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TeX Resources

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The TeX program

TeX software is available from a number of sources:

LaTeX is an integral part of all "standard" TeX distributions.
The AMS document classes and the amsmath package are included among the "required" LaTeX packages.

Extended TeX engines

  • pdfTeX generates pdf output instead of dvi.
  • XeTeX supports the direct use of system fonts.
  • LuaTeX is based on Unicode and embeds Lua (a scripting language) and MetaPost to permit operations not easily accomplished with the basic TeX engine; v1.0 was released in late 2016 and included in TeX Live 2017.

Other TeX Resources

Other valuable resources for a TeX user

Package archives

  • CTAN -- the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network, with mirrors around the world.
    Use the CTAN search facility to look for the name of a file you need.
  • TLContrib -- an archive of contributed packages which, for various reasons, cannot be distributed in TeX Live (not free according to FSF guidelines, not available on CTAN, intermediate release for testing, ...)

General tools

Frequently Asked Questions and other Q&A sites

LaTeX

Graphics

  • Using TikZ to Prepare Illustrations, by Jennifer Brown. This is a series of tutorials to show how to use TikZ to create professional-quality mathematical diagrams, graphs, and illustrations.

Bibliography tools
These tools are included in TeX Live and other comprehensive distributions.

  • amsrefs supports the inclusion of structured bibliography data directly in LaTeX source files
  • BibTeX resources via public-domain TeX sites