Writing technical content in Academic

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()

Charts

Academic supports the popular Plotly chart format.

Save your Plotly JSON in your page folder, for example chart.json, and then add the {{< chart data="chart" >}} shortcode where you would like the chart to appear.

Demo:

You might also find the Plotly JSON Editor useful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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()
}

An example state diagram:

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

renders as

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

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

Callouts

Academic supports a shortcode for callouts, also referred to as asides, 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

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

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

Did you find this page helpful? Consider sharing it 🙌