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Is it stupid to start off using LaTeX through Lyx?

  • 13-01-2010 6:45pm
    #1
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭


    About 2 weeks after first seeing this forum and being slightly intrigued, today my stats lecturer asked us all to install Lyx. Thats the program he wants us to do assignments on. (Im using Ubuntu, for what its worth).

    <LaTeX appreciation>Just after about 15 minutes messing around with it. Opened up the letter template, quickly typed a few things down, hit dvi, and see a perfectly formatted letter with date etc before my eyes. Theres no turning back is there? :p</LaTeX appreciation>

    My question is this: am I stupid to start using LaTeX through Lyx? I'm experienced with programming so Id have no trouble learning the syntax. So should I hand code my documents in a regular editor at first, if only for the sake of learning?

    Do people generally hand code as opposed to using a GUI?

    :)


Comments

  • #2
    Flamed Diving
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,609 ✭✭✭Flamed Diving


    I handcode, although when I was learning I was completely unaware that a GUI existed. However, I am glad I know how to do it now. AFAIK, the syntax is very similar to HTML, so if you know that you are halfway there.


  • #3
    leninbenjamin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭leninbenjamin


    Handcode all the way. GUI defeats the point tbh.


  • #4
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,811 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    Sort of depends what "the point" is. For me, the most important point is a beautifully typeset document, and if it's TeX doing the typesetting, then that goal is achieved.

    I use LyX much of the time because I'm both a computer nerd and a busy executive. Sometimes I need to put together a document in a hurry using a straightforward user interface in a single app, without having to mentally parse tags and (effectively) debug compiler output. The resulting document looks as good as if I had painstakingly typed it out in vi and compiled it in LaTeX. For me, that's the point.


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