Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!shelby!neon!flamingo.Stanford.EDU!espie From: espie@flamingo.Stanford.EDU (Marc Espie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: Re: TeX introduction Message-ID: <1991Feb25.021911.1353@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Date: 25 Feb 91 02:19:11 GMT References: <9102211250.AA02580@thunder.LakeheadU.Ca> <88764@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System) Organization: LIENS, ENS, 45 rue d'Ulm, Paris (France) Lines: 53 In article <88764@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Jeff Martens writes: > >Tex has been largely superceded by latex, so you'd be better off >starting there. I've never used latex on an Amiga, but it's a pretty >nice package on a Sun. >-- >-- Jeff (martens@cis.ohio-state.edu) Uh. This is inaccurate. LaTeX is built on top of TeX, but this does not mean LaTeX supercedes TeX in any way. It depends a LOT on what you want to do. TeX, written by Donald Knuth, is the basic package upon which everything else is written. The reference for it IS the TeXbook, written by Knuth himself and published by Addison-Wesley. No other book comes close to describing every detail (Check the printing, 18th is the latest with important CHANGES from previous printing). TeX has a ``macros-programming language'', with which you can describe pretty much what you want. LaTeX is an all-purposes macro package built on top of TeX. Easier to learn maybe... except that most error messages you get are undecipherable if you don't use TeX, and you run into trouble VERY soon if you want to do something outside of the ordinary. LaTeX is Leslie Lamport's baby, with a manual to match. Might suit you, doesn't suit me. There is also AMSTeX, a TeX macro package built by the american mathematical society... I'm a bit unclear about its status, whether you can obtain it without paying. This one knows ALL about maths, there are several hundred lines of codes specifically geared to set mathematics PERFECTLY. TeX or LaTex don't come close to it in that regard. Also AMSTeX knows how to manage some nice symbol fonts, with things mathematicians need. The reference manual is ``The Joy of TeX'', author's Spivak. This might be the simpler book to read if you only want to typeset Mathematics. And there are some more packages (like TeXinfo), several user-groups (TUGBoat in the US, GUTENBERG in Europe) , utility programs (bibtex) and other things I don't know about. Ultimately, it depends on what you want to do, and what your frame of mind is. If you want to understand how everything ticks, have ultimate control about your masterpiece, learn about TeX; if what you want is better-than-average typesetting with no trouble, learn LaTeX; if you feel mathematically inclined, learn AMSTeX. In that case, having an amiga is no trouble. TeX is pretty much computer-independent, so once the BASIC program works, everything should be alright, macro packages and all. If anybody wants to further discuss TeX-specific subjects, try to please redirect it to the appropriate newsgroups. It might be a good idea to add an FAQ entry for AmigaTeX, its advantages and drawbacks ? -- Marc (Marc espie, espie@flamingo.stanford.edu) No .sign tonight.