LaTeX

LaTeX is a special kind of software system that helps people write and arrange documents neatly. It was created to make using another system called TeX easier. While TeX takes care of how the document looks, LaTeX helps with what goes into the document, like chapters, footnotes, and references.

LaTeX was first written in the early 1980s by Leslie Lamport at SRI International. The version most people use today is called LaTeX2e, which came out in 1994 and has been improved since 2015. LaTeX is free software and can be used by anyone under the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL).

Originally, LaTeX was used by mathematicians and computer experts. But soon, many other scholars started using it, especially when they needed to write about complicated math or use writing systems like Arabic, Devanagari, and Chinese.

History

In the early 1980s, a person named Leslie Lamport needed help writing documents using TeX. He created a set of tools called LaTeX to make this easier for everyone. He shared these tools in 1984 and 1985, and later wrote a book about how to use them. His book became very popular.

In 1989, Lamport decided to let others take care of updating LaTeX. A group of people began working on it, and in 1994 they released a new version called LaTeX2e, which is still used today.

Typesetting system

LaTeX is designed to help writers focus on what they are saying instead of how it looks. Writers use simple commands to organize their work, like marking chapters or adding tables, and LaTeX takes care of the rest. This way, the way something looks can be changed without rewriting the whole document.

LaTeX uses a special language to control how documents look. Users can add their own rules to handle special tasks, like showing math problems clearly. To use LaTeX, a person saves their writing in a file and then uses a tool to turn it into a finished document, which can be viewed on a screen or printed. This process is different from programs where you see exactly what the document will look like while you write. Some tools make this easier by showing the final look right next to the writing as you work.

Pronunciation and typography

See also: TeX § Pronunciation and spelling

The letters 'T', 'E', and 'X' in the name come from the Greek letters tau, epsilon, and chi. They come from the Ancient Greek word τέχνη, which means 'skill' or 'art'. The creator of TeX, Donald Knuth, suggests saying the name as /tɛx/ (pronounced tekh), like the 'ch' in the word 'loch'. Others say it as lah-tekh, lah-tech, or even lay-teks, though there is no single right way.

When writing the name in books or articles, it is printed with a special style: LaTeX. If that style cannot be used, like on the internet, people often just write it as LaTeX with a special mix of upper- and lowercase letters. The logos for TeX, LaTeX, and XeTeX can also be shown on websites using special web tools called CSS and XHTML.

Example

The example below shows how you can use LaTeX to create documents and what the results look like after LaTeX processes them:

Input

Output

\documentclass{article} % Starts an article \usepackage{amsmath} % Imports amsmath \title{\LaTeX} % Title \begin{document} % Begins a document \maketitle \LaTeX{} is a document preparation system for the \TeX{} typesetting program. It offers programmable desktop publishing features and extensive facilities for automating most aspects of typesetting and desktop publishing, including numbering and cross-referencing, tables and figures, page layout, bibliographies, and much more. \LaTeX{} was originally written in 1984 by Leslie Lamport and has become the dominant method for using \TeX; few people write in plain \TeX{} anymore. The current version is \LaTeXe. % This is a comment, not shown in final output. % The following shows typesetting power of LaTeX: \begin{align} E_0 &= mc^2 \ E &= \frac{mc^2}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}} \end{align} \end{document}

Related software

LaTeX is a set of tools that helps TeX, another tool, understand and process documents. There are many other tools like LaTeX, such as Plain TeX, GNU Texinfo, AMSTeX, Chemfig, chemmacros, PSTricks, PSfrag, and ConTeXt.

When TeX works on a document, it follows a certain order: tools → TeX → driver → result. Different versions of these steps exist in TeX collections. Traditional TeX makes a DVI file, often turned into a PostScript file. In 2000, Hàn Thế Thành and others made a version of TeX called pdfTeX, which creates PDF files. The XeTeX tool, made by Jonathan Kew, combines modern font technologies with TeX. LuaTeX is an updated version of pdfTeX that uses Lua for extra features.

Compatibility and converters

LaTeX documents are simple text files that can be opened with any text editor. They don’t have hidden formatting or special codes. LaTeX files can be changed into other formats like PDF, HTML, or ePub. There are tools to help with this.

Some tools change LaTeX into web-friendly formats. For example, TeX4ht can turn LaTeX into HTML. HeVeA, written in OCaml, changes LaTeX documents into HTML5 for online viewing. LaTeX2HTML, written in Perl, also converts LaTeX to HTML. LaTeX2RTF changes LaTeX into RTF format. LaTeXML can turn LaTeX into many XML-based formats, including HTML5 and ePub ebooks. Pandoc is a versatile tool that can change LaTeX into many different file types, such as HTML5, ePub, and Word documents.

LaTeX is widely used for writing math in scientific documents. There are special tools for this, like MathJax, a JavaScript library that changes LaTeX math into formats that work on websites. The Wikimedia Foundation uses MathJax for showing math on Wikipedia. KaTeX is another fast tool for turning LaTeX math into HTML, made by Khan Academy.

Licensing

LaTeX is shared under a special kind of permission called the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL). This license is different from another common permission called the GNU General Public License. It has special rules to make sure that changed files can be told apart from the original ones, which helps avoid problems when files depend on each other. LaTeX can be used on many different types of computers because it is free software.

Versions

LaTeX2e is the current version of LaTeX. It replaced an older version called LaTeX 2.09 in 1994. Work on LaTeX3 began in the early 1990s and is still continuing. This new version aims to make the system easier to use and add features like better support for links and new ways to use fonts.

There are many different ways to use LaTeX, both free and commercial. Some of these add extra features like special fonts or help by phone. Programs like LyX let you create documents visually but use LaTeX behind the scenes. Other tools, such as TeXmacs, work similarly but use a different system for arranging text.

Adoption

LaTeX is very popular in schools and offices for writing science reports and keeping notes, especially when the work includes math symbols. It helps create books and articles with languages such as Arabic and Greek. LaTeX works with the TeX program to make the pages look nice.

You can use LaTeX by itself or as a step in turning other types of files, like DocBook and XML, into PDF books. It has tools to help with making pages look good, like adding numbers to tables and pictures, creating headings, and organizing the pages.