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%	2005_03_07_LaTeX.tex	
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\documentclass[12pt]{article}
%\pagestyle{empty}
\usepackage{cmb2}
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\MarginsExact{0pt}{0pt}{0pt}{0pt}
%\Afive
%\BlackWhiteOffset
\Helvetica
\begin{document}
\Toptitle{}{Introducting \LaTeX}{7/3/2005}

\Pic{\textwidth}{latex_diag1.ps}


\begin{verbatim}
     %------------------------------------------------------------
     % Comments start with a % sign
     %
     % The first bit of a document sets up the
     % style for the rest of it...
     %------------------------------------------------------------
     \documentclass[12pt]{article}  % 12pt, article style
     \pagestyle{empty}              % Don't put page numbers in
     \newcommand{\BigBold}[1]{{\large \bf #1}}
     %------------------------------------------------------------
     \begin{document}
     This is where the actual text of the document goes.
     \BigBold{Commands} are introduced with a backslash, and curly
     braces for bracketing.
     \end{document}
\end{verbatim}

Key thought: worry about content over appearance! \LaTeX\ is not a
word processor!  Instead, \LaTeX\ encourages authors not to worry too
much about the appearance of their documents, but to concentrate on
getting the right content. So its a mark-up language akin, in some
ways, to HTML.

%----------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsection*{Document Structure}

\begin{sloppypar}
At the top level, documents are structured into chapters and sections
(\verb+\section{Section title}+). \LaTeX will take care of numbering
these if you want it to --- and you can cross-reference to section
names, so adding or removing something doesn't muck up the references
to section or page numbers! (This text is on page \label{this-page}
\pageref{this-page})
\end{sloppypar}

Things like enumerated or itemized lists, tables, diagrams, etc are
usually ``bracketed'' inside an {\em environment}. For example:

\begin{minipage}{0.52\textwidth}
\begin{verbatim}
\begin{itemize}
\item {\large First} item
\item This is item has some sub-parts
      \begin{enumerate}
      \item  sub-part 1
      \item  {\bf bold} sub-part 2
      \end{enumerate}
\end{itemize}
\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.46\textwidth}
\begin{itemize}
\item {\large First} item
\item This is item has some sub-parts
      \begin{enumerate}
      \item  sub-part 1
      \item  {\bf bold} sub-part 2
      \end{enumerate}
\end{itemize}
\end{minipage}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsection*{Advantages}

\begin{itemize}
\item
	Source file format is text-based, so you can edit it with any
	editor;
\item
	Following on from the text file format, one important
	implication is that you gain access to powerful version
	control (RCS/CVS/subversion/etc)
\item
	Large documents are trivial --- you can sub-divide the
	document into multiple files, and then just
	\verb+\include{file.tex}+, the sub-parts. This also allows
	common text to be re-used.
\item
	Style changes can affect the whole document in one go
\item
	Since it is ``compiled'', you get easy repeatability
\item
	With the {\tt dvi} to {\tt ps} to {\tt pdf} chain you get PDF
	document portability
\item
	Nothing else will do complicated maths like it (I've never
	used it for this, though!)
\end{itemize}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsection*{Disadvantages}

\begin{itemize}
\item
	Precise page-layout is tricky
\item
	Can't get text to flow round an image or table!
\item
	Error handling is less than perfect!!
\end{itemize}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsection*{Resources}

\verb+http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/+

\verb+http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Misc/LaTeX-Tutorial/LaTeX-Home.html+

\verb+http://www.latex-project.org/+ and \verb+http://www.tug.org/+

\verb+http://it.metr.ou.edu/latex/+ (See especially the ``Bundled
LaTeX examples'' section)

\end{document}