Sunday, January 29, 2017

LaTeX is Awesome, But I Should Probably Take It Easy

However long ago I was introduced to LaTeX, a typesetting software that can allow you to do some pretty neat things, because it is also part programming language. For example, some years ago I spent the time recreating my resume in LaTeX because it would allow me to make it modular. I can have it reference different files that contain information, like work experiences and published items/works, and then by changing those source files, the resume will be updated without having to touch any formatting, as can be the case when working in Word. Also by just moving one line of code up or down, I can move entire sections or remove them by commenting out the relevant line.
Now, what I started doing last week was exploring if I could have LaTeX work off of a database of some kind. The initial project was to have a database of all of the game streams I have done, and then with LaTeX I can have it read, sorted, formatted, and made into a PDF. The solution I found was to use a CSV for storing the data and having that read in and sorted by LaTeX and, after spending a couple days on it, it works! A decent portion of that time was also spent building the different CSVs I could use: game streams; game reviews; tweak guides; general guides; miscellaneous reviews; and The Body on Games videos. (Might add published stories at some point, but it is not too urgent for the moment.)
Now I just finished doing even more silly work LaTeX work on the resume. I now have it add a QR code that links to a folder of a master version of my resume (includes everything, page-count be damned) and the PDFs generated from the CSVs. Might be a bit over the top, but hey, I think it is cool to at least have it working. I also added the code necessary to easily toggle the QR code on and off, so at least I do not always need to provide it

Basically, LaTeX is very powerful and occasionally I find myself spending a LOT of time with it to do something interesting, but of questionable practicality. Still fun to do though.

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