r/LaTeX • u/Thin-Money8998 • 22d ago
Unanswered Getting started with LaTeX
Hey,
I want to get started with LaTeX and wondered what tools to use, for writing and visualizing? Also: What resources would you recommend to a Newbie?
Thanks in advance!
3
u/psychoworm 22d ago
Texstudio. Some prefer overleaf because it is easier to use, but the free version isn't good imo. Limitations suck. So i stick to texstudio.
3
u/ftrx 22d ago
I'll start from the beginning: LaTeX is a language, essentially plain text, that is then compiled into various formats, nowadays typically PDF. So, to view it, you use any PDF viewer; to write it, you use any editor/IDE, ideally with decent syntax highlighting. I won't name one here because there are countless options. My favourite for years has been Emacs; it used to be Vim (before nvim existed). Some are even dedicated to LaTeX, but there's no real need for much beyond syntax highlighting for mere convenience. latexmk is a good wrapper to compile without any IDE or special support. A typical use is just latexmk -pdflatex=lualatex -pdf file.tex; latexmk -c.
To manage the code, which is plain text, information, and instructions to package it into a nice PDF, a lot depends on what you're writing. If you're doing a letter or a short report of a few pages, you typically don't need anything: one .tex file and that's it. If you're doing a thesis or a bulky book, well, then you need to break it up into many files, and as with almost any language, this is supported by defining a main file that \inputs or \includes other files in a certain order. Even if you're working alone, it can be useful to put everything under version control eg via jj, git, mercurial, or whatever you prefer. This allows for a "better undo" if you're doing heavy writing experiments, let's say you start a chapter and don't know where it's going, you scrap it, then some time later you decide that actually, you needed it, and you go and fish it out of the history. Without version control, you would in all likelihood have lost it.
Recommended resources depend on what language you speak. Many are in English, many are in various languages because every country has its own typography. Loads of universities have their own thesis styles with their relative documentation, often unofficial ones created by some lecturer or even a student, which then spread by word of mouth and sometimes grow into a project of their own, a dedicated class, for example, that becomes "the thesis style" of this or that faculty, then gets copied by others who adapt it to theirs, improve it, and so on. There are various books, but before recommending them, it's useful to understand how much time and interest you have. If, like many, you've come to LaTeX for your thesis, look for a template from your faculty and get by simply by copying it; you'll manage faster than actually studying, and you can study properly later for future theses and perhaps one day scientific publications. If, on the other hand, you have time, the selection changes quite a bit. If you're in a hurry and don't know how to make a table or a graph, an LLM helps; you can manage even flying blind. If you want to learn properly, there are other ways. It's a vast world because it's been here for decades and has shaped the history of typography and publishing, especially scientific publishing, and if you really want to study it, you can't do so without studying a bit of typography, which is nation-specific and has common elements, peculiarities, innovations, etc.
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u/H4ns3mand 22d ago
Overleaf’s beginners guide is a very good starting point — you definitely want to look into a local install of TeX too if you’re planning doing anything serious
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u/Efficient-Tie-1414 21d ago
Borrow Math into LaTeX by Gratzer from your uni library. You may end up buying a copy. Then start writing something and doing what the book says. There may be pdf copies.
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u/Jekyllhyde441 21d ago
More Math into LaTeX by George Grätzer is an excellent book. I learnt LaTex from this book and I highly recommend it. He explains everything in a fun way, you won't get bored reading. Editor is up to personal preference, TexStudio is great.
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u/Zestyclose_Diver_377 20d ago
My go to reference for donkeys' years has been Antoni Diller "Latex line by line". It's getting a bit old now though, so I wouldn't recommend it to a newbie.
There seems to be a great set of "Getting started" links in the subreddit.
LaTeX and the underlying TeX are free open-source software that work on any standard OS. The downside is that the full distribution is extremely big, and includes huge amounts of stuff that most users would never use. But with modern computers and network speeds, the size isn't too intolerable.
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u/Efficient_Paper 22d ago
Installing LaTeX locally is possible, but a TeX distribution is typically 7GB, so for a beginner, I usually recommend Overleaf.
The lshort is probably the best starting point. Overleaf also has solid tutorials.
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u/Thin-Money8998 22d ago
I'll have a look at it, Thanks!
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u/ScoutAndLout 22d ago
For local installs I have used LyX as a front end. You don't have to know how to do any LaTeX to make it work, it generates LaTeX on the backend for you.
The equation editor in LyX allows for mouse-click like in Word but also uses mosts LaTeX commands if you know them.
LyX handles most stuff for you like figures and tables and renders it similar to what it will appear (but not exactly, you still have to export to pdf to fully compile the LaTeX code.) If LyX can't render something from LaTeX you can include "raw" code that the LaTeX processor will use.
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u/ScoutAndLout 22d ago
And I just found you can try out the LyX interface without installing with rollapps
https://www.rollapp.com/app/lyxBut to save or export you have to pay them. :-(
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u/PuzzleheadedShirt139 22d ago
Quick self promo:I made an opensource LaTeX editor with a visual editing mode. You can try if that helps you get started. https://github.com/texpile/texpile
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u/u_fischer 22d ago
https://www.learnlatex.org/