Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!uh2
From: UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: LaTeX is not TeX (was: Re: Where can I get AmigaTeX)
Message-ID: <89273.105402UH2@PSUVM.BITNET>
Date: 30 Sep 89 14:54:02 GMT
References: <221@digi.UUCP> <856@madnix.UUCP> <228@estinc.UUCP>
Organization: Penn State University
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<1855@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP> <4334@wpi.wpi.edu> <815@gistdev.UUCP>

Just a clarification for those new to TeX and LaTeX.

In TeX, one writes macros to do things one whats to do.  For example
(simplified)

\def\heading #1\par{\pageneeds 2in\centerline{\bf #1}\bigskip\noindent}

defines a macro called heading that checks to see if there is 2 inches left
on the page, starts a new page if ncessary, centers the text of
the heading in bold face, skips about 24points (I forget) and assures that
the subsequent paragraph is not indented.  The user types

\heading This will be the heading

And this is the following text, etc etc etc...

LaTeX is a huge set of elaborate macros modeled after another language
called Scribe, suitable for many if not most academic publication purposes.
Likewise, AMSTeX is a different set, used by many math journals.

So, don't assume that LaTeX and TeX are two different things.  LaTeX is
written in TeX.  Also, I don't know of any TeX's that come without LaTeX.
However, LaTeX is pretty big, and usually requires a lot more memory.

Personally, I found LaTeX to be fragile, and since I have generic programmin
skills I am able to work comfortable directly in TeX.

                                                     lee