\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{local} % a couple of local macros I'm using
\pagestyle{empty}  % leave off page numbering for a one-page document

\begin{document}
\filename          % this macro is defined in local.sty

\noindent
This isn't quite the simplest possible \LaTeX\ document:

% this part isn't all that simple.  :)  ``all'' it's doing is putting
% two boxes in a centered line.
\begin{center}
\fbox{\parbox{2in}{\ttfamily
\noindent
\bsl documentclass\{article\}\\  % \bsl is defined in local.sty
\bsl begin\{document\}\\
This isn't quite the\\
simplest \bsl LaTeX\bsl\ document.\par
\ \\
\noindent
Now with \bsl emph\{two\}\\
paragraphs!\\
\bsl end\{document\}
}}\quad
\fbox{\parbox{2in}{\noindent\hspace*{5pt}
This isn't quite the 
simplest \LaTeX\ document.\par
\noindent\hspace*{5pt} 
Now with \emph{two} paragraphs!
}}
\end{center}

\noindent
It is supposed to illustrate a couple of key points, however:
\begin{itemize}
\item
The document begins with a \texttt{\bsl documentclass}
command, which tells how the document will be formatted (with the
\texttt{article} format),
\item
All of the text following \texttt{\bsl begin\{document\}} is
shown in the document,
\item
In the document, \emph{line breaks and extra spaces are ignored}, so
that even though there was a line break between the words ``the'' and
``simplest,'' \LaTeX\ decided where to break the line to best fit the
``page,''
\item
The exception to this is the two carriage returns between the
paragraphs, which are interpreted as a paragraph break.  In the
\texttt{article} format, this prompts \LaTeX\ to indent the
paragraphs,
\item
We use \emph{macros} to control the typesetting of text.  Some just
insert text or characters (\texttt{\bsl LaTeX}), some have
arguments, (\texttt{\bsl emph\{emphasized text\}}), some have
optional arguments, given with square brackets.  And there
are macros which are like ``switches,'' but we'll talk about those
later, and
\item
Spaces are ignored after macros, so that to get a space trailing a
macro we include an explicit space by escaping it with a backslash (as
in \texttt{\bsl LaTeX\bsl\textvisiblespace}).
\end{itemize}

\noindent
A couple of other notes about typing text in \LaTeX:
\begin{itemize}
\item
Spacing: Generally speaking, there's no reason to muck with \LaTeX's
choice of spacing.  There are two possible exceptions to this.  
When a line shouldn't break on a space, use a \emph{tie}
(the tilde character \texttt{\~{}}): P.~Gavin LaRose is typed
\texttt{P.\~{}Gavin LaRose}.  And \LaTeX\ will put a longer space
following a period that isn't preceded by a capital letter, which you
don't always want---for Prof.\  LaRose, type \texttt{Prof.\bsl\ LaRose}.
\item
Hyphens: An en-dash is obtained with a double-hyphen: \texttt{-{}-}.
Thus, to get pp.~1--7, type \texttt{pp.\~{}1-{}-7}.  Similarly, an
em-dash is a triple-hyphen---as used here: we type
\texttt{\ldots a triple-hyphen-{}-{}-as used here:\ldots}  And a
hyphen is a single-hyphen.  Duh.
\item
Breaks: Generally speaking, don't force line breaks.  If you have to,
use a double-backslash (\texttt{\bsl\bsl}).  Force a page break with
\texttt{\bsl newpage}.
\end{itemize}

\end{document}
