Da’s Entropy

I have been typing LaTeX quite a bit recently (with lots of math), and the current tools I am using is: Vim-LaTeX sutie + okular (auto-reload for preview). Vim-LaTeX suite has many convenient shorthands for efficient typesetting, such as “FBF” expands to “\textbf{}” and “SSS” expands to “\subsubsection{}”, all with proper placeholders. However, when typing complicated math formulas, it still takes some brain power to make sure all the brackets are properly placed and matched. I have defined many macros to simplify some common notation, but it could still be better. So I look into two alternatives: LyX and TeXmacs. However, both does not satisfy my needs (yet), so I have to stay with my Vim-LaTeX suite, and below is a quick summary:

LyX
Pros:

• much more intuitive math input
• other WYSIWYG features: such as tables, etc.

Cons:

• Poor macro support: the math macro support is somewhat primitive and hard to use, and non-math macros are not supported at all (you can only embed them as LaTeX code, which defeats the purpose of WYSIWYG).
• Project management: it seems to me that LyX cannot easily separate a document into multiple files (the \input mechanism in LaTeX) and I cannot find a way to define mathmacros in a separate file and share it among multiple documents.
• Not all LaTeX features are not supported, such as “\bigl”, etc.

For a person converting from regular LaTeX to LyX (with many macros), I find the poor macro support a turn-off and will wait until it gets improved. But for a person starting to learn LaTeX, I think LyX will be a great tool.

TeXmacs
Pros:

• intuitive math input
• WYSIWYG
• Support with computer algebra systems, so you can call Maple or Maxima inside TeXmacs and the output will be nicely formated. Very cool!

Cons:

• Poor macro support
• Again, it seems that it is difficult to “\input” or “\include” any files into a document.

So for the same reason, I have to give it up.

In conclusion, the WYSIWYG LaTeX editing systems are very nice, but basically they are something different from LaTeX. You can only go one way or the other (at least for now), and any non-trivial migration from LaTeX to them will be very painful. I hope the interoperability of LyX and LaTeX will eventually be better, so that we can get the benefits of both worlds. For TeXmacs, it appears to be more difficult as the back-end is quite different from LaTeX.