1 An overview of LaTeX

LaTeX is a powerful system  

• LaTeX can be used from a one page letter to a 1000 page textbook;
• Most of our examples will be simple;
• Complex documents, for example interactive books and these slides, use the same ideas as we’ll explore today;
• By separating input from output, reusing material becomes much easier.

What is LaTeX, and what is TeX?  

• TeX is a typesetting application;
• TeX uses primitives to determine how to put text on a page;
• For most practical purposes, we need a format built on top of TeX, for example:
  • Plain TeX;
  • LaTeX;
  • ConTeXt;
• You can think of LaTeX as an interpreter between you and TeX.

TeX ‘engines’  

pdfTeX

The standard binary program: we’ll be using this today.

XeTeX

A merger of TeX with modern font technology with support for native Unicode input and bidirectional typesetting.

LuaTeX

Also a modern engine: integrates the Lua scripting into TeX.

What do we need to use LaTeX?  

• A TeX distribution: TeX Live (Windows, Mac, Linux) or MiKTeX (Windows only);
• A text editor, e.g. Notepad, TextEdit, Emacs;
• A PDF viewer, for example Adobe Reader.

Usually, we use a specialist editor

• Coloured syntax;
• Buttons or menus to run LaTeX, etc.;
• Most include an integrated spell checker.