Writing Technical Content

Image credit: John Moeses Bauan

Academic is designed to give technical content creators a seamless experience. You can focus on the content and Academic handles the rest.

Highlight your code snippets, take notes on math classes, and draw diagrams from textual representation.

On this page, you’ll find some examples of the types of technical content that can be rendered with Academic.

Examples

Code

Academic supports a Markdown extension for highlighting code syntax. You can enable this feature by toggling the highlight option in your config/_default/params.toml file.

```python
import pandas as pd
data = pd.read_csv("data.csv")
data.head()
```

renders as

import pandas as pd
data = pd.read_csv("data.csv")
data.head()

Math

Academic supports a Markdown extension for LATEX math. You can enable this feature by toggling the math option in your config/_default/params.toml file.

To render inline or block math, wrap your LaTeX math with $...$ or $$...$$, respectively.

Example math block:

$$\gamma_{n} = \frac{ 
\left | \left (\mathbf x_{n} - \mathbf x_{n-1} \right )^T 
\left [\nabla F (\mathbf x_{n}) - \nabla F (\mathbf x_{n-1}) \right ] \right |}
{\left \|\nabla F(\mathbf{x}_{n}) - \nabla F(\mathbf{x}_{n-1}) \right \|^2}$$

renders as

γn=|(xnxn1)T[F(xn)F(xn1)]||F(xn)F(xn1)|2

Example inline math $\nabla F(\mathbf{x}_{n})$ renders as F(xn).

Example multi-line math using the \\\\ math linebreak:

$$f(k;p_0^*) = \begin{cases} p_0^* & \text{if }k=1, \\\\
1-p_0^* & \text {if }k=0.\end{cases}$$

renders as

f(k;p0)={p0if k=1,1p0if k=0.

Diagrams

Academic supports a Markdown extension for diagrams. You can enable this feature by toggling the diagram option in your config/_default/params.toml file or by adding diagram: true to your page front matter.

An example flowchart:

```mermaid
graph TD
A[Hard] -->|Text| B(Round)
B --> C{Decision}
C -->|One| D[Result 1]
C -->|Two| E[Result 2]
```

renders as

Text
One
Two
Hard
Round
Decision
Result 1
Result 2

An example sequence diagram:

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
Alice->>John: Hello John, how are you?
loop Healthcheck
    John->>John: Fight against hypochondria
end
Note right of John: Rational thoughts!
John-->>Alice: Great!
John->>Bob: How about you?
Bob-->>John: Jolly good!
```

renders as

AliceJohnBobHello John, how are you?Fight against hypochondrialoop[ Healthcheck ]Rational thoughts!Great!How about you?Jolly good!AliceJohnBob

An example Gantt diagram:

```mermaid
gantt
section Section
Completed :done,    des1, 2014-01-06,2014-01-08
Active        :active,  des2, 2014-01-07, 3d
Parallel 1   :         des3, after des1, 1d
Parallel 2   :         des4, after des1, 1d
Parallel 3   :         des5, after des3, 1d
Parallel 4   :         des6, after des4, 1d
```

renders as

2014-01-062014-01-062014-01-072014-01-072014-01-082014-01-082014-01-092014-01-092014-01-10Completed Active Parallel 1 Parallel 2 Parallel 3 Parallel 4 Section

An example class diagram:

```mermaid
classDiagram
Class01 <|-- AveryLongClass : Cool
<<interface>> Class01
Class09 --> C2 : Where am i?
Class09 --* C3
Class09 --|> Class07
Class07 : equals()
Class07 : Object[] elementData
Class01 : size()
Class01 : int chimp
Class01 : int gorilla
class Class10 {
  <<service>>
  int id
  size()
}
```

renders as

«interface»Class01int chimpint gorillasize()AveryLongClassClass09C2C3Class07Object[] elementDataequals()«service»Class10int idsize()CoolWhere am i?

An example state diagram:

```mermaid
stateDiagram
[*] --> Still
Still --> [*]
Still --> Moving
Moving --> Still
Moving --> Crash
Crash --> [*]
```

renders as

StillMovingCrash

Todo lists

You can even write your todo lists in Academic too:

- [x] Write math example
- [x] Write diagram example
- [ ] Do something else

renders as

  • Write math example
  • Write diagram example
  • Do something else

Tables

Represent your data in tables:

| First Header  | Second Header |
| ------------- | ------------- |
| Content Cell  | Content Cell  |
| Content Cell  | Content Cell  |

renders as

First Header Second Header
Content Cell Content Cell
Content Cell Content Cell

Asides

Academic supports a shortcode for asides, also referred to as notices, hints, or alerts. By wrapping a paragraph in {{% alert note %}} ... {{% /alert %}}, it will render as an aside.

{{% alert note %}}
A Markdown aside is useful for displaying notices, hints, or definitions to your readers.
{{% /alert %}}

renders as

A Markdown aside is useful for displaying notices, hints, or definitions to your readers.

Spoilers

Add a spoiler to a page to reveal text, such as an answer to a question, after a button is clicked.

{{< spoiler text="Click to view the spoiler" >}}
You found me!
{{< /spoiler >}}

renders as

You found me!

Icons

Academic enables you to use a wide range of icons from Font Awesome and Academicons in addition to emojis.

Here are some examples using the icon shortcode to render icons:

{{< icon name="terminal" pack="fas" >}} Terminal  
{{< icon name="python" pack="fab" >}} Python  
{{< icon name="r-project" pack="fab" >}} R

renders as

Terminal
Python
R

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Susilo Darsono
Susilo Darsono
Lecture in Economics

My research interests include sustainable investment, capital market, islamic economics and finance, machine learning and data science for economics, business and finance.