EasyLatex

Ever written an email in "pseudo-latex", using syntax like a_ij and [i j k]'? Why can't writing real LaTeX be this quick? The goal of EasyLatex is to make creating LaTeX as efficient as expressing the same idea in an email to a human.

EasyLatex is a preprocessor which takes an input file in "pseudo-latex", and transforms it into proper LaTeX syntax. For example,

The identity matrix is the matrix for which a_ij = 1 when i = j, and 0 everywhere else.
For example, in three dimensions, I = [1 0 0 ; 0 1 0 ; 0 0 1].

:is transformed into

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}

\begin{document}

The identity matrix is the matrix for which $a_{ij} = 1$ when $i = j$, and 0 everywhere
else. 
For example, in three dimensions, \begin{align*}I = 
 \left[ \begin{array}{lll}
   1 & 0 & 0
\\ 0 & 1 & 0
\\ 0 & 0 & 1
\end{array} \right]
\end{align*}
.

\end{document}

This way, you can concentrate on writing the math, rather than on tasks such as putting '$'s in all the right places and formatting LaTeX array structures. In addition, your document source remains much more readable than it would be in normal LaTeX. Easylatex allows you to intersperse real LaTeX within your easylatex document, however, allowing you to do things for which there are no shortcuts provided; easylatex is not a replacement for LaTeX syntax, but an extension of it.

Features

See the page FeatureList for a more detailed list, with examples.

• Automatic addition of {}s and $s in many places; around subscript and subscript arguments, around some expressions using math mode symbols or commands, etc.
• Efficient matrix format, for instance [1 0 0 ; 0 1 0 ; 0 0 1] and [i j k]' render as a 3x3 matrix and a column vector, respectively.
• "Scriptable matrices" allow you to compactly write matrices whose entries are the result of evaluating an embedded Perl script at each matrix entry. For example, [[[2,2,"a_{$i,$j}"]]] expands to a 2x2 matrix with entries a_11, a_12, a_21, and a_22.
• Automatic addition of \\s (linefeeds) in math mode environments.
• Automatic column formatting of lists of equations.
• easylatex -ps input_filename.txt and easylatex -pdf input_filename.txt compiles easylatex source to postscript or .pdf files in one step.
• Adds LaTeX header and footer (only if the input file has none to start with).
• Modular design: New features can be added to EasyLatex just by dropping a file in the easylatex directory. This makes it easy for third-party developers to extend its functionality.

To download easylatex, please go to our SourceForge download page, and get the latest release of the "easylatex" project. You may wish to look at the Tutorial.

For support or other information about the project, go back to this wiki's StartingPoint. Or, you can email the lead developer at