JMU UUG LaTeX Tutorial

Introduction

BEFORE WE START: Get an Overleaf account.

Overview: The TeX typesetting system originated with Don Knuth in 1970s, prompted by his work on “The Art of Computer Programming.” It first ran on a PDP-10 in 1978. TeX uses a versioning system w/ increasing digits of π; lastest is 3.14159265. It was extended to LaTeX by Leslie Lamport (@ SRI International) in 1980s, and is now a full document preparation system. The latest version is LaTeX 2e. LaTeX is widely used in CS, Math, Engineering, and other scientific fields.

Introduce concepts:

• Compiled typesetting (composing documents like C/Java programs)
• Document description language (markup, like HTML)
• Philosophy of separate content and form/presentation (like CSS)

Note: LaTeX is pronounced “lah-tech” or “lay-tech”, NOT “lay-techs”!

Document organization

• First thing: \documentclass{article|IEEEtran|proc|report|book|beamer}
  • For smaller margins: \usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
  • For UTF-8 support: \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
• Document info: \title, \author, \date, \maketitle
• Page numbers: \pagenumbering{roman}, \thispagestyle{empty|plain}, \pagestyle{empty|plain}
• Organization: \section, \subsection, \subsubsection
  • Others: \tableofcontents, \label, ~\ref
  • Use asterisk to toggle numbering
• Comments w/ %

Formatting

• Lists: \begin{enumerate|itemize}, \item
• Common font/color formatting
  • \textbf, \textit, \texttt, \underline, quotes, --, ---
  • Shorter forms: {\bf }, {\it }, {\tt }
  • \usepackage{xcolor}, \textcolor{color}{text}
  • \begin{tiny|small|large|huge}
  • \begin{verbatim}, \verb!
  • International formatting: UTF-8 or \’, \”, \~, etc.
• Footnotes: \footnote
• Images: \includegraphics{file.png}
  • Requires \usepackage{graphicx}
  • Options: [scale=0.5], [width=1in], \begin{center}
• Floating figures: \figure
  • Options: \caption, \label (needs to go at the end), ~\ref
  • Works for verbatims or graphics, too
• Tables: \tabular, \hline, [l|c|r], \multicolumn{n}{cols}{text}
  • Excel2LaTeX
  • TableConvert Online

Mathematics

• Math mode: \begin{equation}, $, $$
• Sub/superscript, common operators (\cdot, \leq, \approx, \times, \pm)
• Greek letters (e.g., \omega, \Omega)
• Common functions: \log, \sin, \cos, \tan, \min, \max
• More complex operators: \frac{}{}, \sqrt[]{}, \sum, \prod, \int
• Delimiters: \left([{<, \lfloor, \lceil
• Logic symbols: \in, \subset, \forall, \exists, \rightarrow
• Spacing: \; \: \, \!
• Fun: \flat, \sharp, \clubsuit, \heartsuit, \pitchfork

Bibliography

• Special BibTeX file format (.bib)
• Download references from ACM Digital Library and/or IEEE Xplore
• Integrates with Zotero
• \bibliographystyle{plain}, \bibliography{fname}
• ~\cite{key}

Large documents

• Custom .sty files and Overleaf templates
• Multiple files: \include
• Importance of unique labels & bibliography management
• Build frameworks (e.g., Makefiles) – need to rebuild multiple times!
• Latexmk and preview apps

Macros

• Declaration: \def\name{texthere}
• Examples:
  • \def\topK{\textsf{\textbf{topK}}}
  • \def\red#1{\textcolor{red}{#1}}

Fun fact: LaTeX is Turing-complete!

Useful Extensions

• AMS (American Mathematical Society) packages (docs)
  • \usepackage{amsmath, amssym}
  • \begin{align*}, \noindent
  • Theorems, lemmas, etc. (Overleaf guide)
• Code listings (docs)
  • \usepackage{listings}
  • \lstset{language=C|C++|Java|Python|LaTeX} (or leave out for pseudocode)
  • \begin{lstlisting}
• Algorithm packages
  • Overleaf guide
  • Wikibooks guide
  • \usepackage{algorithmicx,algpseudocode}
  • \begin{algorithmic}
  • \State w/ math mode (\gets for assignment)
  • \If{cond}, \Else, \ElsIf, \EndIf
  • \For{cond}, \ForAll{cond}, \EndFor
  • \While{cond}, \EndWhile
  • \Function{name}{params}, \EndFunction, \Return, \Call
• Semantics/proof rules (docs)
  • \usepackage{semantic}
  • \inference[name]{premise(s)}{conclusion}
  • ->, =>, |-
  • Recursive nesting for proof trees
• Beamer (docs)
  • \documentclass{beamer}
  • \begin{frame}
  • \frametitle
  • Sections (same as usual, now with visual indicators)
• TikZ (docs)
  • Overleaf guide
  • \begin{tikzpicture}
  • (x1,y1) -- (x2,y2)
  • \draw, \draw[->], \filldraw
  • \node

Common headaches

• Careful with underscores and other symbols
  • E.g.: $ and # must be escaped
• Spacing: \hspace, \vspace, \newpage
  • Units: in, cm, pt
• Table positioning: [t|h|b|p]
• Finding typos and syntax errors
  • Q&A and experimentation
  • TeX StackExchange

Local installation

• Windows - use MiKTeX
• Mac OS X - use MacTeX
• Linux Mint - sudo apt install texlive-latex-base
• IDEs: LyX, TeXnicCenter, TeXShop
• Plugins: AUCTeX (Emacs), TeXlipse (Eclipse), Vim-LaTeX (Vim)

References

• Overleaf tutorial
• LaTeX Wikibook
• TEXbook
• Quick-reference cards:
  • General LaTeX
  • AMS LaTeX
  • Symbols

Diversions

• Computer Modern Unicode font (choose otf)
• Lilypond - LaTeX-like language for musical notation
• LaTeX math jokes
• Coffee stains and the Simpsons