Footnotes within minipage environments are printed with small letters. The definition in latex.ltx is
\def\thempfootnote{{\itshape\@alph\c@mpfootnote}}
You could redefine it. A quick way would be:
\let\thempfootnote\thefootnote
Afterwards the footnote symbols within a minipage will be an arabic number as well.
You can define your own keywords when using the algorithmicx package. Section 3.1.10 Changing command names of the package documentation discusses the use of \algnewcommand/\algrenewcommand that you can use to create a new command/change existing formatting. The following two images are taken directly from the package documentation:
You can also define your own keywords using the algorithm2e package. Section 10 To define your own language keywords of the package documentation discusses this in detail. Specifically, you use commands like
\SetKwInput and \SetKwOutput for algorithm input / output definition\SetKw for keyword definitions\SetKwBlock for block definitions\SetKwFunction for function / procedure definitions\SetKwComment for comment definitions\SetKwIf for if-statement definitions\SetKwSwitch for multiple condition selection definitions\SetKwFor for for loop definitions\SetKwRepeat for repeat / while definitions
Then there's the listings package that allows just as much modification. Keyword definitions are specified via styles and/or languages. Read the highly detailed package documentation for more information on this.
tabbing
The above use some rich programming directives from package that probably require a lot of reading. In the special case where you "just want to write a couple of lines of code and format stuff your own way", you could use the tabbing environment. This is either provided by LaTeX (as default) or by the tabbing package. The tabbing package documentation gives some motivation for using it, but that's up to you.
A typical tabbing environment would resemble
\begin{tabbing}
<space> \= <space> \= <space> \= <space> \= \kill
no indent \> \> more text \\
\> one indent \> \\
....
....
\end{tabbing}
where the tab stops a indicated by \= and jumped to by using \>. It is best to put empty spacing in the first row (via \hspace{<space>}, \quad, \qquad or \phantom{<stuff>}), since a first-line \kill is provided (as opposed to \\[-\baselineskip]) to prevent the first line from being typeset. This ensures that the actual tabbing typesetting starts in the first row.
The advantage here is that you can format your code the way you want, without any special package "interrupting" your style or other preferences. Given your example, here is what I would do (without using \multicol):
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{calc}% For length calculations
\begin{document}
\newlength{\mylen}%
\setlength{\mylen}{\linewidth-2\fboxsep-2\fboxrule}%
\fbox{\begin{minipage}{\mylen}
\begin{tabbing}
\quad \= \quad \= \quad \= \hspace{5cm} \= \kill
\textbf{program} test \> \> \> \> \texttt{some text here} \\
\textbf{var} \\
\> $i$ : \textbf{integer}; \> \> \> \texttt{...} \\
\> $b$ : \textbf{boolean}; \\
\textbf{begin} \\
\> $i:=1$; \> \> \> \texttt{...} \\
\> $b:=\texttt{true}$; \\
\> \textbf{while} $i<15$ \textbf{do} \\
\> \> $i:=i+1$; \\
\> \> $b:=\textbf{not}\ b$; \> \> \texttt{some text here} \\
\> \textbf{od} \\
\textbf{end}
\end{tabbing}
\end{minipage}}
\end{document}
verbatim
The verbatim environment is a paragraph-making environment that gets LaTeX to print exactly what you type in. It turns LaTeX into a typewriter with carriage returns and blanks having the same effect that they would on a typewriter. The output looks exactly as it looks in the input file. Typical typesetting in verbatim would resemble
\begin{verbatim}
<stuff>
\end{verbatim}
or
\begin{verbatim*}
<stuff>
\end{verbatim*}
where the difference between verbatim and verbatim* is that the latter prints spaces as "visual" spaces, i.e., a short, squat "u". Inline verbatim is also possible using
\verb char literal_text char
or
\verb*char literal_text char
with a similar meaning as before for the unstarred and starred versions. There may be no space between \verb or \verb* and char (space is shown here only for clarity). Here char denotes the \verb delimiters and should match at the start and end. char can be anything except a space (or a * for the \verb form).
Best Answer
The problem occurs because of the subtle length-management when using a
minipagewithin aminipage. The outerminipageof width0.48\linewidthsets the line width within thatminipageto0.48\linewidth. If the innerminipageis set to a width of0.48\linewidth, it is actually0.2304of the original\linewidth, since the nestedminipagecompounds the lengths. You also need to remove the spurious space after\fbox{by using%. Using this is better:If you're interested in a vertical divider between the two images to visually separate them from one another, one could typeset the entire structure inside a
multicolsenvironment:The use of the
calcpackage is merely for calculation of lengths. And, thegeometrypackage is used to highlight the page frame. Also, thelipsumpackage provides some dummy text.