From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: tsd@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye) Subject: Re: [OT] Don't use BibTeX! Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 16:58:55 -1000 Message-ID: References: <1396673952.81320.YahooMailBasic@web141706.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> <87y4zk5cd0.fsf@ucl.ac.uk> <87ob0fk9lc.fsf@berkeley.edu> <20140405213324.5e88c2fa@aga-netbook> <87txa5j4tp.fsf@berkeley.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:48475) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WWznG-0002rA-00 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Apr 2014 23:00:22 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WWzn9-0001l0-2l for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Apr 2014 23:00:17 -0400 Received: from gproxy5-pub.mail.unifiedlayer.com ([67.222.38.55]:59087) by eggs.gnu.org with smtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WWzn8-0001kQ-RY for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Apr 2014 23:00:10 -0400 In-Reply-To: <87txa5j4tp.fsf@berkeley.edu> (Richard Lawrence's message of "Sun, 06 Apr 2014 18:39:30 -0700") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Richard Lawrence Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org, Marcin Borkowski Hi Richard, If you're just starting out, I encourage you to use biblatex. It will take a few minutes to make the switch and then you won't have to think about it. A biblatex site you find googling should tell you what you need to know. There are several differences, but a big one is that biblatex supports a much more informative database and so can handle almost any bibliographic situation. For those of us with large legacy bibtex databases, the database differences are a real issue, but for someone just getting started this isn't such a consideration.=20 Biblatex is the wave of the future in the LaTeX world. hth, Tom Richard Lawrence writes: > Marcin Borkowski writes: > >> Dnia 2014-04-05, o godz. 09:46:39 >> Richard Lawrence napisa=C5=82(a): >> >>> I have sometimes run into problems (mostly with BibTeX) when the >> >> Sorry for being off-topic, but I can't resist: *please* *don't* *use* >> *BibTeX*. On the scale of "tools that solve problems" vs. "tools that >> create problems" (cf. http://xkcd.com/1343/ ;)), it is located on the >> far right. > > Now now, the first sentence on http://www.bibtex.org/Using/ says that to > use Bibtex, "Just create a plain text file and apply what has been > explained in section BibTeX File Format."! It doesn't say anything > about how to use the manual. ;) > >> (For instance, to be able to customize its bibliography style, you >> could (a) give up, (b) use some user-friendly (or not) front-end, >> having less power than BibTeX itself (obviously!), or (c) learn >> BibTeX's own, very peculiar, stack-based ad-hoc language grown to >> describe bibliography styles. Not good. Also, if you're unlucky and >> you write in some non-English language, well, you're unlucky with >> BibTeX, especially if e.g. your name starts with a non-Latin letter. >> Etc.) > > I mostly use bibtex because that's what I learned, and none of these > issues apply to me at this (early) stage in my career. I have no need > for customizing my bibliography style. I suppose this will matter more > to me when I start sending things out for publication, but at this point > I'm still just trying to write the damn dissertation... > >> Use biblatex instead. It's more modern, it's being supported, it >> knowns that there exist things like UTF-8 and non-English languages, >> it supports more citation styles etc. > > I have heard this, but haven't investigated biblatex because I haven't > yet really felt the need. > > I keep my reading list and notes in Org, then export them to a .bib file > using org-bibtex. Does biblatex support .bib files? If not, what would > be required to support a biblatex-based workflow in Org? > > Thanks for keeping me honest! > > Best, > Richard > > > --=20 Thomas S. Dye http://www.tsdye.com