LaTeX (was: Re: Emacs history, and "Is Emacs difficult to learn?")

[Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se>]

drain <aeuster@gmail.com> writes:

>> But from my experience with LaTeX, you can get just about any
>> result that you can find in a book shop or public library, at
>> the very least. So there isn't any "I don't even like the
>> output" - you can get whatever you like.
>
> I make my case based on its powerful minimalism. As soon as the
> general population see any code, they run away scared.

Aha, I thought we were comparing LaTeX and org-mode (and I don't
know anything about org-mode) as technologies, not with respect to
the general population.

Yes, LaTeX isn't the easiest thing to use. Just the fact that you
need to compile it (and especially if you have several files, for
example references with BibTeX), and that the whole process
produces a pack of intermediate representation and/or (?) metadata
files in the bargain, could be a regular horror show to some
people. Or even more common: something they just wouldn't do.

I even used an old-school *makefile* to do the job. But I don't
know how common that is (but it wasn't my idea, either).

I did lots of LaTeX when I did my bachelor paper (that was some 50
pages). Actually, I learned more from that (the LaTeX), than from
what was the academic subject. I thought like this: if I get *one*
paper to look *exactly* the way I want it to - with ToC, headers,
subheaders, figures, page numbering, and references - I would
*never* have to do it again, because then I would just re-use all
those settings in the preamble (use the document as a skeleton),
and they'd work, and I'd just have to worry about *writing*.

So instead of going to the library, and read the whole history, as
I would with a GPPL, I used Google, and the SX LaTeX site. The
LaTeX people are very helpful, and they understand
perfectionism. If you want something lowercased, some paragraph
aligned some other way, whatever, just ask, and they will not be
dismissive. The SX Unix & Linux site or actually just about any
programmers' forum I've ever visited, can't compare with the
"good karma" of the LaTeX people.

> LaTex may have infinite output possibilities, but doesn't it
> still require writing a lot of code in the actual buffer?

Yes *and* no - LaTeX requires lots of code to get the paper
exactly the way you want it, and especially for advanced documents
- but once done, you have it.

The coolest thing I did (again, with help from the LaTeX
community), is this interactive "Public Library Ad". That's
original, don't you think? :)

.tex & PDF:
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/latex/matte.tex
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/about/matte.pdf

> What's nice about org-mode is that the printed output is the
> same as the printed input.

That sounds like - text mode :) Like I said, if you provide me
with an example, that would be very interesting to see!

-- 
Emanuel Berg - programmer (hire me! CV below)
computer projects: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573
internet activity: http://home.student.uu.se/embe8573