Author Topic: TeX users...thoughts?  (Read 12350 times)

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Offline nslay

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #15 on: December 08, 2011, 08:17:52 pm »
sounds like little flexibility.
What kind of flexibility do you want? TeX allows you to focus almost completely on the content and not the formatting. Content-wise, it is very flexible, having a plethora of packages for conveying your ideas in various ways. It is more difficult to violate the formatting ... but do you really want to do that?

Put it this way, either:
  • Someone gives you a complex criteria for how a document should be formatted for submission. You do this formatting yourself.
  • Someone gives you a style file and you just fill in the blanks with no loss of flexibility for content. You don't care about the formatting.

Which would you rather?
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Offline CrAz3D

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #16 on: December 08, 2011, 08:51:08 pm »
the most complex formatting I'll ever receive is typeface, page numbers, and spacing --- I think

Offline Sidoh

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #17 on: December 08, 2011, 09:07:42 pm »
Omg just use MS word you nerds!

Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.
Fuck that.

Seriously. I've done this a few times. I felt too lazy to start a LaTeX project, and dreaded the twiddling, compiling, twiddling some more ad nauseum. What a pain in the ass. no thanks, I'll do it in word.

Then I realize that doing it in word is much worse. It's still twiddling ad nauseum, but I have much less control over what I twiddle and by how much. THIS BULLET'S INDENTATION IS OFF, FUCK! This figure isn't in the position I want it to be. FUCK!

Seriously, fuck writing anything much more complicated than an essay in word.
Bullet indentation is off? Fix it. Figure not in right place? Drag it somewhere else/resize it. Its called not being lazy.

No, it's called not spending time doing shit I don't have to do and instead spend it doing something productive.

Instead of fiddlefucking my way around a stupid piece of shit software, I can just type away knowing exactly what the result is going to look like.

Fuck word.

There's a good reason the majority of technical papers are done in a typesetting package that most of the world hasn't heard of.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2011, 09:10:21 pm by Sidoh »

Offline Sidoh

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #18 on: December 08, 2011, 09:09:21 pm »
It should be noted that LaTeX gives you more control over things than Word ever could. For some things, you might have to work a little harder to get it that way, but as long as you're not doing something sort of goofy, chances are someone has already done the work for you.

Offline CrAz3D

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #19 on: December 08, 2011, 09:33:52 pm »
I do like the concept of ... not having to deal with Word's bullshit.  I hate having to figure out why it's autoformatting something and how to undo that.

Offline nslay

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #20 on: December 08, 2011, 10:21:03 pm »
I do like the concept of ... not having to deal with Word's bullshit.  I hate having to figure out why it's autoformatting something and how to undo that.
Bibliographies are also simple. You just tell TeX (BibTeX) the simple things like the title, author, etc ... and the kind of source and it formats it the way it's supposed to look. It also handles the citations for you, automatically numbering and labeling them where cited. TeX does everything you shouldn't have to do.
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Offline CrAz3D

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #21 on: December 10, 2011, 04:13:41 pm »
http://dailycrazed.net/personal/law/appbrief.pdf

like so?  Word did that easily for me.

Offline Sidoh

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #22 on: December 10, 2011, 04:35:25 pm »
The thing about BibTeX is you don't have to fumble around with a clumsy UI, enter each of the fields individually, etc.

You just find the BibTeX for the appropriate source (http://manas.tungare.name/software/isbn-to-bibtex/ for books, can find papers on citeseer/similar sites), paste it in a file, and you can reference it by saying \cite{label for reference}. It's lovely.

Offline deadly7

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #23 on: December 10, 2011, 04:37:38 pm »
The thing about BibTeX is you don't have to fumble around with a clumsy UI, enter each of the fields individually, etc.

You just find the BibTeX for the appropriate source (http://manas.tungare.name/software/isbn-to-bibtex/ for books, can find papers on citeseer/similar sites), paste it in a file, and you can reference it by saying \cite{label for reference}. It's lovely.
Who does that? "Export to Refworks" ftw.
[17:42:21.609] <Ergot> Kutsuju you're girlfrieds pussy must be a 403 error for you
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Offline Sidoh

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #24 on: December 10, 2011, 04:40:13 pm »
Nice :)

Offline deadly7

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #25 on: December 10, 2011, 05:01:18 pm »
Refworks has probably revolutionized my essay-writing. It supports every style manual and every journal format I've ever needed, and it's almost universally functional with every publication or database I've encountered. The few that don't directly support it still have different export functions, that refworks can then import from.

My only complaint is that, since it's a standalone platform, it can't interoperate with your paper. So if you need aphabetically organized sources, it's great. If you write mathematics/scientific papers and have a numbered list of sources, you have to reorganize a bit.
[17:42:21.609] <Ergot> Kutsuju you're girlfrieds pussy must be a 403 error for you
 [17:42:25.585] <Ergot> FORBIDDEN

on IRC playing T&T++
<iago> He is unarmed
<Hitmen> he has no arms?!

on AIM with a drunk mythix:
(00:50:05) Mythix: Deadly
(00:50:11) Mythix: I'm going to fuck that red dot out of your head.
(00:50:15) Mythix: with my nine

Offline CrAz3D

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #26 on: December 10, 2011, 05:51:52 pm »
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lawtex/

when Ig et back to my desktop, I'm looking into this shit.  If for srs, this could've saved me HOURS digging through the fucking Bluebook (our citation manual)

Offline Newby

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #27 on: December 10, 2011, 06:07:10 pm »
I started using Word to take notes in class (Math AutoCorrect + 150wpm = I can keep up with the professor's lecture)... all this talk about LaTeX has me thinking perhaps I should just spend my time learning TeX while taking notes. Thoughts on that?
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Quote
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[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline CrAz3D

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #28 on: December 10, 2011, 06:53:07 pm »
Code: [Select]
\@ifundefined{SuppressClass}{
\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
\ProvidesClass{trialbrief}
\LoadClassWithOptions{lawbrief}
}{}%

\newcommand*{\hishercounsel}[1]{\def\@hishercounsel{#1}}
\def\@hishercounsel{\@latex@warning@no@line{No \noexpand\hishercounsel given}}

\newcommand*{\opposingcounsel}[1]{\def\@opposingcounsel{#1}}
\def\@opposingcounsel{\@latex@warning@no@line{No \noexpand\opposingcounsel given}}

\newenvironment{tightbox}{
%Start a new group to contain the def of the testbox and newline
\bgroup
%Change newline so that each line is an hbox
\def\\{\unskip\egroup\hbox\bgroup\ignorespaces}
%Start vbox{hbox{ ...
\vbox\bgroup\hbox\bgroup\ignorespaces}
%End the last hbox and the vbox
{\unskip\egroup\egroup \egroup}
%Output a fill, then the box
%\hskip 0pt plus 1.0fill \box\testbox \egroup }
%}

\newcommand{\headerblock}{
\noindent \@docket \par \noindent
\begin{tabular}{@{}p{.55\textwidth}@{:\hspace{.03\textwidth}}p{.38\textwidth}}
{\@firstparty, \textit{Plaintiff,}} & { Superior Court Housing Session } \\
{\hfil v.\hfil} & { Judicial District of New Haven at New Haven } \\
{\@secondparty, \textit{Defendant}.} & { \@date }
\end{tabular} \vspace{8pt}
}


\newcommand{\underscore}[1]{\raisebox{-.15em}{\rule{#1}{1pt}}}

\newcommand{\footerblock}{
\noindent
\begin{tabular}{p{.4\textwidth}p{.55\textwidth}}
{~} & { THE DEFENDANT \par ~ \par By \underscore{15em}~\par } \\
{ On The Pleading: \par Christopher DeCoro \par Yale Law School Class of 2012 \par christopher.decoro@yale.edu \par Law Student Intern } &
{ \@supervisor \par \@address \par \@hishercounsel }
\end{tabular}
}

\newcommand{\makecertification}{
\newpage
\begin{center}CERTIFICATION\end{center}

This is to certify that on \@date, a copy of the
foregoing was mailed, first-class mail, postage pre-paid, to \@opposingcounsel

\vskip 1in
\begin{rightbox}
\underscore{2in}\\
\@supervisor
\end{rightbox}
}

\newcommand{\testimonyrequired}{\begin{figure}[b]{\bf Oral Argument Requested \\~ \\ Testimony Required}\end{figure}}
\newcommand{\testimonynotrequired}{\begin{figure}[b]{\bf Oral Argument Requested \\~ \\ Testimony Not Required}\end{figure}}

%Set some default formatting
\parindent=2em
\setlength{\parskip}{1.25ex plus 2ex minus .5ex}
\thispagestyle{empty}

% vim: set syntax=tex :

That's the TeX file for a trial brief (sans actual content).  FUCK.  THAT.  I could never read it well enough to ever want to edit my own writing (w/o PDFing it and printing on hard paper).

Offline Sidoh

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Re: TeX users...thoughts?
« Reply #29 on: December 10, 2011, 07:38:45 pm »
You don't edit the TeX directly. That'd be goofy.