r/LaTeX • u/1337_n00b • 7d ago

Copilot made me enjoy using LaTeX again

This is not a comment on AI/LLMs in general, and whether they're good or bad.

I was getting tired of TeX because I can't remember all those packages and their syntax. I found that vanilla Copilot from Skype will be able to give a correct suggestion maybe 80% of the time, and when it is not, I go back to the old Google/SE method.

Maybe some here will find this info useful.

50 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

36

u/tthrivi 7d ago

Do you use vscode? They probably have a LaTeX plugin and have copilot integrated.

16

u/dagelijksestijl 7d ago

The only downside is that its autocomplete suggestions are also for text, and are complete gibberish.

4

u/1337_n00b 7d ago

I just use Vim and Gedit, then ask Copilot questions in plain language.

3

u/_darth_plagueis 7d ago

There a copilot plugin for vim.

16

u/javier_bezos 7d ago

My experience is quite the opposite. Almost every answer has some mistake and/or is outdated. It may give interesting hints, indeed, but little more.

2

u/Rare_Ad8942 7d ago

Try mistral.ai

4

u/javier_bezos 7d ago

A little better. If I ask for an Arabic document with babel and lualatex the answer is essentialy correct (although improvable). However, there are still wrong answers and based on outdated info.

1

u/Rare_Ad8942 7d ago

Wait, are you an arab? (I am an arab)

1

u/javier_bezos 6d ago

Nope, I’m not.

9

u/thuiop1 6d ago

You don't need an LLM, you need a good autocomplete. There are plugins for that for any editor.

1

u/HawkinsT 6d ago

I've not seen such good contextual completions from regular completion engines, like when creating a table or writing an equation, it will pull in variables or data I've mentioned as suggetions. If you have a non-llm completion engine that does similar, please mention it.

1

u/numice 6d ago

I use overleaf and the autocomplete is not that good. Like it doesn't know the user defined macros

6

u/thuiop1 6d ago

Yes, the overleaf autocomplete is pretty bad (which is the shame as overleaf is pretty convenient for collaborative work). I was thinking about the kind you get in plugins for regular text editors, which is usually quite good.

1

u/numice 6d ago

I've been thinking about connecting overleaf with a local setup and sync with git but I don't really know a simple local setup. I've used things like texstudio in the past.

1

u/thuiop1 6d ago

Any text editor + the relevant plugin.

7

u/mushroom-sloth 7d ago

If it wasn't for LLM I wouldn't even have discovered the power of LaTeX

4

u/well_uh_yeah 7d ago

I'm in the same position. I've been doing a re-edit of my course notes (high school math) and the combination of mathpix taking the pdf of my word doc (tons of MathType objects in the word doc and it's no longer usable conveniently on my mac) and doing its best to turn it to LaTeX and then chatgpt and claude helping me to fine tune things I'd never have undertaken this project.

2

u/applejacks6969 7d ago

Overleaf Copilot extension when

1

u/LeoPupin 4d ago

If you're looking for easy of use, after some clw setup, i would like to strongly suggest giving texmaker a try(iirc it's the sameish on both windows and linux), it's true that it was better before, when referencing labels, but it's a solid choice to start and get creative.

-7

u/Opussci-Long 7d ago

So, all of you, except u/javier_bezos, do not know LaTeX. Why not stick with WYSIWYG tools?

3

u/chemistryGull 7d ago

What do you mean? Do you „know“ LaTeX? Do you know by heart how every package works? Let those people use LaTeX for gods sake.

4

u/Former_Dream_9158 6d ago

No one reads documentation anymore?

3

u/boterkoeken 6d ago

I feel ya. I can’t believe so many people are using latex without even understanding it. Personally I would just be really dissatisfied with writing that way. It’s important to me to understand my tools.

0

u/chemistryGull 6d ago

Ya sure. Im gonna read the documentation of 12 different packages to find out which one of them does what i need. Been there.

The biggest problem with LaTeX is that it takes sooo much longer to do basic things when you are not experienced. If LLMs help people cut that time down why don’t use it. You’ll still learn packages you need regularly.