[Tugindia] beginer

[Duvvuri Venu Gopal]

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 Basaprabhu S Halakarnimath wrote :
>HI,
>I am new user of LaTeX.
>I have created tex document like this
>
>*file name is test.tex*
>\documentclass{article}
>\begin{document}
>Test file
>\end{document}
>
>to create this above file i have used editor caled *"TexMaker"*.
>when i run (i.e. #tex test.tex)  this file i am getting message some thing
>like this in log file
>
>*************** LOG FILE *********************
>This is Tex, Version 3.14159 (Web2C 7.3.1) (format=tex 2003.2.18) 29NOV 2006
>10:08
>**test.tex
>(test.tex
>! Undefined control sequence
>1.1 \documentclass
>                             {article}
>?
>  ! Undefined control sequence
>1.2 \begin
>           {document}
>?
>[1])
>Output written on test.dvi (1 page, 276 bytes)
>
>
>
>After this I  view the test.dvi file by giving the command like this
>#xdvi test.dvi
>I was able to see all the commands that what we written in our input file (
>i.e. test.tex).
>
>can you explain me what type of output file we must get.
>how to work with Tex.
>
>


A reply is already given by Steve Peter. But I would like to elaborate a more.

tex = TeX is the basic engine created by Donald Knuth

latex = LaTeX is a collection of macros that use TeX engine. It is created by Leslie Lamport.

both use the .tex extension. Ths difference is --

in LaTeX your first line in the file will be :

\documentclass[xxxxx]{article}

and you type your matter between :

\begin{document}


\end{document}

to compile this you have to type

#latex test 

Then your document will be compiled.

Using TeX engine many macro packages were created. Another macropackage widely used id ConTeXt. It is created by Pragma and to use this you need pearl and ruby interpreters.

Read the following books freely available on the net before plunging in to TeX/LaTeX:

The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX.

LaTeX Tutorials by Indian TeX Users group.

Formatting Information by Peter Flynn.

All your doubt will be cleared.


D. Venugopal