What is the most bizarre thing you have seen done with TeX

Question

I think the questions says it all! :)

By TeX, I mean any derivative of TeX as long as the code is clearly a derivative of TeX, i.e. that it could belong on TeX.SX (and not pure Lua for example).

I'll give two answers myself so you see what I mean.

Related, or somewhat similar: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/53082/in-what-ways-can-tex-be-used-beyond-document-production — nickpapior, Mar 25 '13 at 19:31
Related Are there other “fun” packages like the “coffee stains” package? — texenthusiast, Mar 25 '13 at 21:07
I like how you can ask this sort of thing on tex. You wouldn't get very far on SO with a question like that. — mowwwalker, Mar 26 '13 at 06:39
I like this one: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/133667/showcase-of-beautiful-wine-bottle-labels-made-with-latex-tikz-and-friends — MattAllegro, Apr 12 '15 at 16:25

score 110 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 25 '13 at 19:20

110

I think that Steve Hicks controller for a Mars Rover programmed in TeX is a good candidate: ICFP Contest 2008 - Mars rover in TeX.

answered Mar 25 '13 at 19:20

Martin Heller

11,391

4

The writeup for this one is epic, as such tales usually are. – Ryan Reich Mar 25 '13 at 20:09
1

Sadly the link is not accessible at least from my area :( – Mar 26 '19 at 15:18
@JouleV The link still works for me, and the article is still worth reading. Maybe the site was temporarily unavailable? – Martin Heller Mar 26 '19 at 19:38
@MartinHeller .dk is a Denmark domain AFAIK. So it may be not accessible from some countries. – Mar 27 '19 at 04:48

score 86 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 04 '14 at 16:10

86

Adding coffee stains to your documents

If my documents don't have those stains, my boss / students think(s) I don't drink coffee. If he or they think I am not drinking coffee, they believe I am slacking. Thanks Hanno!

edited Aug 04 '14 at 16:10

Charles Staats

19,514

answered Mar 25 '13 at 19:00

Xavier

13,947

8

Great! I need it. I didn't find the package on CTAN - would be nice, if it would be part of TeXLive. – knut Mar 25 '13 at 20:05

score 64 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 25 '13 at 20:38

64

David Carlisle's Christmas 'card' at http://www.ctan.org/pkg/xii. In fact, here it is: run this through plain TeX:

\let~\catcode~`76~`A13~`F1~`j00~`P2jdefA71F~`7113jdefPALLF
PA''FwPA;;FPAZZFLaLPA//71F71iPAHHFLPAzzFenPASSFthP;A$$FevP
A@@FfPARR717273F737271P;ADDFRgniPAWW71FPATTFvePA**FstRsamP
AGGFRruoPAqq71.72.F717271PAYY7172F727171PA??Fi*LmPA&&71jfi
Fjfi71PAVVFjbigskipRPWGAUU71727374 75,76Fjpar71727375Djifx
:76jelse&U76jfiPLAKK7172F71l7271PAXX71FVLnOSeL71SLRyadR@oL
RrhC?yLRurtKFeLPFovPgaTLtReRomL;PABB71 72,73:Fjif.73.jelse
B73:jfiXF71PU71 72,73:PWs;AMM71F71diPAJJFRdriPAQQFRsreLPAI
I71Fo71dPA!!FRgiePBt'el@ lTLqdrYmu.Q.,Ke;vz vzLqpip.Q.,tz;
;Lql.IrsZ.eap,qn.i. i.eLlMaesLdRcna,;!;h htLqm.MRasZ.ilk,%
s$;z zLqs'.ansZ.Ymi,/sx ;LYegseZRyal,@i;@ TLRlogdLrDsW,@;G
LcYlaDLbJsW,SWXJW ree @rzchLhzsW,;WERcesInW qt.'oL.Rtrul;e
doTsW,Wk;Rri@stW aHAHHFndZPpqar.tridgeLinZpe.LtYer.W,:jbye

A good collection of Enjoy TeX pearls diving! at GUST, Polish TeX Users Group

For more Pearls of TeX programming at TUGboat ,Volume 26 (2005), No. 3.

edited Mar 25 '13 at 20:38

texenthusiast

6,057

answered Mar 25 '13 at 19:53

Peter Flynn

2,870

7

Could anyone please explain how it works? – Uwe Ziegenhagen Mar 25 '13 at 20:11
1

@UweZiegenhagen run with tex xii.tex and open the xii.dvi file. – percusse Mar 25 '13 at 20:14
14

@percusse I think Uwe meant how common mortals are supposed to understand David's code. I know: we're not :) – Xavier Mar 25 '13 at 20:17
@Xavier I have a rough summary of the command definitions but not the last big iteration. I'll clean it up and paste it here. But I have to ask David first – percusse Mar 25 '13 at 20:18
18

@UweZiegenhagen It's just a typical plain TeX file, the syntax is slightly different to the LaTeX syntax that's more commonly seen here. – David Carlisle Mar 25 '13 at 20:55
10

If your French is better than mine... https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=fr&fromgroups=#!topic/fr.comp.text.tex/tkyaRYXQWnQ – David Carlisle Mar 25 '13 at 21:21
1

Ja!!! I don't think so anyway. @David you are a genius. – jpayansomet Mar 25 '13 at 21:23
\tracingall and a few hours later... :D – Xavier Mar 26 '13 at 03:15
@DavidCarlisle: I guess my French is worse than your's! Will try it using Google Translator. – Uwe Ziegenhagen Mar 26 '13 at 04:47
1

@UweZiegenhagen have a look here. – Nils L Mar 26 '13 at 17:41
2

For something similar, and a detailed explanation of the code, see Can you explain how this code works? – Werner Mar 29 '13 at 19:53
First appearance in usenet group comp.text.tex, see https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.text.tex/Uyp--Qlehfo/DGFBkSjOSMMJ – second version with fixed typo (the one later uploaded to CTAN) in https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.text.tex/Uyp--Qlehfo/bJWS1u7Hn3MJ – Speravir Mar 30 '13 at 01:59
2

@UweZiegenhagen it is black magic – Dominic Michaelis May 17 '13 at 12:41
you can also use pdftex – Tvde1 May 22 '19 at 13:41

score 50 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 25 '13 at 18:55

50

a basic interpreter written in tex.

see the tugboat article.

answered Mar 25 '13 at 18:55

barbara beeton

88,848

2

Does it support Commodore Basic? My Dad could run the program he typed up on the C64 to play Star Fleet battles on it! – Canageek Mar 25 '13 at 18:59

score 49 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Our own Bruno LeFloch who wrote a Reversi game which runs in the console:

(Please don't try to reformat the code displayed below unless you really know what you are doing; if you do attempt a reformat, try to compile the resulting code before replacing the code here.)

% !TEX TS-program = tex
\long\def\3#1#2#3{}\vsize5cm\hsize4cm\newlinechar`*\def~#1{\catcode`#113~}
~QSU_VWJKLMNO@XY[](|+Z'"z:qj^;/)!,\ ${*13\3}
\def~#1#2{\let#1#2~}~*\cr[\ifnum(\ifcaseO\or|\else]\fiN\number@\advanceX
\expandafterZ\globalY\message~\defj{[0<Q[9>Q[0<J[9>J^|_]|_]|_]|_]}
~+{\count1}+1=9~_#1{@+1 1\countdef#1+1_}_QJVSKWUL,'"$\H!_-1'1"2+44'+55'+45"+54"~^{+NQNJ}
~:#1{#11#12#13#14#15#16#17#18}
~M#1{Y{#1}#1}~\h#1#2{M#2:{ \q#1}&M#2&M{*}}~\q#1#2{&M{(+#1#2  O-O0]}}
~/{Y{Row and column? e.g. E6*}\read_to\MX\j\meaning\M  ;}
~\j#1->#2#3#4;{Q`#2@Q-`@J`#3@J-`0;(VY{Invalid move.}
/]}~;{V0 (jS1z1z0z_S0z1z_S_z1z0z_]}~\_{@,('O-]}
~z#1{{\H0K#1!1{\H1q}(!q]}}~q{@QS@JK[j="(\HZ^'Z\_2]\&q|[j='ZVV($(\H|Z!0]]]]}~\,#1{Q#1:\.}
~\.#1{J#1;[0<V\&[V>WWVUQLJ]]}~\^#1{(#1O0O1O2O2O2O2O1O0]}
~\&{!\^Q\multiply!3@!\^J@V(!9O1O6O1O1O2O6O2O4] }~\Z{M :{&M}&M{*}}
~){'X"X"N'\halign{&## *M{*}
\Z\h1A\h2B\h3C\h4D\h5E\h6F\h7G\h8H\Z}
\vfil\break$1W(W_|0] :\,$0 [0<W[1='QUJL|/];^'\_1][_=WM
{(,Tie| Player [0>,-|0] wins by N[0>,-],].}X\end])})

It is – intentionally, of course – named reverxii in reminescence to David Carlisle. Just compare Peter Flynn’s answer here. — Speravir, Mar 26 '13 at 16:47
I don't know why it's taken me so long to run this through... this is absolutely insane. Why? Why? — Sean Allred, Dec 30 '13 at 12:45
Side effect, you get a play history printed on the resulting PDF/DVI. ■ (I wonder what algorithm the bot uses. The bot is actually pretty good, almost beat me the time I try.) — user202729, Jul 10 '22 at 05:32

score 45 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 26 '13 at 17:24

45

I once spent hours learning enough TeX to format my ex-gf's resume for printing on the computing center laser printer (back when laser printing was magical) and used up most of my monthly laser printing quota printing copies of it -- all under the mistaken belief that she'd see that she was crazy to break up with me.

Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a useless waste of my time (and in retrospect, it was me that should have broken up with her). Worse, word got around that I was a "TeX expert" and I ended up spending the rest of my computer center operator job helping grad students format their theses

answered Mar 26 '13 at 17:24

Johnny

101

5

Sorry, but this not an answer to the spirt of the question. – Speravir Mar 26 '13 at 17:26
9

Maybe I misunderstood the {fun} tag – Johnny Mar 26 '13 at 17:40
51

@Speravir: I'm not sure about the "spirit of the question", but for me, using TeX for making a gf regret breaking up definitely counts. – mbork Mar 26 '13 at 18:57
74

Well, I actually once met a nice girl because she needed help formatting her thesis and was told I was a "TeX expert". She's now my wife, and we had our first child 6 months ago :) – Xavier Mar 26 '13 at 21:12
1

@mbork (and also at Johnny): With an extra-twist I do understand very well, what Johnny’s intention was, and this is actually a nice one :-). But the answers given here by Xavier as the topic starter imply clearly another intention. – Speravir Mar 26 '13 at 23:13
4

@Xavier: congratulations! – mbork Mar 26 '13 at 23:26
3

@mbork For the baby, or for highlighting the incredible value of TeX in a "bizarre" way? :D – Xavier Mar 27 '13 at 00:16
3

@Xavier: both? :D – alexwlchan May 06 '13 at 12:10
6

@Xavier Shouldn't there be a word for it... like "TeXpert"? – Mario S. E. Jul 07 '13 at 20:53
Consider deleting this answer – Arkapravo Mar 08 '14 at 19:35
@MarioS.E. It would be TeXnician as the pronunciation of TeX isn't the one in TeXpert. This is the first question in the TeXbook. – Skillmon Sep 27 '18 at 19:43

score 29 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

29

Solving a non-linear equation

Not typesetting the solution (actually, also typesetting the solution of course :)), but more bizarrely implementing the bisection and secant non-linear solvers in TeX!

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Community

1

answered Mar 25 '13 at 18:52

Xavier

13,947

You know, I am at this moment wondering whether there is an easy way to graph some trajectories of a nonlinear system of ODEs in pgfplots. Obviously, my search is ended. (Oh, this only does algebraic equations. Boooo!) – Ryan Reich Mar 25 '13 at 20:11
@RyanReich: You may have a look at http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/graphics/pstricks/contrib/pst-ode . Though I must admit that the actual calculation is done by your Postscript printer rather than by TeX. – AlexG May 21 '13 at 11:30

score 21 · Answer 8 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

21

This one is probably my best:

Is there a documentclass that produces 'endless' pages? (please take a look at percusse's comment - pure genius! :))

But there are a few of them scattered around on this site. Here are my picks:

Shortest code causing "Emergency stop." error
Stop LaTeX compile with a command?
Selectively suppress generation of typeset output
Typesetting the entire Song That Never Ends
Malicious code and/or PDF generation
Forcing LaTeX to produce a different PDF on each compile (never reaching a stable output)

... and, as a bonus:

How should I convert my beamer slides to PowerPoint according to these odd specifications?

I really don't see why someone would go back to MS Office after using LaTeX... Now that's weird! ;)

EDIT: and i just remembered this one (Why facebook implemented it? But why recreate it in LaTeX? ;)):

Text upside-down, characters rotated along baseline?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

1

answered Mar 25 '13 at 22:41

Count Zero

17,424

I am the originator of the "How should I convert my slides to PowerPoint...?" question and if you read it you will note that it was not my desire to back to MS Office. But I'm glad the question has achieved a measure of notoriety. – Matthew Leingang Mar 27 '13 at 02:16
@MatthewLeingang: I know you were forced into it. Nevertheless, it was a weird thing to do IMHO and I'm only happy to advertise it. :) – Count Zero Mar 29 '13 at 21:49
1

and years later, I can add that I use beamer, but some of my users want to modify the slides and only know word. yikes. so I have to maintain both. – ivo Welch Mar 13 '17 at 21:55

score 21 · Answer 9 · edited Jul 07 '13 at 16:27

21

Calculating π with TeX

Generates π, using the formula

pi=16*arctan(1/5)-4*arctan(1/239)

and leaves the result in an array \xr, printing what it’s calculated as it goes along.

edited Jul 07 '13 at 16:27

Xavier

13,947

answered Mar 26 '13 at 09:36

rcs

5,331
2
20
16

score 20 · Answer 10 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

20

Well, as made famous by a question of mine I have used LaTeX to make to make props for a Call of Cthulhu game. I also posted the finished product on my blog.

Then later on I used the same technique to make my teaching assistant's life a bit more interesting

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Community

1

answered Mar 25 '13 at 18:58

Canageek

17,935

score 19 · Answer 11 · edited Jul 07 '13 at 16:28

Implementing the bisection method (and other numerical methods) in TikZ,
for exposition purposes.

EDIT: Great thanks to percusse for helping me improve my \ifg command.

enter image description here

\documentclass[dvipsnames]{beamer}

\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}

% 'if #1 greater than #2 then #3 else #4' construct (compatible with pgfmath)
\newcommand{\ifg}[4]{
    \pgfmathparse{(#1)>(#2)?int(1):int(0)}
    \ifnum\pgfmathresult=1relax%
        #3%
    \else%
        #4%
    \fi%
}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}[fragile]
    \begin{center}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=6]
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\extendxaxis}{.1}
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\extendyaxis}{.3}
    \colorlet{acolor}{red}
    \colorlet{bcolor}{OliveGreen}
    \colorlet{ccolor}{orange}
    \colorlet{fcolor}{blue}
    \pgfmathdeclarefunction{f}{1}{\pgfmathparse{.5*(exp(-#1)-#1)}} % continuous function
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\ao}{.2}   % lower-bound of initial bracket
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\bo}{1}    % upper-bound of initial bracket
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\co}{0}    % midpoint of inital bracket (initialised at 0)
    \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\n}{3}        % number of iterations

    \ifx\ao\bo % check that \ao and \bo are distinct 
        \node[red] (0,0) {Bisection impossible: singleton initial bracket.};
    \else%
        \ifg{\ao}{\bo}{ % if \ao > \bo, swop them
            \pgfmathsetmacro{\temp}{\bo}
            \pgfmathsetmacro{\bo}{\ao}
            \pgfmathsetmacro{\ao}{\temp}
        }{}
        % code in here
        \ifg{{f(\ao)*f(\bo)}}{0}{%
            \node[red] (0,0) {Bisection impossible: no root in initial bracket.};
        }{%
            \onslide<1->{%
                \pgfmathsetmacro{\xmin}{\ao-.5*\extendxaxis*(\bo-\ao)}
                \pgfmathsetmacro{\xmax}{\bo+.5*\extendxaxis*(\bo-\ao)}
                \draw[->] (\xmin,0) node[left] {$0$} --
                    (\xmax,0) node[right] {$x$};
                \pgfmathsetmacro{\ymin}{min(f(\ao),f(\bo))-.5*\extendyaxis*abs(f(\bo)-f(\ao))}
                \pgfmathsetmacro{\ymax}{max(f(\ao),f(\bo))+.5*\extendyaxis*abs(f(\bo)-f(\ao))}
                \draw[->] (\xmin,\ymin) -- (\xmin,\ymax) node[left] {$f(x)$};
                \draw[fcolor] plot[domain=\xmin:\xmax] (\x,{f(\x)});
            }
            \pgfplotsforeachungrouped \k in {1,2,...,\n}{%
                \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\k}{\k}
                \pgfmathsetmacro{\co}{0.5*(\ao+\bo)}
                \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\j}{\k-1}
                \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\fromslide}{3*(\k-1)+2}
                \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\toslide}{\fromslide+2}
                \onslide<\fromslide-\toslide>{
                    \draw[thick,acolor] (\ao,.1ex) --
                        (\ao,-.1ex) node[below] {$a_{\j}$}; % a0
                    \draw[thick,bcolor] (\bo,.1ex) --
                        (\bo,-.1ex) node[below] {$b_{\j}$}; % b0
                }
                \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\fromslide}{\fromslide+1}
                \onslide<\fromslide-\toslide>{%
                    \draw[thick,ccolor] (\co,.1ex) --
                        (\co,-.1ex) node[below] {$c_{\j}$};     
                }
                \onslide<\toslide>{%
                    \coordinate (a0) at (\ao,{f(\ao)});     
                    \draw[dashed,thin,red]  (a0 |- \xmin,0) -- (a0)
                        -- (a0 -| \xmin,0) node[left] {$f(a_{\j})$};% dashed lines
                    \draw[fill,red] (a0) circle (.05ex);            
                    \coordinate (c0) at (\co,{f(\co)}); 
                    \draw[dashed,thin,orange]   (c0 |- \xmin,0) -- (c0)
                        -- (c0 -| \xmin,0) node[left] {$f(c_{\j})$};% dashed lines      
                    \draw[fill,orange] (c0) circle (.05ex);                                 
                }
                \ifg{f(\ao)*f(\co)}{0}{ % bisection iteration
                    \pgfmathsetmacro{\ao}{\co}
                }{%
                    \pgfmathsetmacro{\bo}{\co}
                }
                \ifx\n\k%
                    \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\toslide}{\toslide+1}
                    \pgfmathtruncatemacro{\j}{\j+1}
                    \onslide<\toslide>{%
                        \draw[thick,acolor] (\ao,.1ex) --
                            (\ao,-.1ex) node[below] {$a_{\j}$}; % a0 
                        \draw[thick,bcolor] (\bo,.1ex) --
                            (\bo,-.1ex) node[below] {$b_{\j}$}; % b0 
                    }
                \fi                     
            }
        }
    \fi
    \end{tikzpicture}
    \end{center}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Do I need to do anything special to compile your code? It hangs with File ended while scanning use of \next. :( — Xavier, Mar 25 '13 at 19:28
Weird. Works great on my machine, but copying and pasting it on the site introduces an error somewhere... I'll figure it out. — jub0bs, Mar 25 '13 at 19:35
@Xavier Remove the white-space in front of \end{frame} and it works. The manual states for using fragile: “In this case, […] the \end{frame} must be alone on a single line.” — Qrrbrbirlbel, Mar 25 '13 at 19:56
@Qrrbrbirlbel Thanks! If TeX starts to be picky about spaces, I am lost :) — Xavier, Mar 25 '13 at 20:00
@percusse Thanks. Feel free to edit my answer accordingly. I've tried your improvement but I get an error... — jub0bs, Mar 28 '13 at 14:53
@percusse I've tried \newcommand{\ifg}[4]{% \pgfmathparse{#1>#2?int(1):int(0)}\ifnum\pgfmathresult1% #3% \else% #4% \fi% } but I get an error: Missing = inserted for \ifnum. <to be read again> \begingroup }{}. What am I doing wrong? — jub0bs, May 24 '13 at 21:39
@percusse If I define \newcommand{\ifg}[4]{% \pgfmathparse{#1>#2?int(1):int(0)}% \ifnum\pgfmathresult=1\relax% #3% \else% #4% \fi% }, my code returns errors. My original definition of \ifg and your proposed simplification must not be equivalent, somehow. I'm lost. — jub0bs, May 25 '13 at 00:18
@percusse I couldn't figure it out. Works like a charm now. Great thanks for that! — jub0bs, May 25 '13 at 20:00
@Jubobs My pleasure. Let's clean up the comments to reduce the our noise :) — percusse, May 26 '13 at 11:30

score 16 · Answer 12 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

16

Providing an excuse for slacking off

Just let (La)TeX burn some CPU cycles while you are relaxing.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Community

1

answered Jul 03 '13 at 01:40

krlmlr

12,530

4

The #1 programmers excuse for legitimately slacking off: http://xkcd.com/303/ – Martin Thoma Jul 10 '13 at 17:18

score 15 · Answer 13 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

Enrico “egreg” Gregorio posted this into our TeX.sx chat:

Let me name it xcix.tex, because it’s in the manner of David Carlisle’s xii.tex, cf. Peter Flynn’s answer

\let~\catcode~`x13~`q~`x~`z~`q~`H~`q~`B~`H~`j0~`jA009
jlet~jlet~Hjpar ~Bjmscount~~jdef~x{q bottlez of beer}
~jw{x on the wall}~jt{jadvanceAB-1ATake one down Aand
pass it around,H}B99~ji{jifnumB}~q{ji=0Nojelsejnumber
Bjfi}~z{ji>1sjfiA }jloop jifnumB>0 jw, x,Hjtjw.jvskip
8ptplus1ptjrepeat Time to buy some more beerjdotsjend

(source link)

The same as LaTeX3 version

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xparse}

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{1.5ex}

\ExplSyntaxOn
% user level command
\NewDocumentCommand{\beers} { O{99} }
 {
  \manual_beers_sing:n { #1 }
 }
% variables
\int_new:N \l_manual_beers_count_int
% functions
\cs_new_protected:Npn \manual_beers_sing:n #1
 {
  \int_set:Nn \l_manual_beers_count_int { #1 }
  \prg_replicate:nn { \l_manual_beers_count_int }
   {
    \manual_beers_print:
    \int_decr:N \l_manual_beers_count_int
   }
  Time ~ to ~ buy ~ some ~ more ~ beer ~ \dots
 }
\cs_new_protected:Npn \manual_beers_print:
 {
  \manual_beer_text:nn { ~ on ~ the ~ wall }{ 0 }, ~
  \manual_beer_text:nn { } { 0 }, \\
  Take ~ one ~ down ~ and ~ pass ~ it ~ around, \\
  \manual_beer_text:nn { ~ on ~ the ~ wall } { -1 }.\par
 }
\cs_new:Npn \manual_beer_text:nn #1 #2
 {
  \int_case:nnF { \l_manual_beers_count_int + #2 }
   {
    { 0 } { No ~ bottle ~ of ~ beer }
    { 1 } { 1 ~ bottle ~ of ~ beer }
   }
   {
    \int_to_arabic:n { \l_manual_beers_count_int + #2 } ~ bottles ~ of ~ beer
   }
  #1
 }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\begin{document}
\beers
\end{document}

(source link, small correction; the code as seen above is, though, in this version, as it will appear in a manual by Enrico, which is in the moment, this code was posted, in process of writing)

This was influenced by me, because I had posted these two links:

99 Bottles of Beer | Language TeX/LaTeX (for compilation read comment of Kiyoshi Akima below that code)
99 Bottles of Beer | Language LaTeX2e loading fmtcount and tikz
(which has a link to an older version 99 Bottles of Beer | Language LaTeX2e working with memoir and loading only ifthen)

May I ask what is \mscount? I surmise it is like \newcount, but cannot find it anywhere. Thanks a lot in advance. — awllower, Oct 06 '16 at 07:47

score 13 · Answer 14 · answered May 20 '13 at 18:03

13

Implementing a Turing machine simulator
(TeX is Turing complete)

Hail to the busy beaver!

answered May 20 '13 at 18:03

Xavier

13,947

1

Link is broken (domain for sale). – Paŭlo Ebermann Jul 27 '17 at 14:07

score 13 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 06 '20 at 10:25

13

At this stage, having seen a lot of bizarre things done with LaTeX by users :-) I should probably add the bookshelf package I posted to CTAN recently.

This takes a BiBTeX file (eg your thesis) and turns it into an image of a bookshelf so you can use it as a background during video calls; in my case to cover up the fact that my bookshelves were hideously untidy :-)

answered Jul 06 '20 at 10:25

Peter Flynn

2,870

Wow... how did you even think of this? – defunct-user Jun 16 '21 at 10:16
1

Some years ago I was playing with the idea of formatting actual book spines in LaTeX (starting with the TeXbook, of course) to make a virtual bookshelf. It's basically a \rotatebox of the text inside a \colorbox,. Then the first lockdown came along and I saw that instead of trying to retypeset the actual appearance, you could just pick a size and shape and a font using the random package, and take the data from any BiBTeX file. – Peter Flynn Jun 17 '21 at 13:01

score 2 · Answer 16 · answered Mar 26 '19 at 15:14

2

The avremu package

…emulates an 8-bit CPU (ATmega8).

answered Mar 26 '19 at 15:14

Damien Pollet

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From the manual: “This picture (250x250) took 44 hours to render. ”. ;-) – egreg Mar 26 '19 at 18:22

What is the most bizarre thing you have seen done with TeX

16 Answers16

Linked

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