Why I love LaTeX

von Felix

I am not tied to an operating system; it works everywhere.

I can use my favorite text editor to write, namely vim or gedit.

I can use other powerful tools that I am already familiar with, e.g., grep and wc.

I can structure my document into different files and folders, as many as I want.

I can easily put my files under source control, experiment and collaborate with others.

I will still be able to read the files in 30 years time. After all, LaTeX files are just flat text files.

I can focus on content instead of presentation and use semantic markup.

I can stand on the shoulders of giants when I need to create, e.g., a glossary.

I can rely on the insights of far more able typesetters but am still able to control the details if it is necessary.

I can write once and compile to PDF, DVI or whatever I feel like that day.

I can automate tasks by integrating LaTeX into scripts or build tools.

I may even be able to recompile the document in 30 years time.

I do not even have to pay for it.

I love it.

2 Kommentare zu „Why I love LaTeX“

  1. Joerg schrieb am 12. Januar 2012 um 12:41:

    A professor once told me that he recently (2011) tried to compile the lecture notes he wrote in the 80s. They still compile and the output looks fine 🙂 Your thoughts are not far-fetched!

  2. Felix schrieb am 13. Januar 2012 um 15:36:

    That is very impressive. A less extreme example that I am aware of is the resurrection of John Graham-Cumming’s PhD thesis after 13 years: http://blog.jgc.org/2009/08/in-which-i-resurrect-13-year-old-35.html

    However, I’d say that the probability for perfect reconstruction decreases rapidly with every third party package or esoteric BibTeX style (din1505 anyone?). I guess we have to wait a few decades ;).

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