It offers programmable desktop publishing features and extensive facilities for automating virtually all aspects of typesetting & desktop publishing, including numbering & cross-referencing, tables and numbers, website layout, bibliographies, and very much further. LaTeX was originally written inside 1984 by Leslie Lamport and has become a dominant method for applying TeX —few people write within manifestly TeX any longer. A todays version is LaTeX2ε.

Pronunciation
LaTeX is unremarkably pronounced "LAY-tech" or even "LAH-tech" (IPA: ), where ch is a healthy of ch around German Bach or even Scottish loch: the go character in the title is actually a capital chi, as a title of TeX derives from either a Greek τεχνη (skill, art, technique). When TeX's owner Donald Knuth promoted the "tech" pronunciation, Lamport has said he doesn't favor even or deprecate any pronunciation for LaTeX. These are traditionally printed using a favorite typographic logotype shown on this home. Around media around which a logotype can't become precisely reproduced in running off text, a word is often given a unique capitalization LaTeX to make sure your not confusion using a word "latex".

The typesetting system
LaTeX is according to a idea that authors should become entity to concentrate in writing inside a logical structure of their document, like than spending their period on the details of formatting. It encourages a separation of formatting from either content, when however letting manual typesetting adjustments in which needful. By keeping a formatting details within a separate file from either the text, these are typically look upon superior to word processors & most more desktop publication systems, which allow trivially real life ocular layout changes however tend to intertwine content & form and then tightly that consistency and automation come typically hard. LaTeX likewise will bring awesome flexibility inside formatting patch maintaining a identity of structure, which strictly structural systems rather SGML and XML do not directly location.

LaTeX may be willy-nilly extended by using the underlying macro language for developing customised formats. For instance, there are many commercial implementations of the completely TeX formulas (which includes LaTeX), & trafficker can offer more features prefer phone support and extra typefaces. LyX is the visual document processor that utilizes LaTeX for a back-prevent. TeXmacs is a free, WYSIWYG editor with similar functionalities when LaTeX, however the different typesetting motor. The total of popular commercial DTP systems use limited versions of the original TeX typesetting engine. A recent rise inside popularity of XML systems and a require for big-shell batch production of publication-quality typesetting from such sources has seen the steadily increase in the utilise of LaTeX.

the case in the image below shows an case of a LaTeX input (left) & output (correct):
\begin
\maketitle \LaTeXtypesetting program. It offers programmable desktop publishing features & extensive facilities for automating virtually all aspects of typesetting & desktop publishing, including enumeration and cross-referencing, tables & numbers, report layout, bibliographies, & very much thomas more. \LaTeX any longer. A todays version is \LaTeXe.
\newline
% This occurs as comment, these are non shown in the final output.
% A as punishment shows a bit of the typesetting power of LaTeX
\begin
E &=& mc^2 \\
k &=& \frac
\end
\end
| |}

[http://sciencesoft.at/index.jsp?link=latex&lang=en&wiki=1 Online LaTex], which utilizes this case.

Community

LaTeX was originally virtually all ordinarily utilized by mathematicians and scientists, amongst whom it remains the favorite thing for writing papers, preprints, and books. Because of the underlying TeX technique, originally developed for documents sustaining maths, laying out mathematical expressions is considered to be gentler, & a sequent typesetting of superiority, than any competing document-processing systems. Numerous scientific journals and other publishers provide free LaTeX packages which implement their "in-house" typesetting styles.

A popularity of LaTeX in the technical indicator & academic communities is mayhap partially due to its early handiness in Unix systems, and a comparative inaccessibility of competing word processing system in people platforms until recently. However from either either an early stage LaTeX was available in the wider range of devices & softwcome patterns than any more program, & versions are nowadays available for well-nigh any system from PDAs to desktop PCs to supercomputers.

LaTeX is less popular than mainstream desktop publishing computer software outside a technical indicator communities for many reasons. These are regarded when arduous to see for population using there are no former own household budget of markup languages. Although these are super easily to customise the appearance of articles, books, & reports, utilizing exclusively the handful of videos, it remains fundamentally the typographer for automating document production, non a contrast web page project program, and so performing complex ocular layouts incorporating multiple images is hard. An additional barrier to usage for several is a asynchronous interface utilized within virtually all loose versions, in which redaction is knock off the different window from either the typeset display. Many commercial implementations, yet, utilise a synchronous typographical display rather more DTP systems (when does the non-commercial & open source LyX). Or else, GNU TeXmacs is a free WYSIWYG editor which offers features similar to LaTeX, however based on the different typesetting engine.

Licensing issues
LaTeX is free software. It has the peculiar license known as LPPL, not compatible sustaining a GNU General Public License, that allows redistribution and modification, however takes that limited files carry the limited computer file name. This ensures that files that depend in more files might develop a potential behavior & avoids problems similar to DLL hell. a fresh version of the LPPL that is compatible sustaining the GPL is in the works.

Frontends
Because LaTeX markup code may be stiff to remember and/or instance ingesting to see, there are two or three forepart to help:

LEd: A loose environment for rapid TeX/LaTeX document development under MS Windows ([http://www.latexeditor.org homepage]). LyX: WYSIWYM (What you see is what you mean) IDE ([http://www.lyx.org/ homepage]). Kile: IDE designed mainly for KDE ([http://kile.sourceforge.net/ homepage]). TeXnicCenter: IDE designed for MSWindows users under GPL ([http://www.toolscenter.org/ homepage]). WinShell: Freeware IDE for Windows 9x/NT4.0/2000/XP ([http://www.winshell.de/ homepage]). Scientific Letter: Commerce mail software sustaining exportation to TeX/LaTeX ([http://www.sciletter.com/ homepage]). WebTex: A loose MiKTeX/CGI driven web front end ([http://dev.baywifi.com/latex/ homepage]). WinEdt: Shareware IDE for Windows 9x/NT4.0/2000/XP ([http://www.winedt.com/ homepage]). TeXShop: A loose forepart for Mac OS X, with editor & output window ([http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/texshop.html homepage]). Texmaker: Free cross-platform LaTeX editor. Diarrhea in Windows, Mack OS X & Unix (GNU/Linux double star). Is freed under a GPL license ([http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/index.html homepage]).

Related
TeXmacs the GPL, WYSIWYG, structured editor by owning similar features when LaTeX, however a different typesetting engine (with TeX/LaTeX import/export). m:Help:Formula on MetaWiki. Contains an extended listing of maths related LaTeX tags