====== Code listings in LaTeX ======


"Pretty" code listings are sometimes considered worthwhile by the
"ordinary" programmer, but they have a serious place in
the typesetting of dissertations by computer science and other
students who are expected to write programs.  Simple verbatim listings
of programs are commonly useful, as well.

[[4_domaines_specialises:informatique:inclure_un_fichier_en_mode_verbatim|Verbatim listings]] are dealt with elsewhere,
as is the problem of [[4_domaines_specialises:informatique:ecrire_du_pseudocode|typesetting algorithm specifications]].

The [[ctanpkg>listings]] package is widely regarded as the best bet for
formatted output (it is capable of parsing program source, within the
package itself), but there are several well-established packages that
rely on a pre-compiler of some sort.  You may use [[ctanpkg>listings]]
to typeset snippets that you include within your source:

<WRAP column 40ex>
<code latex>
\usepackage{listings}
\lstset{language=C}
...
\begin{document}
\begin{lstlisting}
#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
  printf("Hello world!\n");
  return 0;
}
\end{lstlisting}
\end{document}
</code>
</WRAP>
<WRAP column>
<latexdoc>
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{listings}
\lstset{language=C}
\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
\begin{lstlisting}
#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
  printf("Hello world!\n");
  return 0;
}
\end{lstlisting}
\end{document}
</latexdoc>
</WRAP>
<WRAP clear />

or you can have it typeset whole files:
<WRAP 40ex>
<code latex>
\usepackage{listings}
\lstset{language=C}
...
\begin{document}
\lstinputlisting{main.c}
\end{document}
</code>
</WRAP>
<WRAP clear />

These very simple examples may be decorated in a huge variety of ways,
and of course there are other languages in the package's vocabulary
than just ''C''...

For a long time, advice on (La)TeX lists seemed to regard
[[ctanpkg>listings]] as the be-all and end-all on this topic.
In the last few years, viable alternatives have appeared

''Highlight'' is attractive if you need more than one output
format for your program: as well as (La)TeX output,
''highlight'' will produce (X)HTML, RTF and XSL-FO representations
of your program listing.  The manual leads you through the details
of defining a parameter file for a "new" language, as well as
the presentation details of a language.

The [[ctanpkg>minted]] package is another alternative that offers
the means of creating new language definitions.  It requires that code
be processed using an external (''python'') script, ''[[https://pygments.org/|Pygments]]''.
''Pygments'', in turn, needs a "lexer" that knows the language you
want to process; lots of these are available, for the more commonly-used
languages, and there is advice on "rolling your own" on the
''[[https://pygments.org/docs/lexerdevelopment/|Pygments]]'' website.

Usage of [[ctanpkg>minted]] can be as simple as

<WRAP 40ex>
<code latex>
\begin{minted}{<language>}
...
\end{minted}
</code>
</WRAP>
<WRAP clear />

which processes the program code dynamically, at typesetting time ---
though such usage is likely to require that 
[[2_programmation:compilation:write18|separate processing be enabled]].

On a rather different path, the package [[ctanpkg>showexpl]] supports
typesetting (La)TeX code and its typeset output, in parallel "panes".
(This could provide support for (La)TeX instruction texts, or for papers
in TeX user group publications.  The package uses [[ctanpkg>listings]]
for its (La)TeX pane, and typesets the result into a simple box, for the other pane.

Longer-established, and variously less "powerful" systems include:

  * The ''lgrind'' system is a well-established pre-compiler, with all the facilities one might need and a wide repertoire of languages; it is derived from the even longer-established ''tgrind'', whose output is based on Plain TeX.
  * The ''tiny_c2l'' system is slightly more recent: users are again encouraged to generate their own driver files for languages it doesn't already deal with, but its "tiny" name correctly hints that it's not a particularly elaborate system.
  * The ''C++2LaTeX'' system comes with strong recommendations for use with ''C'' and ''C++''.
  * An extremely simple system is ''c2latex'', for which you write LaTeX source in your ''C'' program comments.  The program then converts your program into a LaTeX document for processing.  The program (implicitly) claims to be "self-documenting".


-----
//Source:// [[faquk>FAQ-codelist|Code listings in LaTeX]]

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