4 ms·

Having written my thesis in LaTex, I can say it is wonderful and a wonderful waste of time.

sph 4y ago
Same, I just did my resume in LaTeX, it's such an obtuse and painful tool, yet nothing even comes close to the control it gives you. Hey btw, I'm looking for contract work! https://github.com/1player/resume/blob/master/resume.pdf https://github.com/1player/resume/blob/master/resume.pdf
- bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
  Surely plain old html does?
  - jdbernard 4y ago
    For several years (a decade maybe?) I authored my resume in LaTeX. Then a few years ago I wanted to restructure it radically, and make an interactive version that showed off some simple subset of my full-stack skillset (from design to implementation). This goal led me to authoring it in HTML with CSS. I never actually got around to implementing my full vision because I had an unexpected opportunity land in my lap before I'd officially started looking. I had the design and static mockup completed, so I just exported that to PDF and used it. In hindsight, I spent a lot less time getting the look I wanted in HTML than I did in LaTeX. I still tend to use LaTeX for some long-form documentation, but I'll probably stick to HTML for my resume and I'm finding myself using HTML + Markdown a lot more for other authoring tasks too.
  - sph 4y ago
    It's not the right tool for the job, in this case perfectly laying out text on a A4 sheet of paper. HTML is made for variable-sized screens, and can be repurposed to be printed, but it's still trying to screw a nail in when all you need is a hammer.
- jtbayly 4y ago
  I always wonder with comments like this what LaTeX allows that Adobe Indesign is incapable of.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    Plaintext source file; hence source control and portability. Also it's free in both senses.
  - andrepd 4y ago
    * Free (as in freedom) and open source * Cross-platform * Industry standard in the sciences
marcosdumay 4y ago
Having written a report in Word that was about 1/4 of the size of my dissertation, but had some of the same content, and then the dissertation in LaTeX, I can say that as much as LaTeX wastes your time, it's by far the least wasteful option.
- kaba0 4y ago
  Strong agree. My fiance and I wrote our thesis simultaneously, she in Word, while I used LaTeX. The amount of stupid figure- and page- rearrangements she suffered because she removed half a sentence from the middle, while LaTeX generated sane output with basically any text seriously made me much more productive.
  - plopilop 4y ago
    Word has had automatic reference numbering for a while now (see for instance [0]). Not denying that it's not very known (nor pleasant to use), and I'm not even talking about bibliography. I made my partner switch to Latex thanks to the bibliography. Writing tables almost made her switch back to Word. [0]: https://www.sfu.ca/~ljilja/cnl/info/UseCrossReference/index.htm https://www.sfu.ca/~ljilja/cnl/info/UseCrossReference/index....
    - kaba0 4y ago
      I meant it more in terms of bad figure placement. LaTeX tries to place the figure relatively close to the source, it has a sane fallback policy, like grouping them together at the end of the section. With word one can get from a decently formatted text to multiple quarter-filled pages with a single additional sentence, because it has comparatively bad algorithm for text-block reflow.
    - elmolino89 4y ago
      Among fellow students countless hours were lost playing with spaces, line breaks, font sizes just to get tables/figures stay or move to the next page. This did look like an endless task: adding few chars in a chapter could have messed up positioning of bunch of figs.

sph 4y ago

Same, I just did my resume in LaTeX, it's such an obtuse and painful tool, yet nothing even comes close to the control it gives you. Hey btw, I'm looking for contract work! https://github.com/1player/resume/blob/master/resume.pdf https://github.com/1player/resume/blob/master/resume.pdf

bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
Surely plain old html does?
- jdbernard 4y ago
  For several years (a decade maybe?) I authored my resume in LaTeX. Then a few years ago I wanted to restructure it radically, and make an interactive version that showed off some simple subset of my full-stack skillset (from design to implementation). This goal led me to authoring it in HTML with CSS. I never actually got around to implementing my full vision because I had an unexpected opportunity land in my lap before I'd officially started looking. I had the design and static mockup completed, so I just exported that to PDF and used it. In hindsight, I spent a lot less time getting the look I wanted in HTML than I did in LaTeX. I still tend to use LaTeX for some long-form documentation, but I'll probably stick to HTML for my resume and I'm finding myself using HTML + Markdown a lot more for other authoring tasks too.
- sph 4y ago
  It's not the right tool for the job, in this case perfectly laying out text on a A4 sheet of paper. HTML is made for variable-sized screens, and can be repurposed to be printed, but it's still trying to screw a nail in when all you need is a hammer.
jtbayly 4y ago
I always wonder with comments like this what LaTeX allows that Adobe Indesign is incapable of.
- OJFord 4y ago
  Plaintext source file; hence source control and portability. Also it's free in both senses.
- andrepd 4y ago
  * Free (as in freedom) and open source * Cross-platform * Industry standard in the sciences

marcosdumay 4y ago

Having written a report in Word that was about 1/4 of the size of my dissertation, but had some of the same content, and then the dissertation in LaTeX, I can say that as much as LaTeX wastes your time, it's by far the least wasteful option.

kaba0 4y ago
Strong agree. My fiance and I wrote our thesis simultaneously, she in Word, while I used LaTeX. The amount of stupid figure- and page- rearrangements she suffered because she removed half a sentence from the middle, while LaTeX generated sane output with basically any text seriously made me much more productive.
- plopilop 4y ago
  Word has had automatic reference numbering for a while now (see for instance [0]). Not denying that it's not very known (nor pleasant to use), and I'm not even talking about bibliography. I made my partner switch to Latex thanks to the bibliography. Writing tables almost made her switch back to Word. [0]: https://www.sfu.ca/~ljilja/cnl/info/UseCrossReference/index.htm https://www.sfu.ca/~ljilja/cnl/info/UseCrossReference/index....
  - kaba0 4y ago
    I meant it more in terms of bad figure placement. LaTeX tries to place the figure relatively close to the source, it has a sane fallback policy, like grouping them together at the end of the section. With word one can get from a decently formatted text to multiple quarter-filled pages with a single additional sentence, because it has comparatively bad algorithm for text-block reflow.
  - elmolino89 4y ago
    Among fellow students countless hours were lost playing with spaces, line breaks, font sizes just to get tables/figures stay or move to the next page. This did look like an endless task: adding few chars in a chapter could have messed up positioning of bunch of figs.