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From time to time I plan to write a beginner's book on LaTeX. But I'm not sure of this: isn't it better to wait some time more until a workable release of LaTeX3 reaches the market? I'm really paralized by this cruel doubt...

diabonas
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Frederico Lopes
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    Take a look at http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/5688/help-in-choosing-latex2e-books-in-light-of-latex3-development for some thoughts. Basically, don't worry at the moment would be my advice: a book on LaTeX2e will remain relevant for years. – Joseph Wright Oct 16 '11 at 20:30
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    What's more important than LaTeX3 at the moment is solid coverage of the different engines: XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX in comparison with pdfLaTeX. No beginner's book, IMO should ignore these any more. With respect to LaTeX itself, the basic stuff is all the same, but both XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX provide simple access to system fonts, which for beginners can be very helpful. – Alan Munn Oct 16 '11 at 22:31
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    What about a book on ConTeXt? ;-) –  Oct 17 '11 at 14:45
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    @JosephWright: I think you should provide an answer instead of a comment. – Marco Daniel Oct 17 '11 at 17:33
  • I have problems taking your question seriously since if you are planning to write a book about LaTeX you should know enough about the LaTeX3 development to answer the question yourself. – Martin Schröder Oct 18 '11 at 07:05
  • @Martin Not necessarily so. I'm not sure that I need in fact get into the LaTeX3 details in order to answer this. On the contrary, I plan simply ignore or bypass LaTeX3 developments, waiting for a mature release, when people using LaTeX2e can 'add' to his/her knowledge the novelties of LaTeX3, if this is possible. In other words, can I ignore the new language of LaTeX3 by now? – Frederico Lopes Oct 18 '11 at 16:56
  • @Orbis: Yes. For the time being LaTeX3 will be only interesting for package authors; document writers don't have to mind it. – Martin Schröder Oct 18 '11 at 17:33

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(Summarising comments)

These is some discussion already about Help in choosing LaTeX2e books in light of LaTeX3 development. This of course looks at the problem 'from the other end', but a lot of the same points apply. Executive summary: we are simply not at the stage of having a LaTeX3 system which is close to being 'generally user ready'.

What's more important than LaTeX3 at the moment is solid coverage of the different engines: XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX in comparison with pdfLaTeX. No beginner's book, IMO should ignore these any more. With respect to LaTeX itself, the basic stuff is all the same, but both XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX provide simple access to system fonts, which for beginners can be very helpful.

The LaTeX2e approach is likely to remain relevant for many years, and it's extremely likely that a stand-alone LaTeX3 format will present a very similar 'front end' to the user as LaTeX2e does, especially in terms of things a beginner will need. So a good LaTeX2e book will serve as a good base for users both now and in the future.

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Joseph Wright
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