[OS X TeX] Excel tables to LaTeX - new script

[Gary L. Gray]

On Jul 14, 2009, at 11:52 PM, Rolf Turner wrote:

> On 15/07/2009, at 3:44 PM, Alan Munn wrote:
>
>> At 1:07 PM +1200 7/15/09, Rolf Turner wrote:
>>> On 15/07/2009, at 12:55 PM, Alan Munn wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>
>>>> Tables are always a pain in the neck to write in LaTeX.  I used to
>>>> use an Excel macro xl2latex.xls which would convert an Excel  
>>>> table to
>>>> LaTeX
>>>
>>> 	<snip>
>>>
>>> 	There is no accounting for taste, or the lack thereof.
>>>
>>> 	I have *never* found tables to be a pain in the anywhere,
>>> 	in LaTeX.  Page 64 of Lamport's book makes everything crystal
>>> 	clear.  Whereas I wouldn't touch Excel with a sterilised
>>> 	barge pole.  For anything.
>>>
>>> 	Fortunately freedom of choice prevails; except insofar as
>>> 	the MicroSoft monopoly forces the rest of us to use the MS
>>> 	junk ``because everybody else does''.
>>>
>>
>> And your point is? If you don't need it, don't use it. Some of us
>> live in a world where we use a variety of tools as fit our own
>> workflow.  Nothing in what I posted implied that tables were
>> difficult to understand, so reference to Lamport is pretty
>> irrelevant. I suppose you must feel smugly superior with your
>> posting. Many people use Excel for various reasons, and having a
>> simple way to cut and paste between Excel and LaTeX may be useful to
>> those people.  Since you're not one of them, simply go about your
>> business as if nothing had happened.
>>
>> (I guess I shouldn't feed the troll, but I'd like to keep this list
>> the friendly place it usually is.)
>
> 	Just ***who*** is being unfriendly?

You were.

First of all, not everyone is a LaTeX table savant. Some people do  
find tables in LaTeX to be challenging. With that said, Alan was nice  
enough to share a tool for LaTeX tables that he created and that he  
finds useful. In my opinion, the appropriate response to that is to be  
appreciative and thankful, not snarky.

Let's end the non-TeXnical part of this exchange here.

-- Gary
    (The guy who hosts/runs this list.)