Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!ox-prg!culhua!Damian.Cugley From: Damian.Cugley@prg.ox.ac.uk (Damian Cugley) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Re: How can I get started with TeX? Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 91 11:55:47 GMT References: <1671@hpwala.wal.hp.com> <21384@hydra.gatech.EDU> Sender: news@prg.ox.ac.uk Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK Lines: 50 In-reply-to: ne201ph@prism.gatech.EDU's message of 6 Feb 91 23:01:50 GMT From: Halvorson,Peter J Message-Id: <21384@hydra.gatech.EDU> > >2. Any documentation or good texts? > The basic TeX is documented by The TeXbook by Donald E. Knuth, The _TeXbook_ is the *definitive* TeX reference. Knuth was one of the main creators of TeX. > You can do anything in TeX, but you will have to do more work putting > together a working set of functions. [Will a newcommer know what this means? In brief, TeX works like a macro assembler, with some primitive commands but with most documents consisting of macros built on top of them. Like autocodes :^> ] Right. LaTeX and AmSTeX are precisely this -- working macro packages layered over TeX. (LaTeX isn't a "brand" of TeX.) It is useful for simple mathematics not using unusual notation, and is the one most usually used for preparing papers etc. _A document preperation system: LaTeX_ is the *definitive* LaTeX reference -- so far as I know, the *only* one, bar the occasional 5-page "Introduction to LaTeX" that people keep on hacking out. Even if you use LaTeX exclusively you will need the _TeXbook_ to plug holes in Lamport's manual and to assit you in making adjustments to the LaTeX macros. /-------------------\/--------------------\/---------------------------\ | X-) see no evil || pdc@prg.ox.ac.uk || Damian Cugley, | | :X) smell no evil || pdc@uk.ac.ox.prg || Computing Laboratory, | | :-X speak no evil |\--------------------/| 11 Keble Rd, Oxford, UK | \-------------------/ "~~j~~hhj~i~~~" \---------------------------/ ======================================================================== There are occasions when sloppy typing makes a message genuinely hard to understand: >> does it run on pcs. "pcs"? "PCS"? What's that -- some esoteric HP operating system? > There are 3 or 4 pd versions running on PCs. Oh! He meant IBM PCs! Would've been funny to see an Amegan reply to that. Can't people spel "MS-DOS" anymore? ("Is TeX available for MS-DOS?" "Yes, there are 3 or 4 PD TeXs...")