LaTeX vs. reStructuredText
Since 2007, I use LaTeX. I have used it for documentation, essays and especially for lab reports and other stuff at university. Since around 2011, I know about reStructuredText and use it for most of my documentation, and for a single lab report. My website is also done in reStructuredText, which is very elegant for web content.
Both seem powerful for the stuff I need. LaTeX is page oriented,
reStructuredText can be compiled to an endless webpage, but also to LaTeX. With
pandoc
, both formats can be converted into each other, so there is really no
limit on using both.
How is LaTeX better then reStructuredText?
- better typography
-
Okay, this is not really something that reStructuredText is bad at, it is just the browsers that are not as good at that.
- powerful citation system
-
BibTeX is a really powerful solution for citations. reStructuredText has references, but they are pretty much just footnotes.
- minted
-
Syntax highlighting with LaTeX code in it could be very useful for a bigger scientific document where there are a couple formulas to explain. On the other hand, they do not really belong into the source code anyway.
- greater user base
-
In academia, everyone knows LaTeX, and most of the stuff is made with LaTeX. Therefore, it might be beneficial do use what everyone else uses.
- programmable
-
reStructuredText can be extended to, but LaTeX is a complete programming language with a ton of packages for it.
- TikZ
-
In some of the problem sets, I already used TikZ to get some nice drawings. In a bachelor's thesis, there are going to be lots of drawings. In reStructuredText, there is some TikZ support, but it does not use the exact same fonts.
How is reStructuredText better than LaTeX?
- easy syntax
-
A reStructuredText is very clear to read and edit. I can read LaTeX "fluently" by now, but it is still kind of awkward.
- Sphinx
-
When content is available in reStructuredText, it can easily be used in websites that are made with Sphinx. Then, Sphinx can create a neat website and good looking PDFs using
pdflatex
. - quick syntax highlighting
-
With the
code
directive, one can easily pretty print source code in any context. minted is more powerful, but also more cumbersome to use.