README.md

UNISA INF1505 Notes

This repo contains the LaTeX files needed to compile a set of notes for the course Introduction to Business Information Systems at the University of South Africa.

Accessing the Notes

A PDF can be generated using latexmk, or any other LaTeX compiler. If you want to access pre-generated PDFs, please check the Releases section on the sidebar.

Contributing

Please fork this repo, make your changes, and then open a pull request.

The Code

The Structure

• The file notes.tex contains the general structure and order of the files. Building this file should build all the other .tex files, and include them in one .pdf called notes.pdf
• Each part has a separate folder for the chapters in that part. These are contained in the units folder.
• Each chapter is a separate tex file, stored within the folder for that part.
• If the chapter contains images, these are contained in a folder with the same number as the chapter. For example: Chapter 7 Images.
• The styles, commands and packages used are in the package file notestyles.sty

Packages Used

TeX packages that have been used are:

• amsmath, amssymb: Used for mathematical symbols and environments
• babel: Use description environment, and chapter renaming
• bookmark: Set pdf bookmarks accurately
• changepage: Allow paragraphs to be indented
• enumitem: Used to improve the way lists are displayed
• fancyhdr: Improve header and footer display
• fontenc, charter, inconsolata, cabin, newtxmath, bm: Font display
• geometry: Used for document margins
• graphicx: Used for images
• hyperref: Add PDF bookmarks
• hyphsubst: Prevent hyphenation on line ends
• parskip: Set proper default values for paragraph separation
• subfiles: Allow tex files to be written separately, but built together
• tabularray: Better table display and management.
  • Also uses libraries to simulate booktabs and varwidth
• tcolorbox, adjustbox: Create colored boxes for different environments
• tikz: Used for images.
  • forest: Used for tree diagrams
  • circledsteps: Used to circle characters
• xcolor: Used to get more colours
• xstring: Analyse strings given as arguments to an environment

Commands Added

For intellisense, a list of the commands is added in the package_intellisense folder. These have been written in formats that can be understood by different LaTeX tools.

Commands

• addfile [input] {<filename>}: Include or input the file into the document. By default, it includes the file, the option input can be given to input it instead.
• concept {text}: Mark specific text as a concept to be learned. Puts the text in bold.
• question {text}: Mark specific text as a question. Puts the text in bold, and adds extra spacing.
• rulebookend: Insert a decorative horizontal line at the end of the text.
• rulechapterend: Insert a decorative horizontal line at the end of each unit.

Environments

• definition {title}: Coloured box used for highlighting important concepts.
• example: Coloured box used to highlight examples.
• exercise {title}: Coloured box used to highlight exercises.
• indentparagraph: Indent selected text to the left.
• sidenote: Coloured box used to indicate extra information.

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