Math Is Fun Forum

anonimnystefy

Real Member

From: Harlan's World

Registered: 2011-05-23

Posts: 16,049

LaTeX editors

hi all,

Lately i have been interested in finding an editor for LaTeX that i could write LaTeX and also print it or something like that.Can anybody tel me about such programs?

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“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: LaTeX editors

Hi;

I use this. Perfect latex. No hassles. Gets updated frequently. No running programs on your machine.

http://latex.codecogs.com/editor.php

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

anonimnystefy

Real Member

From: Harlan's World

Registered: 2011-05-23

Posts: 16,049

Re: LaTeX editors

hi  bobbym

thanks for the link,but i am looking for an offline editor,so to say.

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“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

lindah

Member

Registered: 2010-01-25

Posts: 121

Re: LaTeX editors

I run linux, so use gedit (notepad equivalent) with a latex plugin.

I've seen alot of raving about lyx, but I prefer to work directly with a .tex file

Au101

Member

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 353

Re: LaTeX editors

For writing LaTeX what you really want is a text editor. Codecogs is very handy, but less good if you want to write whole documents in TeX and it does not have full functionality. What you shall need to do is download a LaTeX package, which should contain the LaTeX libraries and some software - if you're on windows I suggest MiKTeX, if you're on mac I suggest MacTeX - as for Linux, I'm not actually sure. These will come with editors which will probably suffice. MacTeX comes with TeXShop and MiKTeX has another, similar editor. As I say, these will do, but if you're serious about writing LaTeX then I highly recommend Vim (MacVim on Mac, gVim on Windows) or emacs, but please note that these take a small amount of setting up and are also designed such that it is possible to use them without ever touching your mouse. Use of the mouse is definitely possible, but ultimately they can take some getting used to. This would certainly be my advice, but in theory most text editors should be able to render LaTeX - as long as you have the LaTeX libraries installed. The thing with TeX is that it's a mark-up language, and hence you can't just open up a program and start entering it, you have to use a text editor to enter your text with mark-up (the LaTeX) and then a rendering engine to convert that into a nice output, which you can then view and print from in a pdf viewer. So you will need the libraries to render it, also, when writing LaTeX from scratch you will need a preamble - this declares certain packages and it is in line with these that your TeX is read and an output produced. You can't just type LaTeX all by itself, like you can on mathisfun (with the required delimiters, that is). I recommend you have a look at this http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX. There is also a pdf version and a link to it on the side of this webpage. It is a highly comprehensive manual and can teach you about most things - but I wouldn't advise reading the whole thing from start-to-finish, just look up what you need, when you need it. You should, however, read the first few pages to give yourself an understanding of what LaTeX is all about. But anyway, as I was saying, I would suggest those editors, but I believe you can theoretically use any text editor - even Microsoft's Notepad - but please, if you value your sanity - don't .

Monox D. I-Fly

Member

From: Indonesia

Registered: 2015-12-02

Posts: 2,000

Re: LaTeX editors

I run linux, so use gedit (notepad equivalent) with a latex plugin.

I've seen alot of raving about lyx, but I prefer to work directly with a .tex file

Wait, gedit has a LaTeX plugin? Never knew about that.

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Actually I never watch Star Wars and not interested in it anyway, but I choose a Yoda card as my avatar in honor of our great friend bobbym who has passed away.
May his adventurous soul rest in peace at heaven.

zetafunc

Moderator

Registered: 2014-05-21

Posts: 2,436

Website

Re: LaTeX editors

I used TeXnicCenter for my thesis, which worked pretty well. Online editors (e.g. CodeCogs) work fine up to a point. Sometimes they can be a little slow to produce an output, and if you're typesetting something fairly sophisticated, you'll want to use something which can handle it -- and if your LaTeX requires importing all sorts of niche packages, then an online editor is out of the question.