Re: Which editor do you use for math
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg95666] Re: Which editor do you use for math
- From: Bill Rowe <readnews at sbcglobal.net>
- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:19:45 -0500 (EST)
On 1/23/09 at 5:07 AM, btreat1 at austin.rr.com (DrMajorBob) wrote: >My advice? Stick to Mathematica and/or Word. (Unless you're willing >to learn LaTeX from the ground up, the hard way.) >I spent several hours last night sleuthing how to use Mac fonts in >LyX, which led to using them in TeXShop, which led to indecipherable >instructions for using LyX with XeTex, which led to utter confusion. Well since LyX is neither LaTeX nor TeXShop, I can see how this path would lead to confusion. LyX is designed to allow you to create documents without knowing LaTeX. Usage of TeXShop requires knowledge of LaTeX or TeX. XeTeX is a command line utility that extends TeX to allow usage of Mac fonts. Since TeXShop is basically an editor combined with a GUI for the Unix tools used to convert TeX source code into the final document, configuring TeXShop to use xetex instead of another tex tool is relatively simple. Currently, I've no idea how to configure LyX to make use of xetex. >I found a LyX document that "explained" and "demonstrated" how to do >this; but that document explained exactly nothing and could not be >typeset, neither with LaTeX NOR XeTeX. Trying to do so popped up >error messages (like the ones mentioned below). >Explanations (and ERROR messages) FREQUENTLY repeated the equivalent >of, "If you use *nix, you'll be able to figure this out. No need to >explain it," or "Make like Sherlock Holmes, and look for clues." >Apparently, the developers of this stuff MAY be a lot wise-a**es >who'd rather, really, have nobody else use their code. >Or, at least, they can't be bothered with meaningful documentation >or installers that do the full job. The thing is, both TeX and LaTeX existed much earlier than things like Word. They were created as Unix tools and still reflect those roots. The primary installation tools are other Unix tools. Installers that don't explicitly use the command line are typically a GUI wrapper for lower level Unix tools. Likewise, the main documentation for TeX are man pages and texdoc documents accessed using the command line. Obviously, converting this documentation to something like the online documentation found in Word or Mathematica is quite a bit of effort. If you are to effectively make use of LaTeX you will definitely want to get a book written about using LaTeX. Like Mathematica, LaTeX will require quite a bit of study/usage before you will really be comfortable using it. I believe the payoff for learning LaTeX warrants the effort.
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