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LaTeX can be fine for some, but it requires either an internet connection (Overleaf) or the use of some custom IDE. If you write in a plain-text editor, custom
by jarbus 5y ago
LaTeX can be fine for some, but it requires either an internet connection (Overleaf) or the use of some custom IDE. If you write in a plain-text editor, custom compilation sucks.
As a personal aside, I can't stand the LaTeX syntax; needing to have a \begin{itemize}, \end{itemize}, \item for every list, as opposed to a simple dash uses way more characters, adds more visual noise, and makes it less pleasant to read when editing. Ditto for something like \begin{tabular} as opposed to a pleasant ascii grid.
- iveqy 5y agoNo it doesn't. Write in a plain text editor, have evince open the generated document, it will reload when updated. Then use inotifywatch to generate on save, or just write a hook in your text editor that will update the pdf. You don't need to use overleaf to get the overleaf experience...
- dash2 5y ago> or just write a hook in your text editor Ah, the Dropbox comment springs to mind: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
- gopiandcode 5y ago..except it's quite different though? Adding a hook for compilation in most decent editors is only a few lines of config, and many popular editors (GNU Emacs, vim, m$ vscode) nowadays have packages that have these hooks predefined, so it pretty much just comes down to installing a package, which I hope you don't think is beyond the capabilities of the average user. Alternatively there are editors like texworks which provide exactly this feature out of the box.
- dash2 5y agoSure, and inotifywatch is probably trivial too - to those who know.
- leemailll 5y agoThe things you state in the first paragraph are plain wrong.