LaTeX (pronounced Lah-tech) is an open source markup language used for typesetting a large variety of documents types. The advantage over any other word processor is that it has good control over large documents and complex layouts documents, allows typesetting of complex mathematical formula, special fonts or characters, tables and figures, as well as typesetting of multi-lingual documents. LaTeX also facilitates automatic generation of bibliographies and indexes. For these reasons, LaTeX is preferred in science and engineering writing.
To run LaTeX on the personal computer, one have to install one of the TeX distribution packages. LaTeX can be used without installation using an online platforms like Overleaf that makes collaborative writing and publishing much quicker and easier. Other online platforms are Papeeria, ShareLaTeX, Datazar, and LaTeX base.
BibTeX is the native format style for citations used in LaTeX. With BibTeX, each reference is typed once, and citations and reference list are created in a consistent output, in a style of your choice that is part of LaTeX.