Argh, I hate my TeX

[lambrini_socialist]

of all the typesetting systems popular in the 1980s, this is by far my least favourite.

[BrowneIssue]

of all the typesetting systems popular in the 1980s, this is by far my least favourite.

You've reminded me of TECO, now I'm happy.

[OwlHoot]

Ah, TECO. I vaguely remember using that for a while in the early '80s - Almost any wrong key sequence, such as a missing comma, would end up scambling or deleting dozens of lines with no hope of recovery.

Mind you, TeX is brilliant if you know what you're doing. But there is quite a steep learning curve, and the gobbledegook error messages and warnings hark back to punched card days. The whole thing could do with a revamp IMHO, while maintaining its essential features.

[adestor]

I remember using LaTex in the early '90s and wasting hours on its incomprehensible syntax. Produced very professional looking docs though - still a favourite in academic circles I believe.

[Tex]

I came in here looking for a fight but I'll let you off.

[OwlHoot]

I remember using LaTex in the early '90s and wasting hours on its incomprehensible syntax. Produced very professional looking docs though - still a favourite in academic circles I believe.

Absolutely. Practically all the papers on the ArXiv are prepared in TeX

Come to think of it, why are academics so keen on weird looking mixed case acronyms like arXiv and TeX?