<\/a>
\nThere are those rare, but wonderful, moments when you realize that the tool you’ve always wanted (but didn’t actually realize<\/em> that you desired) was right there in front of you.<\/p>\n

I just had one.<\/p>\n

I’ve used LaTeX<\/a> for preparing my scientific documents for nigh on two decades now. For all its oddities and annoying little bits, it’s the standard for technical writing in computer science as well as numerous other areas in math and science, and it allows you to make and manage complex documents that stay consistent and look really nice.<\/p>\n

Through most, if not all of that time, I’ve used various weird hacks to leave notes for myself in the document where I wouldn’t miss them. A paragraph in bold face, for example, reminding me to double check a formula, or go get the right reference for a certain idea. They’ve worked, but none of the mechanisms have been optimal. They’ve often been more missable than something like that should be, and they’ve frequently broken the flow of the document, making it harder to check for things like page counts and widows.<\/p>\n

Working with Tyler on IM tonight on a paper he, Brian, and I are trying<\/strike> going to finish by Sunday, Tyler was musing about how it would be nice to be able to put notes like that in the margins in red.<\/p>\n

And the lightbulb went off.<\/p>\n

Of course! LaTeX can do that, and I’m pretty sure it can do it easily! (At least the margin part – I didn’t really care about the red either way.) Sure enough a 10 second search on Google confirmed that the command existed and was trivial<\/a>. \\marginpar{ ... }<\/code><\/p>\n

Duh.<\/p>\n

Now those little notes are set out in the margins, not affecting the flow of the document, and quite unmissable. Now a quick scan of the document will immediately verify that we’ve removed (and hopefully addressed) all of them before we submit the final copy. Now they really work.<\/p>\n

Simple, clean, and effective.<\/p>\n

And it only took me twenty years to figure out.<\/p>\n

Damn.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Tyler for sparking the idea, and to all the crazy nuts that have poured their sweat into TeX, LaTeX, and the various related tools (I really like TeXShop<\/a> for the Mac!) over the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are those rare, but wonderful, moments when you realize that the tool you’ve always wanted (but didn’t actually realize that you desired) was right there in front of you. I just had one. I’ve used LaTeX for preparing my scientific documents for nigh on two decades now. For all its oddities and annoying little … Continue reading “Well, that only took 20 years!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12,7],"tags":[94,92,93],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing","category-research","category-writing","tag-editing","tag-latex","tag-typesetting"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-b1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":578,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/06\/14\/see-i-_told_-you-word-was-bad-news-pay-attention-next-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":0},"title":"See, I _told_ you Word was bad news! Pay attention next time!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"14 Jun 07","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been warning people about the many problems with Microsoft Word (and all of Office, really) for years (I gave a talk entitled \"Is Microsoft Word Inherently evil?\" five years ago), with about as much success as Don Quixote. The problem, ultimately, isn't that Microsoft is evil or their software\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":480,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/02\/21\/latex-for-wordpress\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":1},"title":"LaTeX for WordPress!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"21 Feb 07","format":false,"excerpt":"I just discovered via Abstract Nonsense that there's now built-in support for LaTeX in WordPress! 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For those of you coming to Naples, definitely stop by our table at the poster session that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"EuroGP poster","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3288\/2352238776_8514dc67a9.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":787,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/01\/31\/and-tomorrow-i-head-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":3},"title":"And tomorrow I head home","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"31 Jan 08","format":false,"excerpt":"All good things must come to an end, and our week at Dagstuhl ends tomorrow after lunch. Above is yesterday's group picture (I'm in yellow near the front) just before the traditional Wednesday hike (below), which was wet and misty but still an enjoyable few hours out in the world.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":151,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2005\/05\/11\/reporting-live-from-ann-arbor\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":4},"title":"Reporting live from Ann Arbor!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"11 May 05","format":false,"excerpt":"Ellery and I have made it safely to Ann Arbor for this year's GPTP (Genetic Programming in Theory and Practice) (reports on the 2003 and 2004 workshops) hosted by the Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS) at the University of Michigan. We present our paper on Friday morning,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":834,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/04\/16\/mirages-as-both-science-and-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":683,"position":5},"title":"Mirages as both science and art","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"16 Apr 08","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're never been over to BibliOdyssey I highly recommend a visit. The sub-title for the blog is \"Books~~Illustrations~~Science~~History~~Visual Materia Obscura~~Eclectic Bookart\" which, well, sums it all up rather nicely. Lots of neat old illustrations, often (but not always) on scientific themes. 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