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I am starting a graduate class this fall that requires our work to be typed and printed. My question is what is the standard application/site/way to do this? I am fairly used to $\LaTeX$ thanks to this site, but I don't exactly know how to get a document renderer that uses it.

I just want to write documents with the easy this site allows, would anyone please share method?

I would be quite grateful. Thank you!

Pax
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  • You could use a program like TexWorks, or something similar. Or just search for "latex writer" on the internet, but make sure the program you download can be trusted. – Bart Michels Sep 03 '13 at 19:50
  • It might be a good idea to ask your fellow grad students about what programs they use. If you end up using the same one then you could ask them for help if you run into any problems. – Antonio Vargas Sep 03 '13 at 19:53
  • @Antonio_Vargas Sadly, I'm away from the university until the class starts. – Pax Sep 03 '13 at 19:55
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    Just use the editor of your choice, and compile the tex file with pdflatex. – azimut Sep 03 '13 at 19:56
  • You may find additional helpful information on http://tex.stackexchange.com (though they may not focus on the math part, but TeX as a whole) – Hagen von Eitzen Sep 03 '13 at 20:00
  • @Pax You don't need a custom TeX editor to write LaTeX, you just need a compiler. You could write LaTeX code in notepad, vim, emacs, or any other text editor of your choosing. Personally, I prefer Notepad++ on Windows. Learning LaTeX will require more than what's present on this site, as the language is a full-scale document markup language, but the reward for knowing it is high. – Emily Sep 03 '13 at 20:01
  • One alternative is to use one of the recent Wysi* interfaces to LaTeX. Here is one: http://www.texmacs.org/tmweb/home/welcome.en.html – minar Sep 03 '13 at 20:01
  • @Arkamis I'm figuring out that I have much longer road then I thought... do you have a recommendation for starting? – Pax Sep 03 '13 at 20:06
  • @Pax: start with the original book by Lamport. That should be enough to get you going. You don't actually need to know terribly much beyond the math stuff to type up homework assignments. – dfeuer Sep 03 '13 at 20:25
  • @dfeuer Okay, thank you very much. – Pax Sep 03 '13 at 20:30
  • @Pax LaTeX allows you to do many things with fine-grained control. My advice while learning is to focus on understanding the things you need when you need them, and not trying to take it all in at once. It's much easier to ascend the learning curve that way. – Emily Sep 03 '13 at 21:15
  • @dfeuer "start with the original book by Lamport"... Really? This sounds awfully like "start with the original Bourbaki memoirs" addressed to somebody asking for an introduction to math. – Did Sep 09 '13 at 03:11
  • @Did: Perhaps I'm remembering incorrectly, but I believe Lamport wrote a short, readable introductory guide. – dfeuer Sep 09 '13 at 03:12
  • @dfeuer Then you might be referring to "The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2ε", not due to Lamport, available in a host of languages, and indeed a good text to start using LaTeX. – Did Sep 09 '13 at 03:18
  • @Did: I believe I'm thinking of LaTeX: A Document Preparation System (2nd Edition), which is not as short as I remembered but which I seem to remember finding a gentle introduction. – dfeuer Sep 09 '13 at 03:57
  • @dfeuer I remember "A Document Preparation System" as a rather daunting piece... but maybe I was too sensitive when I tried to read it? – Did Sep 09 '13 at 04:03
  • @Did: Please note that I was probably comparing it, mentally, to the $\TeX$book. – dfeuer Sep 09 '13 at 04:07
  • @dfeuer That would explain a lot... :-)) – Did Sep 09 '13 at 08:38

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I use a website called ShareLatex, and I think it is wonderful. There is no need to install anything on your computer, the compiler isn't picky and accepts just about any package I've ever tried to use, you can store all of your projects online, and their baseline site (which is enough for me) is free.

They even have templates you can use so you don't have to do too much work constructing a preamble. Eventually, you should learn how to build your own preamble, but ShareLatex is a great way to get going right out of the gate. Try it out!

I would recommend copying your code into your email every now and then, in case the site goes down and you lose all of your work.

Jared
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What is used here is the same kind of mark-up used in $\LaTeX$ with mathematical notation, but $\LaTeX$ isn't just for mathematical notation. For example, this document is written entirely in $\LaTeX$. A $\LaTeX$ document begins with

\documentclass{article}[12pt]

or any of several other document classes, and has some global typessing conventions and the like after that, and then:

\begin{document}

and can include things like

'\begin{enumerate} \item blah blah blah \item blah blah blah \end{enumerate}'

and all sorts of other stuff. Probably you should get a manual.

Michael Hardy
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I prefer using Writelatex.com . This is just the same way how we use commands in this site .

Also we can save the pdf then and there

For introduction tutorial: Video

Website : writeLatex

Starter website: doc editor

Harish Kayarohanam
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