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Hallo all,
I'm always writing my essays in ms word, and recently was told that there is a software called latex that can generate pdf file by means of some kind of makeup language. My Linux box is Debian. Could any one who has experience in this field let me know where could I find a recommended editor for this purpose? Actually I have searched in sourforge, and found kile kde latex editor. Is it sufficient to produce a pdf file simply using this editor?
Any old text editor will let you write latex files (emacs will do proper syntax highlighting).
Here's an example latex file (from my days at Uni)
Code:
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{a4}
\begin{document}
\section{Martyn's Use Case}
\subsection{Use Case ?? -- Send Out Reminder}
\subsubsection{Rationale}
The system will have the ability to send out email reminders to the students supervisors telling them that a decision is due on the
application.
\subsubsection{Actors}
The supervisor who will have to process (ie send some sort of reminder) the application.
\subsubsection{Priority}
The priority of this use case is should-have. It is not hugely important but must be done in case there has been a delay in processing
the application
\subsubsection{Status}
No State.
\subsubsection{Preconditions}
If the deadline has passed and nothing has been received from the students supervisor then the reminder e-mail has to be sent.
\subsubsection{Post Conditions}
The system will note that a reminder has been sent to the supervisor
\subsubsection{Extension Points}
None
\subsubsection{Used Use Cases}
None.
\subsubsection{Flow Of Events}
\begin{itemize}
\item The system will check to see if the deadline has passed for the supervisor to get back with a decision.
\item The system will then check to make sure the student hasnt withdrawn their application.
\item The system will then send e-mail to the supervisor asking them to speed up the processing of the application
\end{itemize}
\subsubsection{User Interface}
The actor will use the interface that the system provides.
\subsubsection{Scenarios}
Scenario 1:
\begin{itemize}
\item The system checks if the deadline has passed.
\item If it hasnt nothing is done.
\end{itemize}
Scenario 2:
\begin{itemize}
\item The system checks to see if the deadline has passed.
\item If it has it will check that the application hasnt been withdrawn.
\item The system will then send an e-mail to the appropriate supervisor.
\item The system returns to the main interface.
\end{itemize}
\subsubsection{Other Requirements}
None.
\end{document}
Once you've written the file (as file.tex say), just run
Code:
latex file.tex
then
Code:
dvipdf file.dvi
and you should end up with a PDF file perfectly formated.
latex can be a bit annoying to start with, but once you've used it on a large document, there's no going back to Word/Office. The real power of latex is that you can write each, say, chapter in a separate file, then do
Code:
\include{chapter3.tex}
and that chapter will appear there, latex will handle page numbering, contents pages, etc without you having to do anything, you don't have to worry about the layout...
I second that. LyX provides a nearly WYSIWYG interface to make LaTeX documents. Actually, the term they use is WYSIWYM, "What You See Is What You Mean".
I used LyX to create the User Guide for Stellarium. The generated PDF output is pretty good, and it's fairly easy to make reasonable HTML too exporting to LaTeX first, and then using latex2html.
If all you're looking for is a way to make pdf documents, open office can convert it's files into a pdf. It also handles word format fine. Latex is probably better if you're doing more complex formating though.
Thank you all.
I downloaded lyx and am this moment trying to write a paper in it. However it seems not that suitable for writing journal paper. It is really convenient for compose a free-style article, but concerning some guidelines for publication in journal, it appears to be difficult.
LaTeX is perhaps a bit more like a programming language, but it is extremely powerful and generates documents that are conform to the typesetting standards. There are many packages you can use for including figures, headings, fonts etc...
All you need to generate a LaTeX document is a good editor, and any editor will suffice as you only have to write ascii. Some editors, like emacs, allow syntax highlighting, which is really helpfull. After that, all you need to generate a PDF document is to 'pdflatex' your tex-file.
The example tex-file that ilikejam gave is perfect to get to know LaTeX, but do google for latex manuals, there are several good ones around.
Thank you all.
I downloaded lyx and am this moment trying to write a paper in it. However it seems not that suitable for writing journal paper. It is really convenient for compose a free-style article, but concerning some guidelines for publication in journal, it appears to be difficult.
That depends on the paper format. There are some templates for journal articles with specific requirements which you can access by selecting "new from template" from the file menu. There's quite a few templates available on the net too, but you might have to poke around to find one which is suitable.
If none match your requirements, you might also consider taking an existing template and modifying it for your needs. I've not done it, but I gather this is much like the process you'd do with LaTeX anyway. If you do this, please consider uploading and adding your template to the LyX wiki's layout list.
Older thread, but thought I might expand on the LaTeX issue if you still are looking at it. LaTeX is great for damn near any kind of paper, journal or article, but you may need to put in some time for formatting. If it is a scientific article you are writing, most journals provide style sheets on their home sites (usually in an instructions to authors page) that are then defined in the preamble. Some of the TeX pages can be a bit confusing. I suggest you look at "The not so short introduction to LaTeX2e"…rather meaty but quite digestible.
I have written some articles in Latex on my Bebian box. It goes smoothly except including figures. Anyway, the recommended meaty but degistable introduction have been downloaded, I shall peruse it.
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