LaTeX

I have been thinking for a while about the best tools to use when writing scientific reports throughout my PhD.  Systems Biology combines mathematical modelling with wet lab experimentation.  For me, writing equations alongside experimental data is a new experience and I was unsure how to insert this kind of information into an electronic document.  There is always Microsoft equation editor, but this didn’t seem to produce the same quality of script as seen in scientific publications. I have recently favored the open source applicaton MathCast for creating equations as it outputs both as images and mathml which makes it quite versatile. I had been aware of LaTex for a few years but had many problems compiling something usable in Windows and had been too lazy to bother learning the LaTex coding to perform tasks that Office could do with a mouse click. I found it difficult to break into the LaTex scene and had rebounded back to Office and my toolbox of open source applications.  Recently I have migrated over to Ubuntu and ventured into LaTex again using the synaptic package manager to compile the myriad dependencies for LaTex.  This went ok and I got myself a working LaTex environment, however I still couldn’t be bothered to “code” my documents when I could just churn out an office document.

Today I stumbled on Lyx, a WYSIWYM LaTex editor.  WYSIWYM is “what you see if what you mean” and utilizes a word processor style interface to plug into MikTex.  For new people, idiots, and combinations of the 2 like myself, this enables the user to construct a LaTex document using a minimal understanding of  the markup language but without losing any of the capabilities of LaTex.

A comprehensive review can be found here.  I have to get my head around structuring a LaTex document, however Lyx provides the “leg up” to begin escaping the comfort blanket of Microsoft Office.