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LaTeX - Why and for what?

LegacyUserLegacyUser Posts: 0
in Applications

A few months ago, I read a bit about LaTeX and TeX in generall. I found it pretty handy, especially the fact that I could create PDFs without using any other programm than a text-editor. No Office and stuff required. Im currently using LaTeX for Documentations for my Customers.

Who else uses LaTeX? And what for?

Comments

  • devkhadkadevkhadka Posts: 8
    i have never tried it b4 .... em sure going to try it now
  • dergachevdergachev Posts: 1
    LaTeX is heavily used for writing texts with lots of math formulas. Absolutely all modern articles in mathematics (I'm not quite sure about physics) are written in LaTeX only. It is a well-established standard.
  • vonbibervonbiber Posts: 28
    I've been using tex for years now
    When I have the choice I prefer to use plain tex (instead of latex).
    It's true that at first it was used mostly for writing math articles/books
    but it's no longer true.
    Physicists, chemists, linguists, or anybody that just wants nicely
    formatted pages ...
    you can typeset anything with it (including music scores, ...).
  • WawrzekWawrzek Posts: 5
    I wrote bofh of my MSc and PhD theis in LaTeX (as well some scientific paper) and many presentation, however, it's not so popular among chemists.

    I also have my CV written in LaTeX. It's nice because gives special and fresh look and feel.

    http://wawrzek.name/CV/cv.pdf
  • LegacyUserLegacyUser Posts: 0
    I've been using Latex for 4 years now. In the beginning I was "forced" by my professors in university, but I'm very very happy that they did so :laugh:

    Now I write anything in Latex, whenever I need to write a paper / article / manual / anything-else I do it in Latex.

    After one writes his own templates and gets the "themes" he likes, I can guarantee that nobody will go back.
    It gives a very professional look and after you get used to it, it's not harder than writing normal text.

    Don't forget to use an appropriate editor; macros are a must have, they just push up productivity by orders of magnitude

    thecec
  • pixelpixel Posts: 7
    I use LaTeX for almost all my stuff I create.

    It's good for any letters (manual and automated created), posters, music notes, good presentations, books (can handle thousands of pages perfectly) and much more.

    The letters look perfectly, much better than OpernOffice or so. It is a Text SETTING SYSTEM, not only a pdf-creator.

    Try out.
  • mfillpotmfillpot Posts: 2,180
    I found a good site with LaTeX tutorials at http://andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/index.html
  • vonbibervonbiber Posts: 28
    been using TeX (plain mostly, occasionnally LaTeX) for years for all
    kinds of stuff: writing letters, resumes, math articles,
    documentation, goofy stuff... You can even write music scores,
    guitar tablatures, crossword puzzles... It's so flexible.

    All you need really (aside from the compiler) is a text editor.

    You can even do everything from the CLI, without bothering to open
    an X session. I do that quite often.
    There are a number of framebuffer tools that can display the output (pics, pdf ...)
  • MATThematicalMATThematical Posts: 19
    I'm a graduate student (doing an M.S. in Mathematics) and I use LaTeX for writing papers, as well as for writing the tests, quizzes, and handouts for the classes I teach. I'll also use it for my upcoming thesis.

    It's a great tool. It allows you to create really professional math documents, as well as documents for other things. It has document classes for articles, books, letters, and AMS (American Mathematical Society) articles.
  • jabiralijabirali Posts: 157
    I've been using LaTeX for about a year now, mostly for my lab reports in Chemistry. It's way more flexible, reliable and powerful than OpenOffice (or similar) ever was to me; I don't really see the need for keeping an office suite around anymore :). If anyone is looking for more documentation, the Tex Users Group has compiled a pretty comprehensive list here.

    Some of you might also be interested in GraphViz. It is basically to diagrams what LaTeX is to documents, and it is supposed to integrate nicely in TeX through the dot2tex module. I have yet to play with it, but it is certainly on my todo-list ;)
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