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.

LaTeX was first written in the early 1980s by Leslie Lamport at SRI International. 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 tools called LaTeX to make this easier. He shared these tools in 1984 and 1985 and wrote a book about them. His book became very popular.

In 1989, Lamport let others update LaTeX. A group of people worked on it and in 1994 they released a new version called LaTeX2e. This version is still used today.

Typesetting system

LaTeX helps writers focus on their words instead of how they look. Writers use simple commands to organize their work, like marking chapters or adding tables. LaTeX handles the rest.

LaTeX uses a special language to control how documents look. Users can add their own rules for 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. This 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 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

This shows how you can use LaTeX to make documents. You can see what the documents look like after LaTeX works on 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 helps TeX process documents. There are many 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. Traditional TeX makes a DVI file, often turned into a PostScript file. In 2000, Hàn Thế Thành and others made pdfTeX, which creates PDF files. The XeTeX tool combines modern font technologies with TeX. LuaTeX is an updated version of pdfTeX.

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 permission called the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL). This license is different from the GNU General Public License. It has rules to keep changed files separate from the original ones. LaTeX works on many types of computers because it is free software.

Versions

LaTeX2e is the current version of LaTeX. It replaced an older version in 1994. Work on LaTeX3 started in the early 1990s and is still happening. This new version wants to make things easier and add features like better links and new ways to use fonts.

There are many ways to use LaTeX, both free and for payment. Some add extra features like special fonts or phone help. Programs like LyX let you make documents visually but use LaTeX in the background. Other tools, such as TeXmacs, work in a similar way but use a different system for arranging text.

Adoption

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

You can use LaTeX by itself or to change other files, like DocBook and XML, into PDF books. It has tools to help make pages look good, like adding numbers to tables and pictures, creating headings, and organizing pages.