A Introduction to LTEX

Dhanesh Ramachandram, PhD Computer Vision Research Group School of Computer Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia
July 16, 2009

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Introduction
Introduction Andys Law on Microsoft Word M$ Word and other WYSIWYG Word processors WYSIWYG Word Processors... What are they good for ? Personal Experiences

Most students in Malaysian universities use Microsoft Word for their thesis and technical papers Often produce ugly documents typesetting wise Often make many errors while writing bibliographies Often spend more time formatting than concentrating on writing

This short presentation introduces an eective tool to help you prepare professional looking reports

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Andys Law on Microsoft Word

Introduction Andys Law on Microsoft Word M$ Word and other WYSIWYG Word processors WYSIWYG Word Processors... What are they good for ? Personal Experiences

1. Likelihood of crash is directly proportional to the importance (and length) of your document 2. Likelihood of crash is inversely proportional to time left before deadline 3. Likelihood of crash is directly proportional to the duration since you last saved the le 4. Likelihood of you throwing your PC out the window is directly proportional to the number of times Clippy (or Doggy) pops up !

Source: Roberts,A., "Latex isnt for everyone but it could be for you", URL:http://www.osnews.com , accessed 6th June 2005
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M$ Word and other WYSIWYG Word processors

Introduction Andys Law on Microsoft Word M$ Word and other WYSIWYG Word processors WYSIWYG Word Processors... What are they good for ? Personal Experiences

M$ Word, OpenOce etc are excellent WYSIWYG word processors for most people In fact, there are probably more features in M$ Word than one can explore in ones lifetime ! However, remember that M$WORD:
x Costs money $$$, vendor lock-in x Features dictated by a single prot-oriented company x Closed source x Backwards compatibility is questionable x Incompatibilities between dierent OS-specic versions

FOSS WYSIWYG Word processors like AbiWord and OpenOce dont even come close

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WYSIWYG Word Processors... What are they good for ?

Introduction Andys Law on Microsoft Word M$ Word and other WYSIWYG Word processors WYSIWYG Word Processors... What are they good for ? Personal Experiences

When logical structure is not really an issue: youre interested in raw formatting.
x You want to know, for instance, If I put that line into a

36-point font, will that push my last line onto the next page, which I dont want?
x WYSIWYG word processing is your choice!
s

yers,brochures,posters and other ad-hoc documents

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Personal Experiences
Introduction Andys Law on Microsoft Word M$ Word and other WYSIWYG Word processors WYSIWYG Word Processors... What are they good for ? Personal Experiences

I used M$ Word to write my PhD thesis, but not without issues...

x page numbering x ugly equations x spent more time formatting the document, than focusing on

content
x unexplained crashes
s
A Learnt LTEX and never looked back

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