With TeX, the user often has little idea how the document will look without printing out a copy. To make it less painful for the user and also to reduce paper waste, programs (also free of charge) exist that can display the document on a computer screen. Because such previewers are not a part of TeX, you often have to search hard around the Internet for them.

Technical writers use TeX for another important reason: it's great for composing mathematical equations. Most commercial DTP products pale next to TeX when it comes to printing out, say, a Fast Fourier Transform equation in a way appealing to most readers.

Because TeX is like a programming language, mathematical formulas can be described readily in TeX commands. This is very true for typing Greek letters, as they are written out the way you pronounce them. Other symbols are also easy to put together.

If you'd like to get started on TeX, which works on UNIX as well as PCs and Macs, I'd suggest two books: TeX for the Impatient, by Paul Abrahams, et al., is an excellent primer. For a complete description of TeX's functionalities, you should consult Knuth's authoritative TeXtbook. Both are available at Wordsworth.

Once you begin using TeX, you'll understand why so many writers have fallen in love with it.

Haibin Jiu '94, associate photography chair of The Crimson, is the former president of the Harvard Computer Society. His column appears Tuesdays on the Science & Health page.