LaTeX! ConTeX?

[TheReasoner]

I started learning LaTeX to write papers in it. I did, and the result was exceptionally good.
Then, as I knew LaTeX rather well after a couple of years using it I started writing other stuff in it. Letters, first. Now: Greeting cards, flash cards, foldable 12 sided calendars, songs, figures for Wikipedia articles... You name it, I've probably made it.

It's extremely versatile. And now that I know it, sometimes I find it does the job of specialized software worth hundreds of dollars - and at times better than the given software package too.

In essence I think I can say that the time I invested in learning LaTeX is probably some of the best time investments I have made prior to (in preparation of) and during my time at uni. Anyone else fallen for the lure of the typesetting language?

Anyway... I heard someone praise ConTeX a while back. Is anyone here using ConTeX?

 

[AlexBP]

My story is pretty much the same as yours. I was lucky in that my department, the Computer Science Department at Harvey Mudd College, has the best introduction to LaTex ever written. You can access it here:

https://www.cs.hmc.edu/twiki/bin/view/QREF/LaTeXGuide

 

[Jazer]

the best introduction to LaTex ever written.

Is this like DOS where you have to type in commands?
"documents are created in plain text files with commands embedded within the body of the text."

 

[TheReasoner]

Is this like DOS where you have to type in commands?
"documents are created in plain text files with commands embedded within the body of the text."

html would be a better comparison. You write in code - that is you tell LaTeX where line changes will be, where equations are, etc. And what you get out as a finished product is a pdf file. Or postscript. But pdf is normally the format of choice.

If you want to write scientific papers LaTeX is very often the choice people make. And for good reason. The end result is very professional.

A tiny document would be:

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\centering
Hello world.
\begin{equation}
\int \! x\, \mathrm{d}x=\frac{x^2}{2}+C
\end{equation}
 
\end{document}

when you compile that, the result will look a little like this:

Minimal example of course. As you can see equations are numbered, as are figures and tables. You can easily reference them, and if you want LaTeX does that for you. Keeping all the numbers neatly properly labelled and referenced. Even in the appendix, if you so choose.

It can also be made to make different figures. I wrote this as a flash card for my semiconductor technology class. (Reps to anyone who can tell me what the numbers are)

as you can see it's very versatile. If you want to use it for just text it requires very little coding. But whatever you want typeset - and I mean whatever - LaTeX can probably do it.

 

[AlexBP]

Is this like DOS where you have to type in commands?
"documents are created in plain text files with commands embedded within the body of the text."

I think faith guardian has pretty much answered the question, but just to clarify, part of the genius of LaTex is that it lets you write text as you normally do and then insert commands when you want to get fancy. For example, if I just wanted to write a letter to my Mom in LaTex I would only need a couple commands at the start of the document, after which I could simply type in my text just as if I was using Word or Word Perfect. When my "code" was processed, the text of the letter would simply become ordinary text. On the other hand, if I was typing up a complicated scientific report with lots of equations, graphs, charts, and images, I would need a command for everything other than the plain text. Most of the commands are very easy and straightforward. As an additional bonus, it's almost ridiculously easy to create footnotes and a bibliography with LaTex. It's also easy to divide a document into sections and sub-sections.