[gnosis]

No, you don't need any special editor. In fact, I wouldn't recommend using one, as all the special editors are really just a crutch. It's much better to learn how to program the underlying LaTeX itself, rather than rely on some high-level tool to do it for you. (just my opinion here)

There are an absolute glut of LaTeX tutorials out there to get you started. Here's one:

http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/index.html

But there are many, many others. Some are particularly good for people in certain specialties. For instance, here's an excellent LaTeX resource for logicians:

http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/teaching_staff/Smith/logicmatters/...

[apl]

Ha. I remember Smith being ridiculously adamant about everybody using LaTeX for their essays and logic stuff...