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\begin{center}\Huge\bf
The \LaTeX\ Document Preparation System\\
and Its Use in CS115
\end{center}
\begin{center}\LARGE\bf
Alley Stoughton
\end{center}

\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:Intro}

In this course, you will learn to use the \LaTeX\ document preparation
system, which is widely used in academic computer science.  When using
\LaTeX, the writer uses an ordinary text editor (e.g., Vim, Emacs or a
web editor\footnote{E.g., Overleaf---see below.}) to create a
description---in a special syntax---of the
\emph{structure} of their program, along with a choice of \emph{document
style}. The \LaTeX\ software can then be run to turn this source file, with
a \texttt{.tex} suffix, into a PDF file, formatting the document's source
according to the given document style.

In Section~\ref{sec:History}, you will find a brief history of
\LaTeX. And in Section~\ref{sec:Usage}, you will find information about using
\LaTeX.

\section{History}
\label{sec:History}

\LaTeX\ is built on top of the program \TeX, which was first introduced by Donald
E. Knuth in 1986 \cite{Knuth86}. \TeX\ made it easy to typeset
complex mathematics, but was lacking in support for the higher-level
structure of documents:
\begin{itemize}
\item sections and cross referencing,
\item tables of contents,
\item bibliographical citations.
\end{itemize}
Leslie Lamport responded \cite{Lamport94} to these deficiencies by
creating \LaTeX, which includes support for bibliographic
citations---\BibTeX---which was contributed by Oren Patashnik.
Subsequently, a very large number of people have made contributions to
\LaTeX.

\section{Usage}
\label{sec:Usage}

When using \BibTeX, one's bibliography is expressed in a formal syntax
in a \texttt{.bib} file. Many document types are supported by \BibTeX,
including books, and journal and conference articles.  Each entry in a
bibliography has an associated \emph{tag}, and it is this tag that is
used in a \texttt{.tex} file to cite that reference. The \LaTeX\ file
specifies which \texttt{.bib} file should be used, as well as what
citation style should be used. E.g., here are example citations of a
journal article \cite{Knuth89} and a conference article
\cite{MullerK22}.  In this document, we are using a twelve point font
and the ``\texttt{alpha}'' citation style---which is what you should
use in your essays.

This document illustrates most of the \LaTeX\ features that you will
need for your essays, but one additional one is block quotes:
\begin{quotation}
Most academic writing in computer science is produced using the
\LaTeX\ document preparation system.  Unlike word processors, such as
Microsoft Word, LaTeX (pronounced lay-tech) is a ``markup language'',
in which the writer uses special syntax to describe the structure of
their document, rather than its formatting.
\end{quotation}

The \LaTeX\ software can be downloaded to your personal computer from
\url{https://www.latex-project.org}. But it is also possible---and you'll
probably find it more convenient---to use the website Overleaf to write
documents in \LaTeX.
Visit \url{https://www.overleaf.com} for more information.
The Overleaf tutorial on \LaTeX\ can be found at
\url{https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes}.
Parts of our course's class sessions will be devoted to helping you
learn and use \LaTeX\ using Overleaf.

\bibliography{references}  %% bibliography
\bibliographystyle{alpha}  %% citation style to be used in our course
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