Markdown vs LaTeX / TeX Markup

Markdown vs Markup

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Note: Why? LaTeX / TeX markup works great for producing high-quality typesetting for articles, research papers, manuals, books, etc. Markdown works great for distraction-free focus-on-what-you-want-to-say writing.

Using tools such as pandoc or kramdown you can (auto-)convert plain text in markdown to LaTeX for further processing. Get the best of both worlds! We ♥ Markdown & LaTeX.

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Article

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
Hello world!
\end{document}

vs

Hello world!

</>

Note: In LaTeX "standard" title infos include: title, author, date (and thanks).

\documentclass{article}
\title{How to Structure a LaTeX Document}
\author{Andrew Roberts}
\date{December 2016}
\begin{document}
   \maketitle
   Hello world!
\end{document}

vs

---
title:  How to Structure a LaTeX Document
author: Andrew Roberts
date:   December 2016
---

Hello world!

</>

Book

Note: In LaTeX "standard" sections include:

Level	Section	Used by
(-1)	part	book, (report?)
0	chapter	book
1	section	book, article, report
2	subsection	book, article, report
3	subsubsection	book, article, report
4	paragraph	book, article, report
5	subparagraph	book, article, report

Sections in letters include: address, opening, closing, signature, etc.; in presentations (e.g. beamer) include: frame, etc.; in posters include: ??

\documentclass{book}
\begin{document}

\chapter{Introduction}
This chapter's content...

\section{Structure}
This section's content...

\subsection{Top Matter}
This subsection's content...

\subsubsection{Article Information}
This subsubsection's content...
\end{document}

vs

# Introduction

This chapter's content...

## Structure

This section's content...

### Top Matter

This subsection's content...

#### Article Information

This subsubsection's content...

</>

Paragraphs and White Space

The ends  of words and sentences are marked 
  by   spaces. It  doesn't matter how many 
spaces    you type; one is as good as 100.  The
end of   a line counts as a space.

One   or more   blank lines denote the  end 
of  a paragraph.  

Note: The same in LaTeX and Markdown. However, indentation by four or more spaces starts a code block/verbatim text block in Markdown.

</>

Verbatim Text / Code Blocks

\begin{verbatim}
The verbatim environment
  simply reproduces every
 character you input,
including all  s p a c e s!
\end{verbatim}

vs

····The verbatim environment
····  simply reproduces every
···· character you input,
····including all  s p a c e s!

Note: Dots (····) used for showing (invisible) leading four spaces.

</>

(Hard) Line Breaks

Andrew Roberts\\
School of Computing,\\
University of Leeds,\\
Leeds,\\
United Kingdom,\\
LS2 1HE

vs

Andrew Roberts··
School of Computing,··
University of Leeds,··
Leeds,··
United Kingdom,··
LS2 1HE

Note: Dots (··) used for showing (invisible) trailing two spaces.

or

Andrew Roberts       \
School of Computing, \
University of Leeds, \
Leeds,               \
United Kingdom,      \
LS2 1HE

</>

(Inline) Text Formatting (Bold & Italics)

Note: In LaTeX text formatting styles include:

Macro	Environment	Comments
\textbf{text}	\bfseries	Bold
\textit{text} or \emph{text}	\itshape	Italic
\texttt{text}	\ttfamily	Monospaced

A \textbf{bold \textit{Hello LaTeX}} to start!

vs

A **bold _Hello LaTeX_** to start!

</>

Bulleted List

\begin{itemize}  
  \item The first item
  \item The second item
  \item The third etc.
\end{itemize}

vs

* The first item
* The second item
* The third etc.

or

- The first item
- The second item
- The third etc.

</>

Numbered List

\begin{enumerate}  
  \item The first item
  \item The second item
  \item The third etc.
\end{enumerate}

vs

1. The first item
2. The second item
3. The third etc.

</>

\begin{enumerate}  
  \item The first item
  \begin{enumerate}
    \item Nested item 1
    \item Nested item 2
  \end{enumerate}
  \item The second item
  \item The third etc.
\end{enumerate}

vs

1. The first item
   a. Nested item 1
   b. Nested item 2
2. The second item
3. The third etc.

</>

Simple Table

\begin{tabular}{ l l l }
  Day       & Min Temp & Max Temp \\
  Monday    &    11° C &  22° C \\
  Tuesday   &     9° C &  19° C \\
  Wednesday &    10° C &  21° C \\
\end{tabular}

vs

Day       | Min Temp | Max Temp
--------- | -------- | --------
Monday    |  11° C   |  22° C
Tuesday   |   9° C   |  19° C
Wednesday |  10° C   |  21° C

</>

Quotes & Dashes

Quotation marks like
       ``this'' 
have to be handled specially, as do quotes within
quotes:
       ``\,`this'            % \, separates the double and single quote.
        is what I just 
        wrote, not  `that'\,''.  

vs

Quotation marks like
  "this" 
have to be handled specially, as do quotes within
quotes:
  "'this'            
   is what I just 
   wrote, not  'that'".  

Note: Markdown uses a text filter (smarty pants) to pretty print quotes.

</>

Dashes come in three sizes: an 
       intra-word 
dash, a medium dash for number ranges like 
       1--2, 
and a punctuation 
       dash---like 
this.

Note: In LaTeX - is always a dash (hyphen); use $-$ for minus (in numbers/mathematics)

Dashes come in three sizes: an
  intra-word 
dash, a medium dash for number ranges like 
  1--2, 
and a punctuation 
  dash---like 
this.

Note: Markdown uses a text filter (smarty pants) to pretty print dashes.

</>

Comments

% This is a sample LaTeX input file.  (Version of 12 August 2004.)
%
% A '%' character causes TeX to ignore all remaining text on the line,
% and is used for comments like this one.

vs

<!--
  This is a sample LaTeX input file.  (Version of 12 August 2004.)
  A '%' character causes TeX to ignore all remaining text on the line,
  and is used for comments like this one.
  -->

Note: Markdown uses HTML comments.

</>

Reserved "Special" Characters

Notes:

\    =>    \textbackslash (*)            -- used for macros   
{    =>    \{                            -- used for begin group
}    =>    \}                            -- used for end group
#    =>    \#                            -- used for macro parameters
%    =>    \%                            -- used for comments
~    =>    \~{} (**) or \textasciitilde  -- used for non-breaking space
&    =>    \&                            -- used for cell/column separator in tables

$    =>    \$                            -- used for math(ematics) mode
^    =>    \^{} (***)                    -- used for superscript (math modes only)
_    =>    \_                            -- used for subscript (math modes only)


*:   note \\ cannot be used; already in use for hard line breaks
**:  note \~ followed by character used for accented chars e.g. \~n gives ñ  
***: note \^ followed by character used for accented chars with hat e.g. \^a gives â

vs

\    =>   \\        -- backslash
`    =>   \`        -- backtick
*    =>   \*        -- asterisk
_    =>   \_        -- underscore
{}   =>   \{ or \}  -- curly braces
[]   =>   \[ or \]  -- square brackets
()   =>   \( or \)  -- parentheses
#    =>   \#        -- hash mark
+    =>   \+        -- plus sign
-    =>   \-        -- minus sign (hyphen)
.    =>   \.        -- dot 
!    =>   \!        -- exclamation mark

add | (pipe?) and : (colon?) others? (see commanmark spec for recommendation?)

todo: Check for chars with special meaning in verbatim (code/code block) mode

</>