
Nothing is wrong with LaTeX.
The syntax of LaTeX may not be the best, but it is consistent.
Packages influence each other because it's the way software works.
* prints an asterisk; but in some cases, put after a command modifies its behavior.
$ enters math mode, for typesetting math formulas
You can define your \foo macro in a safe way. Just don't try typesetting backslashes.




You want that

\foo{xyz}


executes

\def\xyz{the name}


Thus you have to add a backslash to the argument or, better, to form a symbolic token with that name. This is available by \csname...\endcsname or, in the LaTeX kernel, by \@namedef:

\makeatletter
\def\foo#1{\@namedef{#1}{the name}}
\makeatother


This is quite easy, isn't it?

What you did was to define

\foo{xyz}


to produce

$\backslash$def$\backslash$xyz$\{$the name$\}$


which is good for printing something, not for definitions.

Latex - How to define commands macros the save way
When going to a JPG photo folder OS C drive and opening it to view photos in an icon mode the icons only show a generic picture. If I click on the icon then the actual photo comes up. It seems like this problem just started happening. In the past I would open a folder and view icons and the photos were all there to view at once. I don't believe I made any intentinal changes. Thanks for the help. 
