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Pandoc is really awesome. Even mathematics papers can be written in (mostly) markdown, and then converted to latex before compiling to PDF. For mathematics I w

Pandoc is really awesome. Even mathematics papers can be written in (mostly) markdown, and then converted to latex before compiling to PDF. For mathematics I would also recommend using Unicode symbols in place of LaTeX commands, which makes the source even more readable. For instance $∏_{x∈X} ∑_{y∈Y} Ψ(x,y) → ∑_{f : X → Y} ∏_{x∈Y} Ψ(x,y)$ instead of $\prod_{x \in X} \sum_{y \in Y} \Psi(x,y) \to \sum_{f : X \to Y} \prod_{x \in Y} \Psi(x,y)$ To get this compiling, your template will have to include declarations for these such as: \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{220F}{\ensuremath{\prod}}

royal_ts 9y ago
But you can type the second one way easier
- black_knight 9y ago
  Not really! I use an XCompose file derived from the Plan 9 keyboard setup. So to write ∏ i press my modifer (left shift) button once, and then 'p' followed by 'r'. So it is fewer key presses than \prod (three key presses vs five). I have similar shortcuts for all maths symbols I use regularly. Here is an excerp from the configuration 2200 fa ∀ for all 2202 pd ∂ partial differential 2203 te ∃ there exists 2205 es ∅ empty set 2206 De ∆ increment 2207 gr ∇ nabla 2208 mo ∈ element of (…) 220E qed ∎ tombstone The last one is most sattisfying to type !
- k_bx 9y ago
  There's a very simple emacs extension called "pretty lambda", which displays a word "lambda" as a lambda character (but presents as ascii still). I wonder if something like this is possible to do here (of course, the syntax with arguments makes it harder).
  - black_knight 9y ago
    Using XCompose (see sibling post) has the advantage of working in all programs on X, and producing real unicode.
- akalin 9y ago
  Not necessarily -- with the right editor, e.g. Emacs, you can have it automatically convert "\alpha" to "α" (built-in TeX input mode), or if you're using AUCTeX, you can type "`a", which would be easier than "\alpha" or "α"! Edit: Oops, saw the sibling post. That also works, although sadly I can't take always advantage of that since I'm not always on Linux.
akalin 9y ago
You can avoid having to declare each character separately if you use the unicode-math package: https://github.com/wspr/unicode-math https://github.com/wspr/unicode-math . I suggest you try it; it's life-changing for e.g. general relativity stuff where there are a lot of Greek letters being thrown around!
- tincholio 9y ago
  That looks really interesting! Thanks for sharing!

royal_ts 9y ago

But you can type the second one way easier

black_knight 9y ago
Not really! I use an XCompose file derived from the Plan 9 keyboard setup. So to write ∏ i press my modifer (left shift) button once, and then 'p' followed by 'r'. So it is fewer key presses than \prod (three key presses vs five). I have similar shortcuts for all maths symbols I use regularly. Here is an excerp from the configuration 2200 fa ∀ for all 2202 pd ∂ partial differential 2203 te ∃ there exists 2205 es ∅ empty set 2206 De ∆ increment 2207 gr ∇ nabla 2208 mo ∈ element of (…) 220E qed ∎ tombstone The last one is most sattisfying to type !
k_bx 9y ago
There's a very simple emacs extension called "pretty lambda", which displays a word "lambda" as a lambda character (but presents as ascii still). I wonder if something like this is possible to do here (of course, the syntax with arguments makes it harder).
- black_knight 9y ago
  Using XCompose (see sibling post) has the advantage of working in all programs on X, and producing real unicode.
akalin 9y ago
Not necessarily -- with the right editor, e.g. Emacs, you can have it automatically convert "\alpha" to "α" (built-in TeX input mode), or if you're using AUCTeX, you can type "`a", which would be easier than "\alpha" or "α"! Edit: Oops, saw the sibling post. That also works, although sadly I can't take always advantage of that since I'm not always on Linux.

akalin 9y ago

You can avoid having to declare each character separately if you use the unicode-math package: https://github.com/wspr/unicode-math https://github.com/wspr/unicode-math . I suggest you try it; it's life-changing for e.g. general relativity stuff where there are a lot of Greek letters being thrown around!

tincholio 9y ago
That looks really interesting! Thanks for sharing!