[ale] HOW2 use -> documentation of ~.tex files ?

[James P. Kinney III]

On Mon, 2005-09-26 at 23:22 -0500, Courtney Thomas wrote:
> Thanks James.
> 
> BTW, I got Elmer compiled. Thanks for your interest.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Had an out of town guest perform
in my house this weekend for a house concert. Glad it's working.
> 
> Once I install latex, then what,... just use it to process the *.tex
> files and latex'll then output some *.ps or *.pdf files ?
> 
> When you describe latex output as fantastic, to what exactly are you
> referring ?

It produces output ready for commercial publication. Up until recently,
most scientific journal wanted papers submitted as .tex files. 

TeX (and derivatives: LaTeX, TeTeX, etc) is  different mindset from word
processing. In TeX you write simple text files that are the body of your
work. Then your a formatting document that describes the paper size,
margins, attributes of things like tables, graphs, figures. And then you
use that to "include" external text files for the actual document text.
It completely separates the content for the layout. Once done, the
document is compiled into its final form (or often and intermediate form
that can be readily converted into postscript, PDF, HTML, SGML, docbook,
manpages, nearly anything with the right filters).

Sql-Ledger uses it to produce all of its PDF and Postscript output for
printing and email inclusions. 

Just as Perl has CPAN, TeX has www.ctan.org. It is still actively
produced. It is also a nice addition to ones geek code ratings.
> 
> Cordially,
> 
> Courtney
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2005-09-26 at 21:05, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> > Those are raw latex files. You will need a latex setup to compile them.
> > They will produce fantastic postscript or PDF files.
> > 
> > You can also open them using some WYSYWIG tools like Lyx, Kylix and some
> > others. It will let you look at the content without having to wade much
> > through the layout code.
> > 
> > Unless you _liked_ the f4 key (show commands) from the old dos
> > wordperfect (great tool!).
> > 
> > On Mon, 2005-09-26 at 19:51 -0500, Courtney Thomas wrote:
> > > I've, for the first time, encountered documentation in the form of ~.tex
> > > files, for a scientific suite of programs and don't know how to make use
> > > of it.
> > > 
> > > For example, how do you just simply view the files ?
> > > 
> > > What's the merit of using Tex for documentation vis-a-vis alternatives ?
> > > 
> > > Guidance appreciated,
> > > 
> > > Courtney
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Ale mailing list
> > > Ale at ale.org
> > > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
-- 
James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part