Latex Tutorial complete

Latex Tutorial complete

The Latex Tutorial complete

WHAT IS LATEX?

The short and simple answer is that LATEX is a typesetting program and is an extension of the original program TEX written by Donald Knuth. But then what is a typesetting program? To answer this, let us look at the various stages in the preparation of a document using computers.

1. The text is entered into the computer. 2. The input text is formatted into lines, paragraphs and pages. 3. The output text is displayed on the computer screen. 4. The final output is printed.

In most word processors all these operations are integrated into a single application package. But a typesetting program like TEX is concerned only with the second stage above. So to typeset a document using TEX, we type the text of the document and the necessary formatting commands in a text editor (such as Emacs in GNU/Linux) and then compile it. After that the document can be viewed using a previewer or printed using a printer driver. TEX is also a programming language, so that by learning this language, people can write code for additional features. In fact L ATEX itself is such a (large) collection of extra features. Andthecollectiveeffortiscontinuing, withmoreandmorepeoplewritingextra packages.