[R] LaTeX, MiKTeX, LyX: A Guide for the Perplexed

[Yihui Xie]

For the GUI-addicted people (partly including me), I think LyX +
Sweave is an excellent choice. LyX is based on LaTeX; it can do almost
anything that LaTeX can do, and it takes care of a lot of details when
compiling a LaTeX document. The solution for embedding Sweave in LyX
has been there for a long time, and recently I tried to automate the
configuration so that beginners can hopefully get into this fantastic
world more quickly. See the video in this post:
http://yihui.name/en/2010/10/how-to-start-using-pgfsweave-in-lyx-in-one-minute/
(I recommend pgfSweave instead of Sweave, though.)

I did not answer your questions directly, but the video might give you
an idea how easy it looks (well, only "looks" easy -- learning Sweave
is unavoidable).

Regards,
Yihui
--
Yihui Xie <xieyihui at gmail.com>
Phone: 515-294-2465 Web: http://yihui.name
Department of Statistics, Iowa State University
2215 Snedecor Hall, Ames, IA



On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 5:29 PM, Paul Miller <pjmiller_57 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> Been learning R over the past several months. Read several books and have learned a great deal about data manipulation, statistical analysis, and graphics.
>
> Now I want to learn how to make nice looking documents and about "literate programming." My understanding is that R users normally do this using LaTeX, MiKTeX, LyX, etc. in conjuction with Sweave. An alternative might be to use the R2wd package to create Word documents.
>
> So I guess I have four questions:
>
> 1. How do I choose between the various options? Why would someone decide to use LaTeX instead of MiKTeX or vice versa for example?
>
> 2. What are the best sources of information about LaTeX, MiKTeX, LyX, etc.?
>
> 3. What is the learning curve like for each of these? What do you get for the time you put in learning something that is more difficult?
>
> 4. How do people who use LaTeX, MiKTeX, LyX, etc. share documents with people who are just using Word? How difficult does using LaTeX, MiKTeX, LyX, etc. make it to collaborate on projects with others?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul
>
>
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>
>
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