TART: A Technical Assignment/Report Template for LaTeX

The TART class was initially written to format lab reports for the ECE 455 and ECE 429 courses at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario. The class was written using MiKTeX, an implementation of TEX for Windows.

Setting up a Basic Assignment

Using TART is pretty simple, even for a beginner TeX user. First, throw the TART class technical_assignment_report.cls in the same directory as your .tex file. Secondly, include the TART class by putting \documentclass{technical_assignment_report} at the top of your tex file. After this, you can set up your assignment by filling out the following fields:

• \coursetitle {<course title>} sets the course title for the report
• \assignmentdate {<date>} sets the due date of the report.
• \assignmenttitle {<assignment title>} sets the report title.
• \groupnumber {<group number>} sets your group number.
• \groupmembers {<name1>}{<name2>}{<name3>}{<name4>}{<name5>} sets your group members' names, user id numbers, or usernames. You don't need to fill in all the blanks, just make sure there are five sets of braces in all. For reference, see technical_assignment_report.tex.

You're now set! Your basic .tex file should look something like:

\documentclass{technical_assignment_report} 

\coursetitle {ECE 100}
\assignmentdate {\today}
\assignmenttitle {Lab \#1 Report}
\groupnumber {22}
\groupmembers {jsmith}{r2crusoe}{sholmes}{}{}

\begin{document}
	\fulltitle
	\brief
	Your brief text.

	\setup %or \environment
	Your setup or environment text.

	\nsection{Some Section Heading}
	Your section text.

	\erroranalysis
	Your error text.

	\ncitation{Results}
	Your results text.
\end{document}

You have a couple of options with the title. \fulltitle currently renders the title with both the group number and the group members. \fulltitlegroupnum omits the group members, while \fulltitlegroupmem omits the group number.

If the current formatting of the title doesn't suit your needs, you can always just set your \title and \author the way you would with a normal .tex document; \maketitle and \maketitlepage are still supported.

List of Macros

Basic Macros

• \course This displays the full course title as specified.
• \assignment This displays the assignment title as specifed.
• \duedate This displays the due date as specified.
• \group This displays the group number as specified.
• \groupmem This displays the groupmembers as specified. Up to 5 are allowed by the definition function.
• \fulltitlegroupnum This displays the title of the assignment with the course number, assignment title, date, and group number.
• \fulltitlegroupmem This displays the title of the assignment with the course number, assignment title, date, and group members.
• \fulltitle This displays the title of the assignment with the course number, assignment title, date, group number, and group members.

Section Types

• \nsection This creates a section with supressed numbering.
• \ncitation This creates a section with supressed numbering on a new page. Ideally should be used for citations, results, or glossaries.

Headings and Default Text Snippets

• \brief Creates a `Brief ' section.
• \setup Creates a `Setup' section.
• \environment Creates an `Environment' section.
• \erroranalysis Creates an `Error Analysis' section.

Styles

• \mnspace Uses a nice monospace font for code references or numbers.

Formulae

Some common formulae. Right now this is the only one I could think of to add, but please file an issue if you can think of more commonly used formulae that you'd like to have included.

• \percenterror {<differing-num>}{<base-num>} This displays the the percent error formula.