Just what is L^AT_EX and why is it so great?

L^AT_EX (pronounced `lay-tek') is a typesetting program that uses the T<sub>E</sub>X (pronounced `tek') engine (developed by Donald Knuth) to produce print quality documents that can be converted to a myriad of readable forms (dvi, pdf, rtf, htm, ps) from what is a very small tex file. As an example, the entire typed bulk of my thesis is 232 kb which when compiled into 113 page thesis in pdf format is 1.4 mb with pictures. My friend's thesis done in MS Word is composed of several separate files of several mb each. My thesis fits onto a stiffy disk and his fits onto a 10 gb hard drive.

L^AT_EX can be downloaded from http://www.ctan.org as the system composed of a myriad of packages. All for free. If you are working in Windows you may want to invest in WinEdt for editing your tex files. For Linux or Unix systems Emacs or VI (Vim) will do the job. Not that you need any of them. You can write your tex file in notepad and then run the compiler on the file with the command ``latex whatever.tex'' typed in the Run function in windows.

So what are the benefits of L^AT_EX?

Here are just a few from the comprehensive manual Lshort that is distributed with :

• Professionally crafted layouts are available, which make a document really look as if ``printed." These layouts are also made such that the output is easy to read with clear fonts.

• The typesetting of mathematical formulae is supported in a convenient way.

• The user only needs to learn a few easy-to-understand commands which specify the logical structure of a document. They almost never need to tinker with the actual layout of the document.

• Even complex structures such as footnotes, references, table of contents, and bibliographies can be generated easily.

• Free add-on packages exist for many typographical tasks not directly supported by basic L^AT_EX. For example, packages are available to include PostScript graphics or to typeset bibliographies conforming to exact standards. Many of these add-on packages are described in The L^AT_EX Companion.

• L^AT_EX encourages authors to write well-structured texts, because this is how L^AT_EXworks—by specifying structure.

• T_EX, the formatting engine of L^AT_EX is highly portable and free. Therefore the system runs on almost any hardware platform available.

What are the disadvantages?

• L^AT_EX does not work well for people who have sold their souls...

• Although some parameters can be adjusted within a predefined document layout, the design of a whole new layout is difficult and takes a lot of time.

• It is very hard to write unstructured and disorganized documents.

• Your hamster might, despite some encouraging first steps, never be able to fully grasp the concept of Logical Markup.

• Once you start using L^AT_EX and see its superiority you may be in trouble communicating with the WYSIWYG¹ world. Fortunately there are T_EX converters which will convert your tex file to htm, rtf or even doc.

There is a lot of support out there for L^AT_EX users. All over the internet you will find L^AT_EX fans brimming with helpful hints and exchanging packages and document classes (the layouts). L^AT_EX itself comes with a lot of informative documentation which will help you get started and produce top quality documents-for free.