<p>I would like to express an active preference for the "code format" tables over Latex ones in most circumstances, particularly if the table has been aligned properly.</p>

<p>The ease of copying tables of data into a spreadsheet or script for further analysis or graphing is a huge advantage and something I regularly make use of. I have occasionally had to copy Latex tables into a spreadsheet or script and found it a significant inconvenience. (Slightly easier to do it from the Latex source rather than just copying directly what's rendered in the browser, but there is still quite a lot of formatting to change.)</p>

<p>Latex tables are sometimes superior, particularly if you know that the table contains a lot of textual description or certainly isn't something someone is going to want to input into a script, e.g.</p>

<p>$$
\begin{array}{c|ccc}
\times &amp; \text{-ve} &amp; 0 &amp; \text{+ve} \\
\hline
\text{-ve} &amp; \text{+ve} &amp; 0 &amp; \text{-ve} \\
0 &amp; 0 &amp; 0 &amp; 0 \\
\text{+ve} &amp; \text{-ve} &amp; 0 &amp; \text{+ve}
\end{array}
$$</p>

<p>... or for which a "clean" layout or the ability to use Latex typesetting would be helpful, e.g.</p>

<p>$$
\begin{array}{c|cc}
 &amp; x &amp; y \\
\hline
x &amp; x^2 &amp; xy \\
y &amp; xy  &amp; y^2 \\
\end{array}
$$</p>
