Taking My University Course Computer Science Notes in LaTeX

How I use my XPS 15 with Linux, Vim, and TeX Live/Pandoc to take high-quality notes that will last forever

My Background

I’m a first-year computer science student at the University of Southampton, England. I don’t like taking notes on paper. For my A-levels, I used my Note 8 with its stylus to take my notes.

I tend to lose my paper notes or spill things on them, leading to me rewriting them which becomes counter-productive really quickly.

Writing my notes on a laptop allows me to access them anywhere, anytime. I can also go back to them in five to ten years if I forget something, without having to keep thick folders with old paper notes. I’m also much faster at typing (95+ wpm) than I am at writing (approximately 15 wpm).

I spent a lot of time at the start of this semester on the internet trying to find the best solution for a computer science student to take notes and I think I finally settled on the best solution for me.

LaTeX and Markdown

I realized that I can split my notes into two different categories; those that require complex mathematical equations/figures, and those that don’t.