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LaTeX by itself may be less productive than Word, but it has (at least for me) several advantages that make it for me more productive: - The standard unix tool

LaTeX by itself may be less productive than Word, but it has (at least for me) several advantages that make it for me more productive: - The standard unix tools (E.g. grep) do work really well with LaTeX, if I have to find something. I would now know how to find a string in like 30-40 .doc(x) files - Works with git - Programmatically generating LaTeX is really simple as it is just text (I use this e.g. in my Vala Project. Sure for other language there are libraries to generate .docx files, but LaTeX works for me here better, as I generate dozens of diagrams and so on) - FLOSS and fully documented - Documentation is far better (E.g. How do I do X? The results for Word are often spam-like)

jiggunjer 5y ago
Who needs documentation for Word. I typeset my entire thesis and never once googled how to X. I also used git without issues. With LaTeX every little thing required a search.
- marcodiego 5y ago
  How do you include a C source code from a file and specify color for a specific keyword in Word? Also, how to make it update the document automatically when the code changes? Can you discover how to do that without resorting to a search engine?
  - jiggunjer 5y ago
    Sounds easy enough, maybe requires a manual refresh instead. Many people apparently get stuck on highschool level Word skills, but the featureset meets the needs of professionals too. I've literally seen journals provide Word typesetting tutorials for submission guidelines.
- marcodiego 5y ago
  I like to define commands in LaTeX. These allow me to easily reorder parameters, change formatting for parts of the replacement rules. When I modify its definition, it changes everywhere it is used. How do I do that in word? Can you discover it without resorting to a search engine?
  - jiggunjer 5y ago
    Yes this is typesetting basics. I used named styles, so e.g. I can change the format of level 2 headings.
- tombert 5y ago
  > I also used git without issues I mean, sort of? Wouldn't a .docx file have all the same annoyances within Git as something like an image, or any other binary format? LaTeX, I can look at diffs between commits, see if someone changed a specific line, etc. Is that possible with Word?
  - jiggunjer 5y ago
    There's a tracking feature and a multi-doc compare feature. But I hardly ever need them as I don't write collaboratively. My commit messages suffice.
5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
I also find it very useful to be able to "import" code snippets from files into your latex document, so you get proper versioning, autocompletion with syntax highlighting, can structure files into a tree, etc.
marcodiego 5y ago
A friend of mine used a makefile. This makefile compiled code, ran tests, extracted statistics, created updated graphics and regenerated a paper. Change one parameter and typing a single make command was enough for having everything re-generated. Change one line of code and the code included in the paper changed, run it on another machine and appendix about the machine where the tests were ran changes automatically. I see no other environment that could make these possibilities so simple and easy.
orhmeh09 5y ago
To find a string in very many word files, you can use ripgrep-all: https://github.com/phiresky/ripgrep-all https://github.com/phiresky/ripgrep-all

jiggunjer 5y ago

Who needs documentation for Word. I typeset my entire thesis and never once googled how to X. I also used git without issues. With LaTeX every little thing required a search.

marcodiego 5y ago
How do you include a C source code from a file and specify color for a specific keyword in Word? Also, how to make it update the document automatically when the code changes? Can you discover how to do that without resorting to a search engine?
- jiggunjer 5y ago
  Sounds easy enough, maybe requires a manual refresh instead. Many people apparently get stuck on highschool level Word skills, but the featureset meets the needs of professionals too. I've literally seen journals provide Word typesetting tutorials for submission guidelines.
marcodiego 5y ago
I like to define commands in LaTeX. These allow me to easily reorder parameters, change formatting for parts of the replacement rules. When I modify its definition, it changes everywhere it is used. How do I do that in word? Can you discover it without resorting to a search engine?
- jiggunjer 5y ago
  Yes this is typesetting basics. I used named styles, so e.g. I can change the format of level 2 headings.
tombert 5y ago
> I also used git without issues I mean, sort of? Wouldn't a .docx file have all the same annoyances within Git as something like an image, or any other binary format? LaTeX, I can look at diffs between commits, see if someone changed a specific line, etc. Is that possible with Word?
- jiggunjer 5y ago
  There's a tracking feature and a multi-doc compare feature. But I hardly ever need them as I don't write collaboratively. My commit messages suffice.

5e92cb50239222b 5y ago

I also find it very useful to be able to "import" code snippets from files into your latex document, so you get proper versioning, autocompletion with syntax highlighting, can structure files into a tree, etc.

marcodiego 5y ago

A friend of mine used a makefile. This makefile compiled code, ran tests, extracted statistics, created updated graphics and regenerated a paper. Change one parameter and typing a single make command was enough for having everything re-generated. Change one line of code and the code included in the paper changed, run it on another machine and appendix about the machine where the tests were ran changes automatically. I see no other environment that could make these possibilities so simple and easy.

orhmeh09 5y ago

To find a string in very many word files, you can use ripgrep-all: https://github.com/phiresky/ripgrep-all https://github.com/phiresky/ripgrep-all