Getting started with LaTeX – frequently encountered

issues

Ronja Addams-MoringKie-98.1601 English Oral Skills Test

10. February 2009

last update: 10th Feb 2009 Ronja Addams-Moring 2

Disclaimer• The facts about LaTeX you can verify• The experiences, interpretations and

opinions, however, are mine • There certainly are similarities with some

other persons' views but that is not their responsibility

• Feel free to copy, distribute, criticize, ignore or form derivative opinions as you see fit

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Presentation outline• First: some unlearning may be needed• Task analysis: What we researchers do• Requirements: What we need• Historical overview• To LaTeX or not to LaTeX?• Typical issues when one begins• After this presentation: LaTeX demo

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Unlearn first?

• Documents are created and maintained with quite varying software

– vi, emacs, pico, jEdit, OO Writer...– notepad, WordPad, MS Word...– Adobe Acrobat, FrameMaker...– TikiWiki, MediaWiki, Joomla!, Mambo...

• LaTeX has its own philosophy and logic• Do not expect “just another X” - you will

frustrate yourself and make mistakes

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Task analysis 1(2)

• A simplified ”circle of life” of scientific-scholarly knowledge

1) Researcher A publishes a new result2) Based on A’s result, other researchers

create more new knowledge 3) Researcher A uses other researchers’

results as input for more research 4) The process repeats: Body of Knowledge

grows larger and better with each ”round”

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Task analysis 2(2)• Necessary precondition for publishing:

presenting research results accurately in scientific/scholarly works

– Readable, precise language– Exact and fault-free citing– Unambiguous symbols– Effective-to-read typescript and layout– Clear layout for tables and figures

• Writing/drawing/editing tools needed

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Requirements for tools• Some essential necessities

– Re-use of references in new works– Correct word divisions (in any language)– Correct cross-referencing in the article – No orphan lines or other layout

“uglinesses”– etc

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Historical overview 1(3)• Before ca. 1975 only proprietary printing

systems, typesetting far from author– Problem: typesetting introduced mistakes– Solution: author corrected proof prints manually– New problem: corrections entered incorrectly ->

more mistakes!• 1977 Donald Knuth (comp.sci.) had enough• 1982 TeX: formulae, symbols - free software• 1984 LaTeX (document structure) by Leslie

Lamport (CS, math), 1986 The Book

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Historical overview 2(3)• The TeX innovation: device independence

– This was news back then...• Some limitations

– WYSIWYM, not WYSIWYG– need to learn the markup

• Some advantages– free software: Windows (MiKTeX), Unix/Linux

(TeX-live) and MacOS X– keeps document neat through changes– no-hassle references, footnotes etc.

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Historical overview 3(3)• Today de facto standard for (most) IEEE

and ACM journals and conferences• Stable, bug-free, genuinely multi-lingual• Future: depends on MiKTeX - ?• Personal experience & opinion:

– since 1983 have heard of one friend-of-a-friend who had a bug-like problem with LaTeX (around 1988-1992)

– anything longer than 8-12 pages -> LaTeX

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To LaTeX or not to LaTeX?• How large a work? 15+ pages -> LaTeX

motivated• Need to structure work / use many files

-> LaTeX motivated• If e.g. mathematical or Greek alphabet

symbols needed -> LaTeX motivated• If journal / conference only has LaTeX

templates: use them, don't argue• More brains, less money -> using free

software makes sense

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Typical beginner's issues 1(4)• What are all these files?!?• You must edit

– one .tex (the actual article text)– one .bib (your bibliography = literature)

• You may create and/or edit– .eps (figure files: pictures, graphs...)– other input files

• You must not edit– .sty (text layout style) and related– .bst (bibliography style) and related

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Typical beginner's issues 2(4)

• Don't panic about the many details - you only need to learn what you use

• LaTeX resembles HTML or wiki markup: tags inside text

• Extra whitespace in .tex or .bib will not show in end result -> use as you please

• The “magic” characters - must “quote” in .tex or .bib : \ { } $ ^ _ % ~ # &

– don't use in file names of input files!

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Typical beginner's issues 3(4)

• Only the cited works from .bib listed by default -> when in doubt, make entry

• Where to put \cite{AuthYEAR} in .tex?• \cite or \citet or \citep?• How do I get (also in demo)

– bolded text (italics not so readable)– lists (numbered / bulleted)– tables, pictures– chapter, section and subsection headers

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Typical beginner's issues 4(4)

• BibTeX entry types = ? (Article, InProceedings, Proceedings...)

• How do I get that nice-looking PDF?• Why “acm” not “ACM” in the PDF's

reference list? -> add {} around• Other questions?• Learn to use (on-line) manuals!• Google: LaTeX OR BibTeX tutorial OR

beginner OR guide -> 7.5 M hits!

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A few useful guides• Oetiker: The Not So Short Introduction

to LaTeX 2 (PDF - do save a copy!)• http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTe

XPrimer/• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX• http://www.hep.manchester.ac.uk/u/jenn

y/jcwdocs/latex/bibtexbasics.html• http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/osbo

rne/latex/BIBTEX.HTM

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Thank you

• Questions?•• My contact info

– http://www.iki.fi/~ronja/– http://www.linkedin.com/in/addamsmoring– ronja [AT] iki [DOT] fi– skype: ronja-am

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• Attribution info: Ronja Addams-Moring: "Getting started with LaTeX – frequently encountered issues". Presentation 10th February 2009 at Helsinki University of Technology (TKK), Espoo, Finland, EU.