Wikibooks

LaTeX is a dream come true for computer literate typesetters like me. Unlike word processing programs of late, such as Word or Star Office or whatever it is that comes with iWork, which are all WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editors, LaTeX allows the author the freedom of WYSIWYM (What you see is what you mean).

LaTeX appeals to me in multiple ways. First, it handles a lot of formatting issues for you. If you're needing to layout a document a certain way, LaTeX will either do it out show more of the box, or there's usually a package to do what you need. And if that doesn't cut it, you can always write your own package to do what you need to do. I personally use LaTeX every chance I get, both for final documents and for manuscripts (there is a manuscript package that works perfectly for speculative fiction). Second, I love how the source documents are essentially code, so when I'm using my version control tool, it'll handle diffs between the plain text source files much better than the diffs between two proprietary binary files found in most word processors.

But that's just LaTeX, not this book. This book, a free Wikibook, basically combines all the good parts of other works on LaTeX. So, if you've read another LaTeX book, at least one section in this book will feel very, very familiar (especially if you've read The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2E). But that doesn't mean it's bad. It's more like one-stop shopping (though I do like aforementioned introduction, as it practices what it preaches, especially in typesetting the word "LaTeX" properly).

So, if you need a free overview and introduction to LaTeX, or are looking for a better way to typeset those documents, then this may be a good book for you, especially since it's free. show less

There are C# books and there are C# references.

This one definitely falls into the latter category. It's simply an overview of what you can do with C#. Similar, perhaps to a pocket reference, or a quick reference, but not actually meat and potatoes of how to actually use C#.

For those who think I'm talking about music, know this: C# is a programming language. It is one developed by Microsoft, and is object oriented. It is the de facto standard for most modern-day Windows tools, as well as many show more XBox 360 games.

This book, however, would not fall into any definition of de facto standard, unless one of the requirements for said standard was free. Though, if you know the language, it may provide a helpful reference when you need a quick one and are somehow unable to use Google. show less