Write like a wizard

Use the magic of modern technology for your writing: tech stacks and workflows

Purpose

Eenable you to use modern

tools and paradigms to make

your writing process more effective.

You will learn how to use

Markdown, Pandoc, Zotero

and VS Code like a wizard.

Hang tight!

Learning is hard.

Relearning is even harder.

Agenda

Patterns and anti-patterns
Prepare your project: VS Code
Reference management: Zotero + Pandoc
First steps: Terminal + Pandoc
Your turn: Challenge

The goal

Writing

Reading

Period.

Anti-patterns

Alleged solution: Microsoft Word

Yet: It is a time wasting huge bloated disgusting pice of shit that you simply should not pay any attention whatsoever.

Diagnosis

Mess of implicitness: “Explicit is better than implicit.” (The PSF 2020)

Feature creep

Scope creep

Wrong paradigms

WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get

Vendor lock-in

Proprietary garbage

Patterns

WYSIWYAF: What You See Is What You Asked For

XML

HTML

LaTeX

Limitations

Complexity: “Simple is better than complex.” (The PSF 2020)

Noisiness: “Beautiful is better than ugly” and “Readability counts.” (The PSF 2020)

Complexity and noise lead to errors.

Sweet spot: Markdown

Clean

Human readable

Computer readable

WYSIWYAF

In medias res: Markdown

Open your VS Code

Prepare your project: VS Code

1. Prepare project folder
2. Adjust your defaults `/magic_book/defaults/defaults.yaml`
3. Configure with `settings.json` file in `magic_book`
4. Install extensions:

Pandoc Citer

Spell Right

LaTeX language support

WordCounter

Reference management: Zotero + Pandoc

1. Create library folder
2. Configure Zotfile and Better BibTeX.
3. Export collection bib file into `/magic_book/bib/`.
4. Download and save CSL form https://www.zotero.org/styles to `/magic_book/csl/`
5. Tell pandoc about bib and CSL file.

6. Workflow
a. Go to: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19385-6
b. Use the Zotero Picker.

First steps: Terminal + Pandoc

1. Navigate in your terminal
2. Write and compile your first Markdown + Pandoc document:
`pandoc hello.md -o hello.pdf`
3. Set your title page in:

`/magic_book/metadata/metadata.yaml`

Next level: Defaults + Markdown + Pandoc

1. Use the `defaults.yalm` file:
`pandoc --defaults='/home/<USER>/lab/magic_book/defaults/defaults.yaml'`
2. Citations
3. Tables
4. Figures