Comment by buiducnha | Hacker News Reader

Comment by buiducnha | Hacker News Reader

I've also read previous article about how the author manage to take lecture note using Vim+Latex (also posted on HN), and that's amazing how author managed to do that. But I'm thinking for people who does not know how to use Vim (arguingly high learning curve) and Latex to take note, what options do they have to take note quickly (with Math symbols/layouts)?

You can try out Mathcha[1] which is built to help people without knowing of Latex can easily write down Note (with rich Mathematics symbols/layouts) and it also provide basic Drawing and basic Function Plotting (The Drawing Part no way compare to Inkscape, but hey! you can type Math on Drawing on Mathcha) in single Editor.

Please note that I don't want to tout and advertise Mathcha here, the point is to provide another option for people to try out (I will not say it will provide faster or more powerful than Vim+Latex)

[1] Mathcha website: https://www.mathcha.io/

Disclaimer: I'm creator of Mathcha.

> (arguingly high learning curve)

vimtutor (type it in the command line)

after that: edit a couple of documents, write down what you want shortcuts to and learn those. Target practice allows you to learn vim quite quick.

I tended to introduce LaTeX to new folks through LyX.

Haven't used it for several years though, so no idea if the WSYIWYG is still up and running.

I've just checked LyX, actually it's quite good and similar to Mathcha, but actually it serves different goals/features than Mathcha.

- LyX: full Latex compiled, and Mix between WYSIWYG and Latex Script. Mainly use to create Latex Document

- Mathcha: can export some parts to Latex (mostly Math mode) but does not guarantee to compile, a full WYSIWYG editor. The goal to just create Document without constraints to Latex format

I love Lyx but wish there were a less involved setup. Takes a very long time to install over LTE, and TeX distro feels 50/50 dice roll. If it’s slow on LTE in Silicon Valley, it’s slow in Africa. Hard to recommend.

Well, if bandwidth or transfer quota is a big issue, it is always possible to use a CDROM or DVD with the packages...?

A what now? What’s a cd/dvd???

Why, you know, it's like a tiny and shiny vinyl record!

> If it’s slow on LTE in Silicon Valley, it’s slow in Africa.

No, "Africa" is far too huge and varied to generalize about like that. Plenty of African countries have reasonable mobile infrastructure, and low enough costs.

  $ apt install lyx
  …
  Need to get 216 MB of archives.

(This is coming from nothing, LaTeX isn't installed.) At 5Mb/s, that's about 6 minutes. That's not unreasonable for a one-off installation, especially in a country where these speeds are normal. (And 5Mb/s is slow: https://www.speedtest.net/global-index .)

The more likely hurdle is that it doesn't run on low-end smartphones (or maybe it does?) I know a Chinese university student who writes homework reports using Microsoft Word for Android because she can't afford another computer in addition to her phone. The situation in most African countries is probably not much better.

This might come off as pedantic, but LyX is explicitly designed to be What You See Is What You Mean (WYSIWYM) rather than What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG). It gives you the gist of how things will end up without attempting to actually represent the final LaTeX output while you edit. It's an incredible piece of software, and I strongly prefer it over raw LaTeX despite the fact that I learned LaTeX first.

Pedantic, but precise. Thanks for the clarification.

TeXmacs is an awesome graphical editor with full math support, that uses the TeX engine for rendering. It does not use TeX or LaTeX as its primary document structure though. It has many shortcuts for entering math that are really easy to learn and I have sucessfully used it to takes notes during lectures. I also use it as my primary work pad when thinking about complicated proofs.

TeXmacs unfortunately is a bit buggy. You get random errors from time to time, though I've never had a corrupted file. Otherwise I love it!

> what options do they have to take note quickly (with Math symbols/layouts)?

My friend is a math professor, uses tablets with stylus.

Another option that I used to write my lecture notes in is DokuWiki. Simple syntax in general and you can embed LaTeX for formulas. I used a Lenovo x-series tablet, so I also had a stylus to quickly draw diagrams in Gimp, and the keyboard was nice too.

I'd use Emacs org-mode now unless the Wiki made was needed to work on with others.

Mathcha looks awesome! Thanks for creating it. What's on the roadmap? Are there other options to export besides latex and PDF? Hmmm, just noticed, there's no one-time payment license for the desktop version.

1. Export types:

- Export to Latex (Mostly for Math Mode, and does not guarantee compiled in complicated case)

- Tikz (for Diagram)

- MathMl (Math Mode only)

- SVG/PNG (Math Mode and Diagram only)

- Save as Html (.zip file)

- Save as PDF (currently supported on Desktop version), but you can use Browser Print and save as PDF

2. Sorry, I don't have clear Road map, mainly I'm working on to add more features specifically on Math (for example Z Specification)

3. Unfortunately there is no one-time payment license now.

I am messing with Replete 2.0 for EDN expressions, but I am a fast and articulate English typer so Markdown-like Notes are my first step.

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