[texhax] What program can I use to edit TeX files?

[Alan T Litchfield]

On 22/03/13 7:01 AM, Steven Pisano wrote:

>
> Without being specific, the publisher told me I could not give them a "txt" file because "characters will not appear correctly in ASCII format."

Without getting too complicated about whether that claim is correct, 
just do what the publisher asks for. It is the publisher who is paying you.

>
> So, all "wars" aside, what I guess I need to know is that if Word could inadvertently introduce artifacts that would prevent or interfere with TeX compiling the file correctly, all I need to use is a bare bones editor that will enable me to give a ".tex" file back to the publisher.

The short answer is maybe. You don't know what set up the publisher is 
using to compile the book and it would not do well for you to change 
characters and make life difficult for it.

I don't know aht computer you are using but I assume it is Windows of 
some age. TeXWorks seems to be fairly popular at the moment and has the 
advantage of providing you with auto-completion (makes your work easier) 
and a bunch of other labour saving devices.

Installing TeXWorks does not mean you are installing TeX: you are not. 
It is just a front end for editing TeX files (and some other stuff you 
are not going to be using).

Most importantly for a contractor such as yourself. It is free.

http://www.tug.org/texworks/

Regards
Alan

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