TeXmacs
Friday 2007 June 15
I recently discovered the TeXmacs editor, a sort of WYSIWYG editor similar to emacs
for TeX (or more precisely Latex ). It’s freely available from http://texmacs.org/ and should run on any computer with TeX. It makes writing stuff in TeX a lot easier (no more tracking down missing $ or } signs for example). Strongly recommended.
Friday 2007 June 15 at 8:20 pm
I’m wondering. My current problem on LaTex is that I want to be able to write a few Japanese characters without having to switch editors to one that handles the characters with extra bits. I’ve wanted this for most of a year, and every now and then I stick my oar in the water, but it is hard pulling.
Will this editor work with the memoir class? That’s the class I’m using to write my long book on the density matrix formulation of the standard model. It gives you a lot of control over things like how headers and footers appear, and it has lots of fancy things. For example, I’ve set it so the first character of a new chapter is typeset as a large square (and then the first few words are set in small capitals).
The thing that worries me is that I would download this program and then find that it doesn’t handle something I need. For example, to create search terms for the book index, I put little index marks in the LaTex. Would it be compatible with that?
Saturday 2007 June 16 at 5:49 am
If anyone can compare this editor to TextMate (Mac), which I love, please share.
Wednesday 2007 June 20 at 3:28 pm
There is also LyX: http://www.lyx.org/LGT/math.php
Wednesday 2007 June 20 at 8:17 pm
> WYSIWYG editor similar to emacs for TeX (or more precisely Latex )
From the linked Wikipedia article:
“TeXmacs is not a front-end to LaTeX.”
While TeXmacs provides similar functionality as LaTeX, I believe it cannot import or export LaTeX files. Its main strength is that it can serve as a front end to other programs that need mathematical typesetting, like computer algebra systems.
LyX (mentioned above) can be treated as a WYSIWYG front end to LaTeX.
Friday 2007 June 22 at 6:54 pm
The latest version of TeXmacs can import:
Html, Latex, Scheme, Xml
and export:
Html, Latex, Scheme, Pdf, PostScript
Wednesday 2007 July 11 at 9:37 am
Well, it indeed can import and export LaTeX, but when I tried to import some of my texts it did not handle several things. For example, it could not understand \begin{prop}…\end{prop} or \DeclareMathOperator.
I would be happy if there was a similar editor but whose core would be true LaTeX, that means say it would store files in LaTeX format. I like typing in LaTeX but it would be nice if I could immediately see what I type and not to switch between different windows constantly.
Thursday 2007 July 19 at 2:00 pm
(no more tracking down missing $ or } signs for example).
I think it’s the AucTeX I’m using within emacs that color-codes automatically to put everything between $ in a different color. The effect of a spare $ is thus to color everything after it, in a way that is instantly noticeable. Many many other fine features besides.
Friday 2007 July 20 at 8:51 pm
TeXmacs did not export my latex properly and created additional errors upon latexing that were not there initially. For now I am going back to using MathType or Texaide as a WYSIWYG equation editor and then dragging the equations into the latex document.
Monday 2007 July 23 at 8:06 pm
Hey Borchie Boy, how about a new post? Tao blogs like twice a week!!1!
Tuesday 2007 July 24 at 10:23 am
hi there cousin!
i got your website address from peter. do you have any personal blogs? i have, but not a particularly active one. i would like to be in contact with you and your brothers, although i am bad about keeping in touch.
Friday 2007 July 27 at 8:32 pm
I’m with Bob. We know you have lots of great stuff to write about and we can’t wait to hear it
Monday 2007 August 6 at 3:40 pm
The integration of TeXmacs with Maxima is pretty cool.
Saturday 2007 September 8 at 10:05 pm
[...] tip: Richard Borcherds) This entry was written by saij and posted on September 8, 2007 at 2:04 pm and filed under [...]
Monday 2007 September 17 at 11:36 am
For at least a decade, Windows users have had a TeX front end that
— reads and writes straight TeX files
— displays the mathematics as mathematics on the screen
— never makes TeX syntax errors
— allows you to use your own abbreviations
For example, when I type alp in math mode, it puts \alpha in the file and displays an alpha on the screen. It’s called Scientific Word (Mackichan)
Monday 2007 November 12 at 3:25 am
Scientific Word is great for me. We use it in my group, (which includes your former student Alex Barnard).
My one complaint about Scientific Word, which is actually the reason that I came across this page tonight, is I have to have Microsoft Windows to run it, and I am getting really sick of Vista at the moment. So I am thinking about things like TexMacs or LyX which can run under Linux which might give me the functionality of Scientific Word. The advantage of being able to type in very short macros and have mathematics on the screen and never see the TeX. I was done learning math typsetting languages with troff.
So thumbs up for Scientific Word unless you are looking to use Linux or MacOS.
Tuesday 2008 April 22 at 7:22 pm
I have some experience with TeXmacs. It has nice features, such as serving as a front-end to R and Maxima, for statistical and symbolic work. It generates LaTeX code that is clean but not always compatible with the standard compiler. My suggestion is to use it for every short documents (e.g., reviews, letters), and for longer articles to use auctex or vim with the vim-latex extension (I use the latter).
Friday 2008 August 22 at 6:45 pm
Although late, I thought I would chime in since I started off using TeXmacs, then switched to just plain LaTeX in AucTeX in Emacs. TeXmacs is a pain. The developers have dozens of pet projects that introduce all kinds of neat-o features, but many basic things are impossible to do.
For example, you want to apply a tex style? Oh, sorry you have to learn the totally bizarre TeXmacs style (and you must know Scheme too) and write a style-file to do this yourself, using their lacking documentation. Ask on the mailing lists, and you will either get nothing or “we don’t need to help you out until you have put some effort into it”. A REAL FRIENDLY COMMUNITY?
The program works ok, if it already does everything you will ever need to do. Good luck trying to get help or work on extending it. Argh.
Wednesday 2009 January 14 at 4:55 am
TeXmacs works OK for me. I use it to write lecture notes for my teaching and also to write my papers — it is true that the LaTeX code generated is not error-free, but usually only a few glitches need to be fixed, and I only need to deal with this after my paper is accepted, as usually a pdf file is enough for submission. To me, spending one day fixing the LaTeX code so that it will meet the publication standard of the journals is no big deal.
I used to use LyX. To me, the only thing LyX did better than TeXmacs is that it generates perfect LaTeX code. But TeXmacs just looks so much better — I cannot think properly when gazing at the ugly formulas in LyX. So I switched to TeXmacs and never really tried to switch back. Writing drafts using TeXmacs is just much more pleasant than using LyX.
IMHO, TeXmacs is for people who would like to finish their papers quickly and do not really care about all those “styles” etc.
Sunday 2009 July 26 at 4:03 pm
TexMacs doesn’t look like its been updated since 2004. I am trying to install on a Mac and it is based on tetex while I am on TexLive 2008, Any chance of getting this package updated to be based on TexLive 2008 rather than tetex ?