Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex
From: Peter Jay Salzman <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 22:12:08 -0800

begin Gabriel Rosa <[email-masked]>:

> can anyone recommend a good latex tutorial or book? I've never really done
> any work with it, but I'll be writing a paper in the next couple of weeks 
> that needs to be formated for print.

every latexer needs two books:

the leslie lamport book   <-- to learn
the latex companion   <-- to reference

pete

From: Jonathan Stickel <[email-masked]>                                 
To: [email-masked]                                                    
Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex                                         
X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version)
Reply-To: [email-masked]                                              
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 11:12:31 -0800
                                                                                
I just started using LaTeX this past year and now use it for all of my          
documents.  I got started with a wonderful free guide called "A (Not So)        
Short Introduction to LaTeX2e."  It can be downloaded from a number of          
sites, but here is one:                                                         
                                                                                
http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/                            

It was necessary to buy "The LaTeX companion" when I wanted to do some          
more advanced math formulae and figures, but it is actually a very              
difficult read.  Buy the way:  I prefer to TeX in Emacs because it has a        
built in LaTeX mode.  Good luck!                                                

Jonathan

To: [email-masked]                                                    
Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex                                         
From: Peter Jay Salzman <[email-masked]>                                           
Reply-To: [email-masked]                                              
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 11:21:04 -0800                                           
                                                                                
begin Jonathan Stickel <[email-masked]>
> I just started using LaTeX this past year and now use it for all of my
> documents.  I got started with a wonderful free guide called "A (Not
> So) Short Introduction to LaTeX2e."

ah, yeah.  i've seen this; it's a good document.  good advice, jon.             

> It can be downloaded from a number of sites, but here is one:
> 
> http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/
> 
> It was necessary to buy "The LaTeX companion" when I wanted to do some
> more advanced math formulae and figures, but it is actually a very
> difficult read.                                                               
                                                                                
yeah, the companion is definitely a "must have".  i suppose lamport's
book isn't crucial if you get the not so short intro to latex, but the
companion is very necessary to do anything "intermediate" or higher with
latex.                                                                          

as for being a "hard read", i agree, but it wasn't meant to be a "read".        
it's a reference.                                                               

so if you need for sectioning to look different from the default, you           
look up "sectioning" in the index.

of if you want to learn how to make a customized bibliography, you look         
up "bibliography".                                                              

of you you want your float "Here, Damnit!" you look up "float".

or if you want to create customized page numbering or a running header,         
you look up "pagestyle".                                                        

definitely a reference.  the only section i found almost unusable was           
chapter on NFSS (the font system).  pretty much everything else is a 1-3        
page read that's certainly do-able.                                             

btw, if you want to see the most non-linear and difficult book i've ever        
read (other than a field theory book), check out DEK's "the tex book".          
that book is absolutely absurd!                                                 
                                                                                
pete  

From: "Mark K. Kim" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [vox-tech] beginning latex
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 03:37:33 -0800 (PST)

Just type, in a file called "myreport.tex":

   \documentclass{report}     % you can also use "article" or "book"   
   \usepackage{doublespace}   % for ENL courses, you'll want this
   \begin{document}

      \title{My Title}        % set document title
      \author{Gabriel Rosa}   % set your name
%      \date{\today}           % this is default so you don't need it
      \maketitle              % make the first page title

      Blah blah \emph{really} blah,
      then blah blah \strong{really really} blahed.

   \end{document}

Then, from the command line, type:

   latex myreport.tex   # first to generate cross references
   latex myreport.tex   # second to apply cross references
   latex myreport.tex   # and third for a safe measure
   dvips -f myreport.dvi -o myreport.ps   # generate PS from DVI   
   lpr myreport.ps      # and print!

If you want previews:

   xdvi myreport.dvi

or use gv with "consistently check file for changes" (or whatever it's
called) option so you don't have to rerun gv everytime you want to view
your changes.  I prefer gv over xdvi because PS files are stand-alone
whereas DVI requires external resources (ie, if you include pictures,
DVI
requires you keep the picture around so it can grab the file when it
displays the document) and it's more of an exact replica of what you'll
see when it's printed.  Using a makefile so you don't have to type all
these commands all the time is a good idea.

Everything else, you can learn one at a time... TOC, indexing,
cross-referencing, figures, tables, chapters, sections, subsections,
drawings, graphics, etc., etc., etc.  And oh yeah -- `xfig` is your
friend.

-Mark