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Co-authored-by: FiliTol <FiliTol@laptop.local>

_posts/2024-02-19-Ode-to-plain-text.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "Glory to Plain Text Files"
+categories: Tech
+lang: en
+---
+
+
+> *A specter is haunting Internet—the specter of plain text files. All the tech
+giants have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter; Microsoft
+and its Word, Google Docs and One Note, Bean and Apple spies products.* (Semicit.)
+
+They are all around us: on the bus and in the crowded train carriage;
+they live in the university classes, in the high school homework tasks, in every
+company's workflow.
+
+They are the `.docx` files.
+
+## Nuking ants for a living
+
+I vividly remember my high school math lessons, probably because of the damages
+that all that gibberish did to my self confidence (don't worry, I understood the
+usefulness of all that in the end :-)).
+
+When finally we were introduced to integrals, the math professor
+warned us that
+
+> *...using integrals sometimes is just as killing ants with a bazooka...*
+
+a saying that doesn't sound so nice but seems to have been stuck in my head
+since then.
+The gist of the saying is obvious: do not abuse this tool, particularly because
+it's overkill for some specific tasks.
+
+At the end of the day this is no surprising stuff. Life and evolution are the
+result of optimization and adaptation, none of which encourages wastage of resources
+for an unworthy activity or the usage of disproportionate means to achieve a
+simple goal.
+To understand what I mean I really suggest you to take a look at
+[this short video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLFgFCmCg6Q),
+you'll be in awe for the brilliant strategy used by eagles to hunt for goats
+and other big mammals.
+
+In the following article I'll try to argue why, in my opinion, writing, editing
+and sharing textual content in the form of plain text format is easier, less expensive
+and more rewarding. On the contrary, using WYSIWYG editors (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get)
+and their related formats like docx is more complex, generates less-portable files
+and overall complicates the interaction with your digitally-written content.
+
+## Computers, software, practicality
+
+Different people want different things from their computers: some use them for
+work related tasks and thus need productivity and practicality, some others use
+them to surf the web and do basic stuff. A restricted group of people even use
+them to write software.
+All these use cases have some aspects in common, that I'll formalize as follows:
+
+1. **Portability**. When writing something, we usually want that text to be portable
+to other platforms and supports;
+2. **Shareability**. We tend to share stuff, thus we need to save it in
+a format that our colleagues, friends, relatives can easily access even across
+different systems;
+3. **Searchability**. Searching for specific words or patterns inside a document
+is a necessity nowadays.
+I define searchability as the ability to search across multiple documents at once
+for patterns or words, possibly even by using complex methodologies like regex;
+4. **Convertibility**. Ideally, documents are saved in formats that are easily
+convertible into other formats, enhancing the cross-format portability. For example
+a text file should be easily convertible into a pdf file in a standardized manner.
+
+These characteristics are usually enforced by most of the text file formats
+used nowadays, even though some specific aspects - like searchability of specific
+words in a range of documents - are not easily accessible  with regards to some
+file formats.
+
+## Docx files in a nutshell
+
+In 2007 Microsoft officially introduced a new standard for their office products,
+introducing the formats `.docx`, `.xlsx` and `pptx` as the default format for their
+Word, Excel and PowerPoint software tools. This drastic change was motivated by
+the raising need for document portability across platforms, but also the rise
+of alternative tools like Libre Office that somehow threatened MS Office's competitive
+position.
+
+At their core, `docx` files are zip-compressed archives containing XML
+files, thus every docx file opened using a compatible word processor is uncompressed
+and then the content of the XML file is loaded. All this complexity is hidden
+from the eye of the end user thanks to the GUI that every word processor implements,
+being it Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, LibreOffice or the Google Docs viewer.
+
+## Keep It Simple, Stupid (aka KISS)
+
+While all this burden is believed to be necessary in order to manage text documents,
+the real limitations of this procedure need to be compared with the actual gain
+in utility, productivity and practicality that using such files is supposed to generate.
+
+Among all the activities that an user carries on while writing a text document,
+these are the most common ones:
+
+- Title, subtitles and the section/paragraph structure (headings structure);
+- Text highlighting as bold or italic formatting;
+- Insert images in the document;
+- Attach links;
+- Insert code snippets and advanced math formulas (advanced usage, nonetheless
+a real use case);
+- Numbered and not numbered lists;
+- Insert table(s).
+
+Clearly some corner cases are left out from this list, nonetheless it's
+a comprehensive list of activities that covers most of the basic - and possibly
+more recurring - use cases.
+
+### Plain text files are KISS
+
+Plain text files are different from the classic approach to word processing adopted
+by WYSIWYG editors.
+While WYSIWYG editors let you edit text, format, stile and insert elements directly
+on the file - that's the reason for the otherwise redundant use of XML archives -
+a plain text file **simply contains the text you want to display in the final document**.
+Then you can add to it some basic syntax formatting elements used to signal that
+some specific strings of text must be formatted in a different manner (or that
+an image must be inserted etc).
+
+This simple structure makes text files very light and searchable way more quickly
+across folders (since no archive or zip file needs
+to be uncompressed to actually search through the words in the document). Moreover,
+a text file can be read with basically every possible computer or hardware support,
+making it the golden-rule for content portability even in environments with constrained
+resources.
+
+As a firm believer of the KISS principle, I decided to compare all the basic needed
+features across the most common plain text formats. Later we'll consider the advantages
+of these plain text formats against over-engineered XML-centric documents.
+
+| Features        | Markdown                     |  Latex                                     | txt  |
+|-----------------|------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|------|
+| Headings        | #, ##, ###, *etc*              | \section{}, \subsection{}, \subsubsection{}| *none* |
+| Text formatting | \*italic*, \*\*bold**        | \textit{}, \textbf{}                       | *none* |
+| Images          | \!\[caption](file/link)      | \includegraphics{file}                     | *none* |
+| Links           | \[text](url)                 | \href{url}{text}                           | *none* |
+| Code snippets   | \`code`                      | \texttt{code}                              | *none* |
+| Math syntax     | \$math$                      | \$math$                                    | *none* |
+| Lists           | - Item                       | \begin{itemize} \item \Item \end{itemize}   | *none* |
+| Tables          |*Just google it (or ChatGPT it)*| *Just google it (or ChatGPT it)*             | *none* |
+
+#### Markdown
+
+Markdown is a text encoding system that combines plain text with basic syntax formatting
+elements, enabling you to write simple plain text and add the formatting
+instructions on-the-fly. By doing so, you indicate which parts of the text you
+want to use as title, as paragraph heading, which words need to be in bold formatting,
+images you need to eventually add etc.
+
+The following is an example of how a markdown file looks like.
+
+```{markdown}
+# Title (also called Heading 1)
+
+Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, **qui minim labore adipisicing** minim sint cillum
+sint consectetur cupidatat.
+
+## Heading 2
+
+*Lorem ipsum* dolor sit amet, officia excepteur ex fugiat reprehenderit enim
+labore culpa sint ad nisi Lorem pariatur mollit ex esse exercitation amet.
+
+### Heading 3
+
+Nostrud officia pariatur ut officia. Sit irure elit esse ea nulla sunt ex
+occaecat reprehenderit commodo officia dolor Lorem duis laboris cupidatat
+officia voluptate.
+
+![First image caption](path/to/image/file.png)
+
+The following is an unordered list nested inside an ordered one:
+
+1. First item
+2. Second item
+3. Third item:
+   - This is unordered
+   - Second item unordered
+   - Third and final unordered
+4. Final item of list
+```
+
+Markdown files have extension `.md` and can be visualized neatly in a browser
+or a markdown editor. Among all the brilliant editors out there I highly suggest
+to try [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/), which gives a gazillion personalization
+options and features.
+
+Once you put your hands on markdown you'll never stop using it. Taking notes in
+markdown is so much quicker than with `.docx` files and gives you just the right
+tools to get the job done without bothering too much with styling, impagination etc.
+Markdown is at the core of basically every document, you can easily turn a markdown
+file into a pdf or an html page to upload on your website. Nonetheless sometimes
+it feels a bit too restricted because of the minimalist syntax that lets you focus
+on the writing but does not provide much flexibility.
+
+Sometimes you need more expressive syntax, to style a bit the page, to change
+massively text formatting...sometimes you need more personalization, and that is
+when a solution like Latex comes in.
+
+#### Latex
+
+If you have ever read a book, a paper or an article you incidently have already
+come across Latex. Latex is a **system for typesetting documents**, that is an obscure
+way to say that it lets you write plain text files and insert in the file some syntax
+formatting. The syntax formatting that you provide will communicate to the document
+compiler to show specific words in a specific manner, to insert some text as title
+etc (just as seen for markdown).
+
+Latex documents are usually knitted into pdf format and made easily available
+for every sort of digital distribution or sharing of your content.
+It really gives you tons of flexibility with regards to templates, formatting,
+formulas creation, table creation and any other content you can even think of
+using in one of your documents.
+
+Latex syntax is slightly more demanding than markdown and as a whole the tool has
+a steeper learning curve than simple WYSIWYG editors. Nonetheless it really is
+worth learning (particularly if you need to write a lot for work or academic
+purposes).
+
+The following is an example of how a latex (.tex) document
+looks like, specifically this document is a simple one-chapter document containing
+the first *carmina* written by *Catullo*, an ancient latin poem writer.
+
+```{latex}
+\documentclass{article}
+\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % UTF-8 encoding
+\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % Font encoding
+\usepackage[english]{babel} % English language
+
+
+\title{Carmina}
+\author{Valerius Catullus}
+\date{\today} % Use \date{} for no date or specify a date
+
+\begin{document}
+\maketitle
+\section{First carmina}
+
+Cui dono lepidum novum libellum
+arido modo pumice expolitum?
+\textbf{Corneli, tibi}; namque tu solebas
+meas esse aliquid putare nugas,
+iam tum cum ausus es unus Italorum
+omne aevum tribus explicare chartis,
+doctis, \textit{Iuppiter}, et laboriosis!
+quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli
+qualecumque, quod, o patrona virgo,
+plus uno maneat perenne saeclo.
+Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, qui minim labore adipisicing minim sint cillum
+sint consectetur cupidatat.
+
+\end{document})
+```
+
+This is how this document knitted looks like:
+
+![Knitted document](latex.png)
+
+Clearly this is a basic template example: with some googling and basic changes
+you can easily obtain a document that matches your own needs and desires.
+Moreover, latex never stops surprising even more advanced users, thus you can
+really start from scratch and, with the help of internet content and a fair dose
+of research, you can obtain every formatting imaginable.
+
+The easier entry level option for latex editing is the cloud solution [Overleaf](https://overleaf.com),
+a website that lets you edit, knit and personalize latex documents easily in the
+cloud, with a ton of customizable templates. Once you gain confidence with the tool
+you can even switch to local editing directly in your pc!
+
+Remember that nowadays the browser is your best friend, so if you face some difficulties
+you can easily search for it and surely you'll find a ton of support and answers
+to your questions.
+
+As a final remark I must say that...
+
+**Latex can also be used to create slide presentations!**
+
+If you are always annoyed by the 'creative' process of dragging around shapes and
+text boxes in PowerPoint I promise you wont be disappointed with the neat styling
+of Latex beamer presentations.
+
+#### Txt files
+
+Simple text files (`txt`) do not have particular functions nor syntax
+to add specific features, nonetheless they still keep the properties listed above
+as they are searchable, shareable, portable and easily convertible. You can use
+txt files to insert notes on-the-fly in a simple, quick and light manner.
+
+## This is what you are really missing out
+
+You're probably asking yourself
+
+> How the hell is writing with functions and syntax supposed
+to be easier than using my dear old Microsoft Word??!!
+
+Well, it is. Believe me, it really is.
+
+If you ever used Microsoft Word for **real writing** (or some other MSWord-like
+editor that spits docx files) you probably know how painful it is to move around
+images, page breaks, headings and seeing your document formatting fall apart.
+
+With tools like Latex it definitely wont happen anymore, since the syntax and the
+custom settings are hard-coded into the document and the compiler generates the
+pdf precisely as required by the user. I recommend to try out both markdown and
+Latex and then decide how you want to organize your work...you may be willing to
+use something like latex for more formal documents and just take notes and
+do the everyday writing with markdown. That's a fair trade-off in my opinion, at
+least it's what I've been doing since a couple of years and I can't be more
+comfy about the setup.
+
+Writing stuff in plain text files like `.tex`, `.md` or `.txt` files makes
+the search for content way more rapid and performing, since your pc doesn't need
+to extract an archive in order to simply look into the words in a file. With that
+feature in place you can even start using tools like regex to search for stuff
+across several documents, ultimately making your overall working experience more
+fluid and your computer-time more effective.
+
+At the end of the day *keeping it simple* helps to use the right tool for every
+occasion, creating your own preferences and avoiding the mess of bloated software.
+Plain text files make your life easier and let you avoid the excess of `.docx`
+files, making you more aware of your means and focused on the result.
+
+Which is not killing ants with a bazooka, by the way.
+
+<div class="post-categories">
+  {% if post %}
+    {% assign categories = post.categories %}
+  {% else %}
+    {% assign categories = page.categories %}
+  {% endif %}
+  {% for category in categories %}
+  <a href="{{site.baseurl}}/categories/#{{category|slugize}}">{{category}}</a>
+  {% unless forloop.last %}&nbsp;{% endunless %}
+  {% endfor %}
+</div>