.. Objectives .. ---------- .. At the end of this tutorial, you will .. 1. Get acquainted to LaTeX. .. #. Know why we prefer LaTeX? .. #. Know the advantages and disadvantages of typesetting documents .. using the LaTeX approach. .. #. Have a description, of a typical work flow; which uses LaTeX to typeset .. documents. .. #. Recognise and differenciate between LaTeX commands, LaTeX comments and .. special characters, spacing and actual document content. .. #. Create and compile a very simple LaTeX document. .. Prerequisites .. ------------- .. 1. Installing LaTeX .. Author : Harish Badrinath < harish [at] fossee [dot] in > Internal Reviewer : Kiran Isukapatla < kiran [at] fossee [dot] in > External Reviewer : Langauge Reviewer : Checklist OK? : 25-Feb-2012 Script ------ +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the first slide containing title, name of the production | Hello Friends and welcome to the tutorial on 'Introduction to LaTeX'. | | team along with the logo of MHRD }}} | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Objectives" slide }}} | At the end of this tutorial, you will | | | | | | 1. Get acquainted to LaTeX. | | | #. Know why we prefer LaTeX? | | | #. Know the advantages and disadvantages of typesetting documents | | | using the LaTeX approach. | | | #. Get a brief idea on typical work flow; which uses LaTeX to typeset | | | documents. | | | #. Know LaTeX commands, LaTeX comments and | | | special characters, spacing and actual document content. | | | #. Be able to create and compile a simple LaTeX document. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Pre-requisite" slide }}} | Before beginning this tutorial, we would suggest having a working installation | | | of LaTeX on your computer. You can do this by completing the tutorial on | | | "LaTeX Installation". | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Introduction" slide }}} | LaTeX began as TeX, a computer program originally created by | | | Donald E. Knuth. It was designed mainly to aid typesetting | | | of text and mathematical formulae. | | | | | | It is a typesetting program that produces excellently typeset documents. | | | Typesetting is placing text onto a page with all the style formatting defined, | | | so that the content looks as intended. It is extensively used for producing | | | high quality scientific and mathematical documents. It may also be used for | | | producing other kinds of documents, ranging from simple one page articles to | | | complete books. | | | | | | LaTeX is pronounced Lah-tech or Lay-tec. | | | TeX is pronounced Tech. TeX is also the first syllable in the Greek word for | | | technology. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Why LaTeX?" slide }}} | Why we prefer LaTeX? | | | (a) LaTeX offers excellent visual quality. | | | (b) Handles typesetting and lets you focus on content. | | | (c) Makes writing complex Math equation(S) extremely simple. | | | (d) It is also a standard used widely, especially by the scientific community. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Why LaTeX? ..." slide }}} | We can define LaTex as a document based markup language. This sentence is | | | deceptively simple, as it reveals a lot about LaTeX. We now break this sentence | | | up as follows | | | Mark-up: a system of annotating text, adding extra information to specify | | | structure and presentation of text. | | | Document based markup: you don’t have to worry about each element individually. | | | | | | This is essentially a fancy way of saying,LaTeX handles typesetting and lets | | | you focus on content rather than appearance. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Advantages of using LaTeX" slide }}} | Some of the advantages of using LaTeX approach to typesetting are | | | (1) Easy availability of professionally crafted layouts/templates. | | | (2) Typesetting of mathematical formulae is supported in a convenient | | | environment. | | | (3) Typesetting for most cases can be done with very little learning curve | | | using easy to use/understand commands, that only specify the logical structure | | | of the document. | | | (4) Presence of lots of add-on packages. | | | (5) It encourages creation of well structured texts. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Disadvantages of using LaTeX" slide }}} | Some of the disadvantages of using LaTeX approach to typesetting are | | | (1) Designing a whole new layout is difficult. | | | (2) LaTeX is not a word processor, for example, the document author | | | is not expected to worry about presentation details like the size of font. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "LaTeX input file format" slide }}} | LaTeX input files are simple ASCII text files that are processed by a TeX | | | processing engine. | | | Next comes the question of compiling LaTeX input files and viewing the output | | | typeset document. | | | The process is a little different from other markup languages like HTML. | | | We compile ASCII text files into typeset files that are normally DVI, | | | Postscript or PDF files. | | | The latex command converts LaTeX input files into dvi files. | | | We can view DVI files on Gnu/Linux using xdvi. | | | Further, DVI files can be converted either to a post script file, using the | | | dvips command or to a PDF file using the dvipdfm command. | | | The command pdflatex is used to convert LaTeX input files directly to pdf files. | | | The resultant PDF files can be viewed using standard applications | | | on most platforms | | | (Eg: evince on Gnu/Linux). PDF file are also widely supported. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Commands,Comments&Special Characters" slide }}} | Like most utilities in Linux, LaTeX is case sensitive. Commands begin | | | with a backslash. LaTeX environments have a begin and end marker. The begin and | | | end document commands, mark the beginning and the end of the content of the | | | LaTeX document. The text in between the begin and end commands is typeset in | | | the output document.Any content after <\end{document}> is ignored. The type of | | | document that is being currently typeset in LaTex, is identified with the | | | documentclass command. LaTeX then, typesets the document accordingly. | | | | | | All the commands in LaTeX begin with a \\. An environment begins with a begin | | | command and ends with an end command. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Commands,Comments&Special Characters ..." slide }}} | But, how do we write comments with in the document. % character is used | | | to indicate comments. Anything written after a % symbol in a | | | line, is ignored. | | | But what if we wanted to insert the % symbol in the document? We can do so by | | | escaping it with a \\ (backslash). % is one of the many special characters in | | | LaTeX. The others are shown on the screen. All of them, except the \\ itself, | | | can be inserted by escaping it with a \\. To insert a \\ in our document, | | | we use the command \textbackslash. | | | | | | What would happen if we escape a \\ with a \\? | | | A double backslash is actually another command. It inserts a new line in the | | | typeset document. Normally LaTeX automatically spaces the given input optimally. | | | But, sometimes we have to insert manual line breaks. The <\\\\> | | | command or <\newline> | | | command is used to insert a newline in the output document. A | | | single line break in the input document, doesn't cause any change in the | | | output document. | | | | | | A single empty line causes a change in paragraphs in the output. Multiple | | | empty lines are equivalent to a single empty line. Similarly, multiple spaces | | | are treated as a single space. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Typesetting a minimal document" slide }}} | Now, try to create a simple LaTeX document. Pause the tutorial and type the | | | content shown on the screen in a text editor. Save the file as temp.tex | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{continue from paused state}}} | Now we compile the commands in the LaTeX input file that is, temp.tex into a | | {{{ Show the "Compiling to DVI & PDF" slide }}} | typeset file. | | | | | | The first alternative is to compile LaTeX input file into a DVI | | | file. We use the latex command for this purpose. For compiling the LaTeX input | | | file temp.tex into a DVI file, we use the following command | | | | | | | | | | | | The output file would be temp.dvi. | | | | | | The other alternative is to create PDF files from LaTeX input files. | | | We use the pdflatex command for this purpose. For compiling the LaTeX input | | | file temp.tex into a PDF file, we use the following command | | | | | | | | | | | | Please note that, throughout this course we shall be using pdflatex to compile | | | our documents. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Summary" slide }}} | This brings us to the end of this tutorial. In this tutorial, we have learnt | | | | | | 1. About LaTeX. | | | #. why we prefer LaTeX. | | | #. About the advantages and disadvantages of typesetting documents | | | using the LaTeX approach. | | | #. A description, of a typical work flow; which uses LaTeX to typeset | | | documents. | | | #. The ability to recognize and differentiate between LaTeX commands, LaTeX | | | comments and special characters, spacing and actual document content. | | | #. To Create and compile a simple LaTeX document. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Self assessment questions" slide }}} | Here are some self assessment questions for you to solve | | | | | | 1. Convert the temp.dvi created during the course of this tutorial to | | | temp_1.ps using the dvips command. Verify that the two files | | | indeed look the same. | | | | | | 2. Convert the temp.dvi created during the course of this tutorial to | | | temp_1.pdf using the dvipdfm command. Verify that the two files indeed look the | | | same. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the "Solutions" slide }}} | And the answers, | | | | | | 1. dvips -o temp_1.ps temp.dvi | | | | | | 2. dvipdfm -o temp_1.pdf temp.dvi | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the SDES & FOSSEE slide }}} | Software Development techniques for Engineers and Scientists - SDES, is an | | | initiative by FOSSEE. For more information, please visit the given link. | | | | | | Free and Open-source Software for Science and Engineering Education - FOSSEE, is | | | based at IIT Bombay which is funded by MHRD as part of National Mission on | | | Education through ICT. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the ``About the Spoken Tutorial Project'' slide }}} | Watch the video available at the following link. It summarises the Spoken | | | Tutorial project.If you do not have good bandwidth, you can download and | | | watch it. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the `` Spoken Tutorial Workshops'' slide }}} | The Spoken Tutorial Project Team conducts workshops using spoken tutorials, | | | gives certificates to those who pass an online test. | | | | | | For more details, contact contact@spoken-tutorial.org | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the Acknowledgements slide }}} | Spoken Tutorial Project is a part of the "Talk to a Teacher" project. | | | It is supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT, MHRD, | | | Government of India. More information on this mission is available at the | | | given link. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | {{{ Show the Thankyou slide }}} | Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and found it useful. | | | Thank you! | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+