So, now you've typed a file and you want to see what a
beautiful job you have done. The first thing you must do is
to get a .dvi version of your .tex file. 
\
converts the text and commands in the .tex file you
produce into special codes in the .dvi file which
specify exactly where on the page each letter and symbol is
to go. You can then use special programs to view the
.dvi file on the screen.
Let us suppose you have saved the file (mythesis.tex) and are now
typing commands to the
shell again. (That is, you are back talking to Unix, and
have the % prompt.)
You can create a .dvi file from your .tex file
by typing
latex mythesis
commands
in the file mythesis.tex.
Now one of two things will happen.
ends by telling you how many pages you have
generated, and that it has created the files
mythesis.dvi and mythesis.log among others.
The former is
the interesting one; the others we don't care about here. You are
now ready to view or print your paper. executes up to some point and
then stops, signaling in an obvious way that it has encountered something
incomprehensible. The error statements come in varying degrees of mystery
and helpfulness. Basically, most mistakes arise from forgetting dollar
signs or forgetting curly brackets. tells you the line that the
mistake seems to be on, so this is a reasonable place to start looking for
your mistake. It may be somewhere nearby if not on that line.
Having encountered some problems, you will want to return to the file to make corrections. Exit the latex process by typing ``x''. Then return to the paper and reedit, save and use the latex command again.
Assuming that you have something which is mistake-free--at least according
to --you will now want to see just what sort of
beautiful symbols you have generated. You should first view
your magnum opus on screen, and only when it looks right, print
it out. Explanations follow below.