Lessons learnt from using LaTeX

It has been a while since I last used LaTeX. And things have moved on. I wanted to write a paper as well as preparing some slides. I also had to include vector graphics and bitmaps as well as source code. So this is what I learnt:

• Use pdfLaTeX! It produces PDF straight away and including images in various formats is painless.
• Including images:

  % in the preamble
  \usepackage{graphicx}
  
  %wherever you need to include
  \includegraphics[width=12cm]{image.png}
  

  This supports png and jpg as well as pdf for vector graphics. You might want to use epstopdf to produce
  pdf form eps.

• Including source code with listings:

  \usepackage{listings}
  %Setting defaults for formatting
  \lstset{
      language=Java,
      basicstyle=\ttfamily\small,
      keywordstyle=\textbf,
      stringstyle=\ttfamily\textbf,
      showstringspaces=false,
      commentstyle=\textsl,
      captionpos=b
  }
  % And now including code
  
  \begin{lstlisting}
  public interface ListDataListener extends EventListener {
      void intervalAdded(ListDataEvent e);
      void intervalRemoved(ListDataEvent e);
      void contentsChanged(ListDataEvent e);
  }
  \end{lstlisting}
  

• Setting urls:

  \usepackage{url}
  
  \url{http://wuetender-junger-mann.de}
  

• Creating slides using the beamer class (beamer being German for projector) to show code
  snippets:

  \documentclass{beamer}
  \usepackage{listings}
  
  \title{Weird Presentation}
  \author{Felix Leipold}
  \date{January 2009}
  
  \begin{document}
     \frame{\titlepage}
  
        \begin{frame}[containsverbatim]
           \frametitle{Example}
           \begin{lstlisting}
                sourcode.goesHere();
           \end{lstlisting}
        \end{frame}
  \end{document}
  

• These days there is good support for using postscript fonts instead of computer modern. The following packages help including them: times, avant, bookman, newcent, palatino, helvet. The are included with \usepackage{packagename}.
• When using latex for reporting the longtable package provides
  good support for tables spanning multiple pages.
• Further reading:
  • LaTeX Wikibook
  • Manuela Jürgens: LaTeX – Eine Einführung und ein bisschen mehr….
  • Manuela Jürgens: LaTeX – Fortgeschrittene Anwendungen.