Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!tank!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: comp.text Subject: Re: Why learn Tex? Message-ID: <77900028@p.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 4 Mar 90 04:38:00 GMT References: Lines: 44 Nf-ID: #R::-20:p.cs.uiuc.edu:77900028:000:2386 Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies Mar 3 22:38:00 1990 It is evident to me that in ten years systems like troff & teX will be historical vapor. Clearly, in ten years ascii terminals will no longer exist (already the cost savings doesn't justify them), and the primitive glass-TTY software will cease to exist, just like primitive line editors ceased to exist when teletypes went the way of the dodo bird. However, we are living in the present, and presently I would say the best, most portable, most up-and-coming document preparation system has to be TeX (& LaTeX). If you want to write a book, if you want to write good math, if you want to have the best aesthetic output, then go with TeX. Troff is a direct descendent of perhaps THE FIRST word processor (runoff, 1966?), and frankly, it shows it age (through many bugs, phototypesetter dependencies, and through the primitive functionality and excessively painful syntax of pic). Sometime in the future, you should consider a WYSWYG system, but high-precision software hasn't been written for PC's. I use a macintosh & MS-Word 4.0. Word is still not smart enough to fully justify my mathematics & italics on a laser-printed line (with fractional widths). This is bad news. But I like the WYSWYG, and can't beat the *cheap* macintosh illustration tools (Canvas, MacDraw, MacDraw II, MacPaint) -- and don't even need the sophisticated ones (illustrater, freehand, etc). MS-Word equations work, and are readable, and if I don't like them, I've only myself to blame, since the mac can intermingle editable output in a way that is impossible with TeX, troff, or any other system. If you don't like the way your software displays (figures, equations, graphs, tables, etc), just get an add-on package, create the info separately and paste it into your document. Your word processor only has to do a good job on text. Some misconceptions have been floating around: 1. WYSWYG = no good for large documents (look at latest packages) 2. WYSWYG = distraction (the clock is a distraction) 3. WYSWYG = assembly, troff/TeX = compiler (1% of users are programmers) By the way, the mac has a nice public-domain program (LAgraphix) that lets you edit TeX pictures in WYSWYG form (someone asked about this). Don W. Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois 1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801 ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillies