Re: Some Questions [Newbie]
- From: blmblm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 30 Apr 2006 17:01:11 GMT
In article <4454e196$0$14792$4fafbaef@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
fctk <x@xxx> wrote:
Hello,
I'm trying to learn LaTeX by reading "The Not So Short Introduction to
LaTeX 2e". I've only read the first two chapters for now, but I've
already collected lots of questions. :)
I am not one of the experts / Respected Regulars, but I think I can
answer some of these, and maybe that will save the e/RR some typing.
Leaving all questions in so someone else can just add to this post,
maybe:
%%% From Chapter 1 %%%
0) Which is the minimal LaTeX document? What about the following one?
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Hello, world!
\end{document}
Are both the `documentclass' command and the `document' environment
mandatory? (It seems yes to me)
Seems so to me as well.
1) Let's take commands which can have both optional and mandatory
parameters. Which is the correct form?
\command[optional_parameters]{mandatory_parameters}
\command{mandatory_parameters}[optional_parameters]
The first definitely works. Experiment suggests that the second does
not. (Couldn't you have tried both?)
2) In paragraph 1.3.3 the author says the curly braces after the name of
a command as in \command{} should be used to avoid `command' from
"eating" the following whitespace characters. But those curly braces are
the same that are used for listing the mandatory parameters of a command
or they are a different thing?
A question for the experts: I have used a trailing "\" for this,
e.g., "\LaTeX\". The trailing curly brackets are preferred?
3) Where should I put the following commands: pagestyle, usepackage,
syntaxonly, ... ? In the preamble or in the body? Is there a reference
resource for this kind of doubt?
Preamble.
4) Is `\\' a "command"? What does it do exactly? I know it is used for
starting a new line without starting a new paragraph, but how it behaves
when there are one or more consecutive whitespace character before
and/or after? Are they ignored?
%%% From Chapter 2 %%%
5) There are 3 kinds of hyphens/dashes in LaTeX (apart the
"mathematical" one). When should i use each of them? For example:
This is sort of a matter of typesetting convention, no? I vote for
* pages 32-54
* years 1986-2006
en-dash (--)
* daughter-in-law
* n-th
hyphen (-)
* 20-30 Kg
en-dash (--)
Example of use of em-dash (---):
If you like \LaTeX\ --- as I do --- you will find yourself
using it for more and more kinds of documents.
6) Is it possible to disable ligatures in all the document?
7) Paragraph 2.5. Do I really need the `ucs' package for using Unicode
or it is enough to use the command \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} ?
8) What's wrong when using a different inputenc? The input-file may be
unreadable by others? The output-file may be unreadable, too?
9) Paragraph 2.6. Is it possible to disable the extra-space at the end
of a period?
Yes. Various ways to do this. One I know is to turn it into a
non-breaking space, e.g., "Dr.~Welby". I think there are better ways,
and someone will mention them and tell me why they're better.
10) What are the differences between commands paragraph and paragraph*?
And between subparagraph and subparagraph*?
The starred forms don't number the sections (if the current document
class / style numbers sections at this level) or put lines in the
table of contents ("if" as before); the unstarred forms do.
11) I read about flushleft, flushright and center environments. Is there
an environment for justified text? I know justified text is the default
behaviour, but I noticed two differences between the text in
flushleft/flushright/center environments and the default one: a) the
first line of a paragraph gets indented; b) words gets hyphenated.
12) The `verb' command has a very strange syntax. It seems to violate
the "rules" stated in paragraph 1.3.3.
13) The command \begin{tabular}{something} seems to violate the syntax,
too, because it seems to have two lists of mandatory parameters instead
of one.
14) How can i put some space between a table and the previous and
following text paragraphs?
Sorry for the long post.
If you don't already know about this FAQ, consider bookmarking it:
http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html
--
| B. L. Massingill
| ObDisclaimer: I don't speak for my employers; they return the favor.
.
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