this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 18 hours ago

Typst >>>>>.

But still, Word sucks ass.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 21 hours ago

I'm imagining what it would be like to write a page long {align} in word and it's terrifying.

[–] whotookkarl 36 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Storing text in binary formats like word docs instead of plain text like latex makes git version control unusable.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Clearly flawed methodology.

The value of LaTeX isn't productivity when making a single document.

The value of LaTeX is productivity when you need to reuse past work, or update it with the latest data and figures, or make a collection of similar documents.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 12 hours ago

Exactly. Give them a bunch of setup, let them set it up as normal.

Then tell everyone to resize the second pictures and move all images from the side of the page to the right. Then see who does it first.

[–] thevoidzero 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And the ease with which you can generate hundreds of lines of page with a simple text template and code.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Right.

Do your writing in text files accompanying the image files (figures). The LaTeX code is just instructions for how to render the various text sources arrange the figures on pages to be printed or rendered as slides.

It separates the flowing creative experience of writing and documenting what happened in the experiment from the fiddling creative experience of rendering, editing, and presentation to ensure that the text and figures line up appropriately and are on appropriate pages.

Separating fact finding from presentation is an important barrier in the scientific method.

[–] thevoidzero 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yup. When I rerun my things, in latex I just overwrite the plots file (pdf/png) and compile latex. In word I have to find where it was and replace it there. It's way easier on latex if you make your code just write plot files in the same location.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You can use a symlink to point to the figures directory of a certain run of the code. Add git history to the mix, and now you have an auditable record of what version of the code's output ended up in each version of the paper.

You can be so anal and precise about everything.

[–] thevoidzero 3 points 1 day ago

Yup simlink is so nice. I sometimes use it for color vs monocrome plots. Change simlink and compile. Although I learned you can also use if statements in latex, I use that now.

[–] _lilith 12 points 1 day ago

Maybe it takes more time because it allows more editing control over the finished product. The report of an enjoyable user experience for latex would back this up since users were able to produce what they wanted instead of being limited to using words jank as editing and just giving up or using a shitty template. Test against plain text entry I bet there is a positive correlation between limited features and total word count

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

/begin{outrage}

How dare they!?

/end{outrage}

[–] PartiallyApplied 13 points 1 day ago

Word definitely has its niche.

However, I find for many of my tasks, LaTeX or Typst just make sense. I don’t need to worry about out of date figures. I can customize styling instantly. I can track my changes with Git. Grammar checking is rough tho. lsp-like grammar checking would revolutionize my world lol.

I can personally attest that I transitioned to LaTeX from Word, when Word wouldn’t handle equations correctly, or would crash when I had too many. It doesn’t matter if I can put out 50 word equations faster than LaTeX if I’m breaking my flow state to restart my editor.

They overlap in their ecosystem niches but in no way is one a complete replacement for the other. LaTeX has a larger niche than Word which makes it a really safe default.

“Nobody ever got fired for choosing React”

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 day ago

latex exists to make your text look more professional, not to make you more productive, duh.

pig lipstick

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

I used it for resumes and assignments in school. Like others said I wasn't trying to save time but to make things look more professional.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I wonder how typst performs in this regard. That said, does anyone know how to more easily create a diagram?

[–] PartiallyApplied 4 points 1 day ago

I’m not sure what kind of diagram you’re after, but Typst has Cetz which is graphing + arbitrary drawing of shapes, paths, splines, etc.

Typst also has fletcher “maker of arrows” for diagrams which is my personal fave for the work I do

https://typst.app/universe/package/fletcher/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

mermaidjs

It can be rendered in LaTeX with a little work around.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Just write everything in markdown and use pandoc to type set.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

.md .tex .md

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

That is what Obsidian is for.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Now judge it by how good the end result looks

But also.... The fuck?

[–] Maroon 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"¿Por qué no los dos?"

I write my text in a word processor (Like Libreoffice writer) and typeset the final document in LaTeX.

I never understood this false comparison between the two software that are essentially meant for very distinct tasks.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Thanks Satan !

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've been questioning the benefits every time someone insisted that I should use latex. Now I have scientific evidence that it won't make my life better!

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Use latex. It will make your life better.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago

Well, latex users reported enjoying the software, so I will give you that credit.

[–] Nariom 3 points 1 day ago

sample size seems small but im no expert

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

This is an outrage! 🧐