latex-wochenende/slides/intro.en.md
2022-06-18 23:57:49 +02:00

5.4 KiB

@slide(layout=chapter-slide)

@number 0

@title First steps with LATEX

@content In order to compile the script for this tutorial, a few steps have to be followed, which are explained in the next slides.

@slide(layout=content-only)

@title Digression: Opening a command prompt

@content

  • For the following tasks, we are going to need a command prompt

  • It can be opened in different ways, depending on your operating system

  • Windows: Press the Windows key and type in cmd, press Enter

  • MacOS: Press the Command key and the space bar simultaneously, then type in Terminal and double click on Terminal

  • Linux: Press Ctrl + Alt + T

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@title Installing the compiler

@content

  • The compiler translates our LATEX code into a PDF
  • Depending on your operating system, different compilers are available
  • Windows: MikTEX
  • macOS: MacTEX
  • Linux distributions: TEXLive
    • Debian-based distributions: run sudo apt install texlive-full
    • other distributions: see the TEXLive website
Make sure to install the full version with all packages, if you can!

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@title Installing the editor

@content

  • An editor can downloaded once the compiler has been installed
  • For editing LaTeX documents, any text editor works fine, e.g., Notepad++, VSCode
  • For beginners, TEXstudio is recommended due to its LaTeX-specific features
  • Download and install TEXstudio

@slide(layout=content-only) @title Compile the script for the first time

@content

  • Download the project archive from the VC.
  • Unzip the archive.
  • Open the file main.tex in TEXstudio. It is located in the root directory of the archive.
  • Compile main.tex by pressing
  • A few new files will be generated by the compilation.
Windows users: In order to enable file endings, click the view tab in the file explorer, and select *file name extensions*. This helps differentiating the different ``main`` files.

@slide(layout=content-and-preview) @title Listings

@content We have multiple examples of LaTeX source code in the script. As a default setting, we use the package listings for displaying them.

  • However, the package minted generates more appealing listings.
  • Minted requires additional configuration, like the installation of the programming language Python 3 and the package Pygments
  • The following slides explain how to use minted for this LaTeX project

@preview { .thin-padding}

@slide(layout=content-only) @title Installation of Python 3

@content

  • Check if Python is already installed on your operating system using a command prompt:
python --version
  • If installed, the output should look similar to this:
Python 3.8.5
  • If not installed, follow the instructions for your operating sytem on the website
  • Make sure to enable the option to add Python to your PATH, if possible
  • Run the above-mentioned command to ensure the installation was successful

@slide(layout=content-only) @title Pygments and compiler command settings

@content

  • Install the Pygments by executing the following command in a command prompt: pip install Pygments

  • In TeXstudio, navigate to Options → Configure TeXstudio → Commands

  • Next to the PdfLaTeX label, add the shell-escape flag to the compiler command:

pdflatex -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode --shell-escape %.tex

Passing the flag ``--shell-escape`` to your compiler can be a potential security risk. **Only do it for documents you trust!**

@slide(layout=content-and-preview)

@title Change the listings mode

@content In order to compile the script using minted, the listings mode has to be changed.

  • Create a new file in the root directory of the project archive, named listings-mode.tex
  • Insert the following command into the newly created file
\newcommand\listingsmode{minted}
  • Compile main.tex again by pressing

@preview

![](images/code-listing-default.png) ![](images/code-listing-minted.png)
``listings`` (top) vs. ``minted`` (bottom)