TeX is really the language … LaTeX is a document preparation system built upon the TeX language. A large amount of mathematical typesetting has been done using TeX (or LaTeX) for many years now. (I’ve been typesetting my exams in TeX for at least 14 years.)
TeX is a remarkable accomplishment. It is largely the work of a single programmer (Donald Knuth — the one who wrote the series: The Art of Computer Programming). I’m not sure what the current version number is, but version 3 was the essentially final version .. bug fixes (which are RARE because there don’t seem to be bugs) add a digit to pi. So, the FINAL .. PERFECT version of TeX will be version pi.
TeX was written to be easily extended (to handle typesetting chemistry .. or even music .. or crossword puzzles!). LaTeX is the extension that is most widely used. And, it adds some incredible power (though nothing that I need for exams). For a while I typeset my personal letters in TeX simply because it justifies both margins in a remarkably invisible way. It adjusts the spacing between words VERY SLIGHTLY .. and even the spacing between letters in a word .. so the line fills the width precisely .. without it looking as though there are artificial spaces. It also has a built in automatic hyphenation system that is second to none (it is LITERALLY the best .. I’m not just suggesting that it’s good).
Carl M
TeX is really the language … LaTeX is a document preparation system built upon the TeX language. A large amount of mathematical typesetting has been done using TeX (or LaTeX) for many years now. (I’ve been typesetting my exams in TeX for at least 14 years.)
TeX is a remarkable accomplishment. It is largely the work of a single programmer (Donald Knuth — the one who wrote the series: The Art of Computer Programming). I’m not sure what the current version number is, but version 3 was the essentially final version .. bug fixes (which are RARE because there don’t seem to be bugs) add a digit to pi. So, the FINAL .. PERFECT version of TeX will be version pi.
TeX was written to be easily extended (to handle typesetting chemistry .. or even music .. or crossword puzzles!). LaTeX is the extension that is most widely used. And, it adds some incredible power (though nothing that I need for exams). For a while I typeset my personal letters in TeX simply because it justifies both margins in a remarkably invisible way. It adjusts the spacing between words VERY SLIGHTLY .. and even the spacing between letters in a word .. so the line fills the width precisely .. without it looking as though there are artificial spaces. It also has a built in automatic hyphenation system that is second to none (it is LITERALLY the best .. I’m not just suggesting that it’s good).
CarlM
I realize that this has already cycled from view for more of your regular viewers, but I’m hoping that you are notified whenever a response is posted.