Learning objectives
The main objective of the class is to help the students to acquire the necessary capabilities to realize documents using the typesetting language “LaTeX”. In particular, the students will acquire knowledge on how to exploit the capabilities of said language, that is one of the most adopted tools when it comes to writing academic documents (reports, thesis or papers).
The class also aims to provide the students with advance typographic capabilities that will allow them to realize both non-trivial textual elements, for example complex mathematical formulae, and graphical elements (such as charts, tables or simple images) which are usually essential in scientific documents.
Finally, the class has also the goal to help the students develop general skills that will allow the to exploit the various internet-based resources to easily adopt LaTeX also in situations that were not specifically thought during the course, e.g., in realizing cover letters and/or curriculum vitae.
Prerequisites
The class does not require any specific Prerequisite.
Course unit content
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Full programme
The class will cover, in order, the following topics:
• Introduction to LaTeX systems and tools.
• Typesetting basic notions.
• Difference between LaTeX and others writing programs.
• Documents templates, classes, and packages.
• Commands, macros and Environments.
• Mathematica formulae, tables and graphical elements.
Bibliography
• Lorenzo Pantieri & Tommaso Gordini: L’arte di scrivere con LaTeX, 2008, available at the following link: http://www.lorenzopantieri.net/LaTeX_files/ArteLaTeX.pdf
• Class slides, available at the class page (https://elly2022.smfi.unipr.it/)
• Examples showed in class, available at the class page (https://elly2022.smfi.unipr.it/).
Teaching methods
Teaching takes place mainly through lectures and computer-based exercises, either assisted or carried out independently by the students. The lectures provide, among other, the presentation of a number of practical examples of documents written in LaTeX.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam will consist in preparing a document with LaTeX that contains all the necessary elements: chapters, sections, indexes, examples of mathematical formulae, tables, and figures.
Other information
The course includes its own Web page, managed directly by the teacher, based on the e-learning platform of the University of Parma (at https://elly2022.smfi.unipr.it/).
