bookslearningtex-core
I've been using LaTeX for about a year or two as part of writing reports in university and want to gain a more in-depth understanding of how it works (I'm a computer science student).
Would Donald Knuth's The TeXbook be a recommended read for me? What does it cover? What is your impression of it, those who have read it?
Only way to learn latex is to Start using it -- Practical first and reading next
You need not know any programming language. What you need is -- Strong will to use latex, a latex-aware editor (since it will save you from switching to command prompt often), a tex distribution installed and tex.stackexchange.com ;-)
What you find below is called source code -- it is what you write:
\documentclass{article}
%% This place is called the preamble
\begin{document}
Hello world
\end{document}
You have to save the above code as some file (say mycode.tex). BTW you have to edit/write this code in an editor that is latex aware - like texmaker, texniccenter, texstudio, Vim, winedt (windows only, shareware), Inlage (windows only, not free) to name a few. Now you need to have a Tex distribution to compile the above code - Famous ones are texlive 2012 (multi platform) and miktex (windows only). You may google to find out from where to download ;-). Say you downloaded texlive 2012 and installed it. Now there are two ways to compile the code:
Go to the command prompt. Navigate to the folder where you have kept
mycode.tex by typing something like cd c:\my folder. Then type
pdflatex mycode Then the source code will be compiled and a pdf
file named mycode.pdf will be generated in the same folder. This
pdf is the output.
The editor will have a toolbar button (that is why we call it latex
aware). Just click that button and you will be saved from using the
command prompt. (trust me, I am also afraid of command prompt,
Please keep it a secret ;-))
Additionally in tex/latex, there is a package for every need. Say you want to play with the page magins (layout), then geometry package, if you want to insert a figure, then the graphicx package, so on and so forth. They can be loaded using \usepackage{<package name>}. And how to use those packages? You will find the details in the documentation of respective packages. To access them, you can type texdoc <package name> (for example texdoc geometry) from the command prompt, or the editor you are using will provide some (help) menu item for the purpose. Clicking it, will open a dialogue window where you can type the package name and proceed.
And please don't get intimidated by (some of) the technical documentations. There are well written (I mean easy to follow) manuals too, for example, check the pgfmanual. In case if some thing troubles you a lot and you can't get rid of it by yourself, please post a question here. This site has expertise equivalent to years of reading the documentation and people here are very friendly, helping and very kind hearted.
Hope this will be useful. I wish you less troublesome start and happy texing.
Disclaimer! This answer contains pictures that may be shocking to book lovers. Reader discretion is advised.
I picked up a spiral-bound copy from the university library. Because it must have been handled by quite a lot of (probably careless) hands over the years, it is perhaps an extreme case, but it give some good indication as to whether the book (not its immortal contents!) stands the test of time. See below, from the 4th picture onwards.
The hardcover copy I have, on the other hand, is brand new. EDIT: Relevant information about that version (the 19th printing) can be found on the third picture below.
So, to answer your questions:
Best Answer
If you want an in-depth understanding of LaTeX you can start somewhere else. However, if you want to really understand TeX then there is no way to avoid the great TeXBook! (I actually ordered the whole 'Computers & Typesetting, Volumes A-E Boxed Set' just two weeks ago. It's still on its way to Europe -- the US prices are so much cheaper :-) )
It explains a lot of how the TeX engine works. I really just started to understand some of the fine mechanics of it after reading this book.
The sources of The TeXBook are on CTAN, so you could have a peek in it (in source form only). There is also TeX for the Impatient as a full PDF document. However, I didn't read that book yet.