeX. One of the BIG problem with WYSIWYG softwares is that people tend to look at the container instead at what they have to put inside.
Maximilien Lincourt Your Head A Splode - Strong Bad
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Because of inertia. You cannot easily change the methodology that people use; for this and for any technology ( including your own ). I'm certain that there are a lot of younger people that are using Publicon ( or even Word ) to typeset their papers than older "academic" people who are used to type their formulas with vi/emacs/notepag and LaTeX. One of the BIG problem with WYSIWYG softwares is that people tend to look at the container instead at what they have to put inside.
Maximilien Lincourt Your Head A Splode - Strong Bad
Maximilien wrote:
Because of inertia. You cannot easily change the methodology that people use...
Especially if one is resigned to it. Active opposition to that which is worse and active support of that which is better is not an alternative, it's a duty. "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate," Amos 5:15.
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Maximilien wrote:
Because of inertia. You cannot easily change the methodology that people use...
Especially if one is resigned to it. Active opposition to that which is worse and active support of that which is better is not an alternative, it's a duty. "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate," Amos 5:15.
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Well, then, I bless you with the Great Osmosian Blessing: "May God give you exactly what you're asking for."
OK guys, sheesh :) OK, if you were to compare typesetting with Latex to creating an HTML page: You have plenty wysiwyg editors for creating web pages in HTML. So much so that anybody can put together a web page without knowing a stitch of HTML. However, if you want to then add more complex features using javascript, you wouldn't get very far without knowing HTML. If you wanted to change a picture every 3 seconds (for example), you would struggle. Similarly, typesetting can be done with any wysiwyg editor (free or not, makes no difference). If, however, you wanted to change/add something that the wysiwyg editor did not support you would either struggle or be unable to. You may or may not agree with the idea of scripting a document but whether you like it or not, Latex is used worldwide, mostly by academic institutes and research organisations (even Google). Almost every faculty, school and deparment at my university offers a course in Latex. In our School of Computer Science, it is the first course required for the undergraduate degree. The purpose of this article series would be to teach Latex from the ground up (as you would with HTML, say). It may seem difficult for some to understand the need for Latex but coming from an academic and research background, I couldn't get by without it.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
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Hi all, I just wanted to ask you all about whether or not putting together a series of articles on Latex would be wanted. Latex is a scripting language used for generating high quality, standardized documents. It's focus is on typesetting the infamously difficult subjects such as complex mathematics for engineering and computer science. Latex is a standard in most tertiary education institutes and is used by scientists throughout the world. It is widely available for all platforms. Latex can be quite difficult for newbies and a series of articles would be valuable for those who want to use it. Please, if anyone wants this series please reply. Thanks -- modified at 4:41 Saturday 9th December, 2006
The best times in life are the ones that you can't remember!!!
OK, new question. If I were to write this article series, inwhich category should it be placed?
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
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OK guys, sheesh :) OK, if you were to compare typesetting with Latex to creating an HTML page: You have plenty wysiwyg editors for creating web pages in HTML. So much so that anybody can put together a web page without knowing a stitch of HTML. However, if you want to then add more complex features using javascript, you wouldn't get very far without knowing HTML. If you wanted to change a picture every 3 seconds (for example), you would struggle. Similarly, typesetting can be done with any wysiwyg editor (free or not, makes no difference). If, however, you wanted to change/add something that the wysiwyg editor did not support you would either struggle or be unable to. You may or may not agree with the idea of scripting a document but whether you like it or not, Latex is used worldwide, mostly by academic institutes and research organisations (even Google). Almost every faculty, school and deparment at my university offers a course in Latex. In our School of Computer Science, it is the first course required for the undergraduate degree. The purpose of this article series would be to teach Latex from the ground up (as you would with HTML, say). It may seem difficult for some to understand the need for Latex but coming from an academic and research background, I couldn't get by without it.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
Tal Even-Tov wrote:
In our School of Computer Science, it is the first course required for the undergraduate degree.
And that seems reasonable to you?
Tal Even-Tov wrote:
...coming from an academic and research background, I couldn't get by without it.
Which, at least from my point of view, is very curious. How did Einstein manage? Newton? da Vinci? Euclid? for that matter, Moses? Please give me examples of the kinds of thoughts that can be easily and effectively expressed using Latex, that cannot be as easily or as effectively expressed using an appropriate wysiwyg editor, and that would therefore make an author attempting to express those thoughts unable to "get by without it".
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Tal Even-Tov wrote:
In our School of Computer Science, it is the first course required for the undergraduate degree.
And that seems reasonable to you?
Tal Even-Tov wrote:
...coming from an academic and research background, I couldn't get by without it.
Which, at least from my point of view, is very curious. How did Einstein manage? Newton? da Vinci? Euclid? for that matter, Moses? Please give me examples of the kinds of thoughts that can be easily and effectively expressed using Latex, that cannot be as easily or as effectively expressed using an appropriate wysiwyg editor, and that would therefore make an author attempting to express those thoughts unable to "get by without it".
Our courses are of the very theoretical type and often require our students to perform mathematical calculations, make observations and present those back to us. While it is theoretically unecessary for first years, it becomes quite necessary in the postgraduate degrees and since we hope that at least some of our students will make it that far, we decided to get them used to Latex.
The Grand Negus wrote:
How did Einstein manage? Newton? da Vinci? Euclid?
Academic research, these days, has conformed to a standard in terms of reporting the results of the research. All major journals (ACM, IEEE, CSJSA, etc) require submitted documents to be typeset in Latex. If they are not then they don't even look at the documents.
The Grand Negus wrote:
Please give me examples of the kinds of thoughts that can be easily and effectively expressed using Latex
In my area of research (Computational Molecular Biology, Pattern Recognition and Image/Signal Processing) I sometimes have to present work that requires complex statistical results and modeling data. While there are wysiwyg editors that can typeset this, Latex is the only one that has become a worldwide standard specifically designed for typesetting this.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
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Our courses are of the very theoretical type and often require our students to perform mathematical calculations, make observations and present those back to us. While it is theoretically unecessary for first years, it becomes quite necessary in the postgraduate degrees and since we hope that at least some of our students will make it that far, we decided to get them used to Latex.
The Grand Negus wrote:
How did Einstein manage? Newton? da Vinci? Euclid?
Academic research, these days, has conformed to a standard in terms of reporting the results of the research. All major journals (ACM, IEEE, CSJSA, etc) require submitted documents to be typeset in Latex. If they are not then they don't even look at the documents.
The Grand Negus wrote:
Please give me examples of the kinds of thoughts that can be easily and effectively expressed using Latex
In my area of research (Computational Molecular Biology, Pattern Recognition and Image/Signal Processing) I sometimes have to present work that requires complex statistical results and modeling data. While there are wysiwyg editors that can typeset this, Latex is the only one that has become a worldwide standard specifically designed for typesetting this.
The best times in life are the ones you can't remember!!!
It doesnt matter how many times you put forward your eloquent and well-informed (not to mention educated) oppinion, the Grand Nag-us will insist that he is right and the whole world is doing it wrong. Give up while you have some sanity.