8 ms·

I’ve known PhDs in philosophy who can barely create slides in power point… while others (like OP) go and use latex, create open source software and use emacs. I

I’ve known PhDs in philosophy who can barely create slides in power point… while others (like OP) go and use latex, create open source software and use emacs. I’ve never seen such a drastic difference in any other field.

KeplerBoy 3y ago
Latex is the norm in all natural sciences and engineering fields. Most people however are happy with putting their content in someone else's templates.
- progbits 3y ago
  Honestly I wish it was even templates, usually it is just default Word document with random extra whitespace and hand-written section references that get out of sync.
- something98 3y ago
  As someone who has degrees in both, I can firmly say this is wildly incorrect.
  - KeplerBoy 3y ago
    What's your experience?
jacurtis 3y ago
I'm not sure how its possible to get a PhD in the modern era without learning LaTex. It is the required markup and publishing tool for any respected research publication. Since PhDs require (at least mine did) multiple published works in respected journals and conferences, I feel like LaTex is table-stakes for doctoral research and degrees. Furthermore, outside of my dissertation work, the classes I took often required you to produce other research works which also had to be created with LaTex. Overleaf (a SaaS platform for Latex collaboration and sharing) was essentially the operating system of my PhD. I spent 75% of my time in there. I feel like it would be impossible to get a Doctoral degree without LaTex knowledge. Maybe it depends on the university?
- rnadomvirlabe 3y ago
  Microsoft Word still reigns supreme in many fields. Some journals still require it as the format for submission.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 3y ago
    Yeah, my experience is that philosophy journals typically expect word documents.
  - analog31 3y ago
    What do you call someone who typed their dissertation in Word? Doctor.
- svara 3y ago
  This is all completely untrue in general. There are many fields in which you'll be the annoying weirdo who tries to force their tools on others if you insist on using latex. For example, Nature is so kind as to accept final submissions in latex, but they'll convert it to Word. So it's completely pointless. Frankly people using latex-beamer make me roll my eyes too. It's a sign you care about tools more than outcome. If you're making a presentation, your goal should be to produce the ideal design to convey your message to the audience. Latex always gets in the way of this. (Some latex wizards are going to disagree obviously, but for the vast majority of users it's true.)
  - light_hue_1 3y ago
    > Frankly people using latex-beamer make me roll my eyes too. It's a sign you care about tools more than outcome. If you're making a presentation, your goal should be to produce the ideal design to convey your message to the audience. Latex always gets in the way of this. (Some latex wizards are going to disagree obviously, but for the vast majority of users it's true.) It's a sign that I care about outcome and efficiency. I want the minimum effort on my part to have the maximum clarity and impact. Beamer is that tool. I do roughly zero formatting, and in exchange I get something that looks good, is very clear and simple for the audience to understand, and has impact. The beauty of LaTeX is that it gets out of the way. I don't need to think about formatting, I can think about content.
amelius 3y ago
Latex coding is the favorite bike shedding project of many CS students.
ezequiel-garzon 3y ago
On the technically advanced end of the spectrum you'll find John MacFarlane [1], professor of philosophy at Berkeley and creator of pandoc [2]. Some people are just amazing. [1] https://johnmacfarlane.net/ https://johnmacfarlane.net/ [2] https://pandoc.org/ https://pandoc.org/
- slow_typist 3y ago
  Incredibly talented guy. Incredibly useful software.

KeplerBoy 3y ago

Latex is the norm in all natural sciences and engineering fields. Most people however are happy with putting their content in someone else's templates.

progbits 3y ago
Honestly I wish it was even templates, usually it is just default Word document with random extra whitespace and hand-written section references that get out of sync.
something98 3y ago
As someone who has degrees in both, I can firmly say this is wildly incorrect.
- KeplerBoy 3y ago
  What's your experience?

jacurtis 3y ago

I'm not sure how its possible to get a PhD in the modern era without learning LaTex. It is the required markup and publishing tool for any respected research publication. Since PhDs require (at least mine did) multiple published works in respected journals and conferences, I feel like LaTex is table-stakes for doctoral research and degrees. Furthermore, outside of my dissertation work, the classes I took often required you to produce other research works which also had to be created with LaTex. Overleaf (a SaaS platform for Latex collaboration and sharing) was essentially the operating system of my PhD. I spent 75% of my time in there. I feel like it would be impossible to get a Doctoral degree without LaTex knowledge. Maybe it depends on the university?

rnadomvirlabe 3y ago
Microsoft Word still reigns supreme in many fields. Some journals still require it as the format for submission.
- fiddlerwoaroof 3y ago
  Yeah, my experience is that philosophy journals typically expect word documents.
- analog31 3y ago
  What do you call someone who typed their dissertation in Word? Doctor.
svara 3y ago
This is all completely untrue in general. There are many fields in which you'll be the annoying weirdo who tries to force their tools on others if you insist on using latex. For example, Nature is so kind as to accept final submissions in latex, but they'll convert it to Word. So it's completely pointless. Frankly people using latex-beamer make me roll my eyes too. It's a sign you care about tools more than outcome. If you're making a presentation, your goal should be to produce the ideal design to convey your message to the audience. Latex always gets in the way of this. (Some latex wizards are going to disagree obviously, but for the vast majority of users it's true.)
- light_hue_1 3y ago
  > Frankly people using latex-beamer make me roll my eyes too. It's a sign you care about tools more than outcome. If you're making a presentation, your goal should be to produce the ideal design to convey your message to the audience. Latex always gets in the way of this. (Some latex wizards are going to disagree obviously, but for the vast majority of users it's true.) It's a sign that I care about outcome and efficiency. I want the minimum effort on my part to have the maximum clarity and impact. Beamer is that tool. I do roughly zero formatting, and in exchange I get something that looks good, is very clear and simple for the audience to understand, and has impact. The beauty of LaTeX is that it gets out of the way. I don't need to think about formatting, I can think about content.

amelius 3y ago

Latex coding is the favorite bike shedding project of many CS students.

ezequiel-garzon 3y ago

On the technically advanced end of the spectrum you'll find John MacFarlane [1], professor of philosophy at Berkeley and creator of pandoc [2]. Some people are just amazing. [1] https://johnmacfarlane.net/ https://johnmacfarlane.net/ [2] https://pandoc.org/ https://pandoc.org/

slow_typist 3y ago
Incredibly talented guy. Incredibly useful software.