CSCI 373: Using LaTeX
Michael A. Heroux
LaTeX is the dominant typesetting language for technical
writing. Along with Microsoft Word files, publishers often accept LaTeX files as source documents for publication. Some
accept only LaTeX.
This sample LaTeX input file and its related BibTeX file show the basic
usage of LaTeX and provides two references, although
there are numerous online resources. When compiled using LaTeX,
the source file is compiled to this output PDF file.
Getting
Started
An easy way to get started with LaTeX is to use an online LaTeX
environment such as Overleaf and ShareLaTeX.
Installing
LaTeX on your own system
All LaTeX IDEs
(see below) require an installation of the LaTeX
compiling environment.
Linux: LaTeX is typically
installed on most Linux systems already. If not, it is available using the package
manager of your flavor of Linux.
Mac: MacTeX is the standard LaTeX installation for Macs. A large but easily installed
package is here.
Windows: MicTeX
is commonly used on Windows.
Tablets:
TeX Writer
and Texpad
are two well regarded apps for iOS. I am not familiar with Android versions.
Installing
LaTeX via Docker
Docker is a containerization technology that supports
software portability via images. Once
the docker application is installed on your computer
(available from https://www.docker.com) , you can search for docker
images and install them to run on your local computer. There are many images
that provide a full turnkey LaTeX environment. For
example: https://github.com/blang/latex-docker
Command
Line Compilation of your LaTeX source
Command line environments like Linux
terminal windows, Mac Terminal and Cygwin on Windows have a native LaTeX environment using the command pdflatex
and bibtex. This is an efficient way to compile LaTeX source files for advanced users. Typically a makefile drives the whole process.
LaTeX IDEs
Although it is possible to use a plain
editor and compile LaTeX files directly (and there is
some merit to this approach), many people prefer to use an integrated development environment (IDE).
TeXStudio: My favorite LaTeX IDE is TexStudio.
It is free software available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It uses the
underlying LaTeX compiling environment and provides
lots of ease-of-use features.
TeXShop: Macs have the popular TeXShop, which is also free to download.
WinEdt: Windows systems have WinEdt,
which is available individually as a free trial version and at a modest cost for
a full license. This used to be my favorite editor until TeXStudio
came along.
A nice free tool for managing BibTeX references is JabRef.
First
Example: sample.tex
Download this zip file to your desktop: sample.zip
More
Example Projects
In addition to the simple example, the
following gzipped tar files contain helpful starting
points:
-
Baseline IEEE example for submitting papers to IEEE
publications.
-
LaTeX can also be used to
develop high-quality presentations. Here is an example.