Start code for tikz picture

   \usepackage{tikz}
   \usetikzlibrary{positioning} 
   \usetikzlibrary{arrows,shapes} 
   ...
    \begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=1.5cm,scale=0.70,transform shape,font=\sffamily] 
	\begin{pgfscope} 
	    \tikzstyle{every node}=[draw,rectangle, rounded corners, minimum height=2.5em] 
	    \node (1) at (0,0) {Master}; 
	    \node (2) [left=of 1] {Slave}; 
	    \node (3) [right=of 1] {Slave}; 
	    \node (4) [above=1.5cm of 1] {Slave}; 
	\end{pgfscope} 
	\begin{scope}[-latex] 
	    \draw (2) -- (1) node[midway,below] {x}; 
	    \draw (3) -- (1) node[midway,below] {x}; 
	    \draw (4) -- (1) node[midway,left] {x}; 
	\end{scope} 
    \end{tikzpicture}

hints for listings

Use

 ,moredelim=**[is][\bfseries]{|}{|}

inside of options setting and you can define where you get bold code parts. For Example

 printf(...)
 |this is new|
 prinft(asdf)

would print the middle line in bold font.

page margins do not fit

 \begin{center}
 \vspace*{-2cm}
 CD LABEL
 \vspace*{6cm}
 CD TITLE
 \end{center}

this code sketch was used to print A4 pages for a cd label.

Serifen oder Serifenlos (Groteske/Sans Serif)?

article here

Compare code samples with basicstyle=\small and basicstyle=\small\sffamily.

new commands

Witout parameter

 \newcommand{\xvec}{\mbox{$x_1,\ldots,x_n$}}

With on parameter

 \newcommand{\avec}[1]{\mbox{$#1_1,\ldots,#1_n$}}

With two parameters

 \newcommand{\anvec}[2]{\mbox{$#1_1,\ldots,#1_#2$}

With optional parameter

 \newcommand{\ovec}[2][n]{\mbox{$#2_1,\ldots,#2_#1$}}

if called as \ovec[m]{x} it will take m as parameter #2 otherwise it takes n.

If there is a problem that after the insertion of the new command the text is added with no space character between the following text you can enforce a space character after the command with

 \xvec{}

 \xvec\

where a space is following behind the second backslash.

ensure math mode

 \renewcommand{\ovec}[2][n]{\ensuremath{#2_1,\ldots,#2_#1}}

new enviroments

 \newenviroment{sitqoute}{\begin{quote}\small\itshape}{\end{quote}}

install custom .cls or .sty files

The easiest way is to copy new files under your home directory. For example if you download a new package named asdf.zip with contained .sty etc files.

 mkdir ~/texmf/tex/latex/asdf
 cp asdf.sty ... ~/texmf/tex/latex/asdf

Thats all.

or I found another way if the above does not work:

copy files into sub-sub-sub-directories texmf/tex/latex/mynewclass
run command texhash or mktexlsr

special characters

ä = "a
é = \`e
è = \'e
\^a \~a \H{a} \=a \u{a} \.a \v{a} \r{a} \t{aa} \d{a} \b{a} \k{a} \c{a}

short reference for latex

 \documentclass[a5paper] {article}
 \usepackage{ngerman}
 \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}

 \begin{document}
 your text
 \end{document}

default classes

article
report
book

\documentclass{class} \documentclass[opt1,opt2,...]{class}

10pt,11pt,12pt
a4paper,letterpaper,...
titlepage,notitlepage
twoside,oneside
openright,openany
twocolumn
fleqn
leqno

document structure

 \part
 \chapter
 \section
 \subsection
 \subsubsection
 \paragraph
 \subparagraph
 \appendix

Title of document

 \documentclass[titlepage,a4paper]{article}
 \begin{document}
 \title{this is the first line
 and this the second line
 of the title
 }

 \author{
 Foo Bar
 \and{}
 Another Foobar
 }

 \date{March 2008}

 \maketitle

 \tableofcontents
 \newpage

Preface

 \chapter*{Preface}
 \addcontentsline{Preface}

Preface will be not numbered but add into table of contents

Appendix

 \appendix
 \chapter{blabla}
 \chapter{further blabla}

Summary after title

With 'abstract' and after \maketitle

changeable section names

 \abstractname
 \appendixname
 \bibname
 \chaptername
 \contentsname
 \indexname
 \listfigurename
 \listtablename
 \partname
 \refname

change of the numbering of pages

 \pagenumbering

arabic
roman
alph

top- and bottomline

 \pagestyle

heading
plain (only page number)
empty

multiple columns

 \begin{multicols}{2}
    text in 2 columns
 \end {multicols}

Text structuring

Lists

unnumbered

 \begin{itemize}
 \item asdf
 \item qwer
 \end{itemize}

numbered

 \begin{enumerate}
 \item asdf
 \item qwer
 \end{itemize}

enumeration

 \begin{description}
 \item asdf
 \item qwer
 \end{itemize}

unformated text

 \verb/\LatTeX{}/
 Bei der URL \url|http://www.asdf.org| gibt es was feines.

To print a whole file as unformated text use

 \verbatiminput{filename}

Quotation

 \begin{quote}
    Der Mensch kann tun was er will, aber er kann nicht wollen was er will.
 \end{quote}

font sizes

 \tiny
 \scriptsize
 \footnotesize
 \small
 \normalsize
 \large
 \Large
 \LARGE
 \huge
 \Huge

word separation

 Sei\-ten\-um\-bruch

Tables

 \begin{tabular}{lcr}
     left'\\'
     center'\\'
     right'\\'
 \end{tabular}

 \begin{tabular}{|l|p{7cm}|}
 \hline
    alsdjflkasjdlfkjasldkjf

 \hline
   alsdjflkajsdlfkj
 \end{tabular}

figures and tabulars (Abbildungen und Tafeln)

 \begin{figure}[position]
  % content
  \caption{subtext for figure}
 \end{figure}


 \caption[shorttitle]{text under figure}

To change the automatic text which appears e.g. Fig. 23.11

 \renewcommand{\figurename}{Bild}

The figure* and tabular* commands use the whole space if the text is a two column one.

To position the object use:

 \begin{table}[pos]

where pos is

 h here
 t top
 b bottom
 p page

feet notes

 \footnote{see paper xy on http://www.org}

end notes

appear at the end of the chapter and will be created with

 \usepackage{endnotes}

 \endnotes
 ajsdlfkjdsfalskdjflkasdjf
 end of chapter
 \theendnotes

links and references

 \label{imagewhereyoucanseesomething}
 \label{equationforcomputation}

but no numeration at all to have the ability of movements of the objects.

 look at the fine picture \ref{imagewhereyoucanseesomething}. There you can see ...

 \pageref{asdf}

 \usepackage{titleref}
 \titleref{asdf}

Better references with package 'varioref':

 \usepackage[german]{varioref}
 Das Bild zeigt \vref{fig:lökj} zeigt ...

creates different text in dependence of the distance of the reference to its destination.

References to external documents with package 'xr'.

 \externaldocument[mypapername:]{mypaper.tex}
 asdf
 Wie wir in Abschnitt \ref{mypapername:asdf} zeigen ...

Latex