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> The document markup language of LaTeX is pretty good. Yes, it’s not as lightweight as Markdown, but the cost is paid back in expressiveness. This is sort of
by BrenBarn 6mo ago
> The document markup language of LaTeX is pretty good. Yes, it’s not as lightweight as Markdown, but the cost is paid back in expressiveness.
This is sort of true, but the huge caveat it's a very leaky abstraction. There is no LaTeX without TeX, and somebody has to drop down to the TeX level to write the LaTeX packages everyone needs. LaTeX is good if you know with absolute certainty that you have a package in hand to do everything you need to do. Every time you bump against some unexpected obstacle, you have to either pray and search for a package, or pray even more and try to cobble together a solution from existing parts.
- WillAdams 6mo agoYeah, I referenced this fact in a joke ages ago: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/121652/31151 https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/121652/31151 (context is, working in book composition is like to being a ``galley slave'') >using LaTeX, an oar is provided and there're lots of nifty customizations and improvements already available, and one can impress additional oars from CTAN, however on a semi-random basis, adding one oar will break other oars, sometimes leaving one adrift or run aground. One can enchant a set of oars to accomplish a given journey, easing the piloting requirement, and the navigation charts are decent and obstacles are fairly well-known.