I used LaTeX to write up both my M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses and for a few other documents. I loved it. At the same time, that was in the 90s and word processing programs have come a long way since then, and I don't feel a need for it like I used to. A developer friend who defaulted to it back then now uses Word. Most people do as far as I know, though LaTeX is still popular.
What are your son's career aspirations? If he wants to work in computer science, learning LaTeX (and an editor like emacs) would probably benefit him. If he isn't shooting for an IT-type track, but is mathy, R or Mathematica would be good choices. R is especially good for statistics. Both are way more meaty than LaTeX. Then there are HTML and CSS, which are everywhere and also very useful. Etc.
Last edited by Val; 06/20/16 07:06 PM.
