2026-02-25 09:38 UTC
After getting some pushback I thought I'd try using LaTeX directly for a new paper. Then I tried quoting some code in a footnote, got an error which took me to this bonkers page:
https://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/historic/systems/texlive/1998/TeXLive3/FAQ/english/texfaq_109.html
Some vague reference to Knuth, some hand waving and blind assertions, and no solution offered.
Honestly direct use of this LaTeX needs to be banned, for public health reasons. This is an educated opinion - I wrote my PhD thesis in it. Yes I'm sure writing papers in MS Word is worse (it doesn't run on my computer anyway) but that's no argument.
Back to writing in the awesome @pandoc markdown and letting that try to come up with TeX that works.
Replies (5)
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@celesteh@hachyderm.io 2026-02-25 09:50
@yaxu @pandoc Everybody usesOverleaf which infested with AI and I assume we're feeding the model. I couldn't work out how to use Pandoc with a conference template....
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@TodePond@mas.to 2026-02-25 09:58
@yaxu @pandoc pdfs are so bad
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@serimemo@livellosegreto.it 2026-02-25 11:46
@yaxu @pandoc just a question out of curiosity, as a student struggling with it too: have you tried typst?
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@theohonohan@graphics.social 2026-02-25 16:19
@yaxu Typst is one current contender to replace TeX. Everyone agrees that TeX is a monstrosity. https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/277114/what-is-texs-gullet
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@3rdwrldbathhaus@mas.to 2026-02-25 21:46
@yaxu yeah no once i figured out how to convert markdown to tex i never ever looked back. unless i'm doing something hyper specific it really doesn't make sense