Fitting table first and last columns to exactly text width

Question

I'm trying to create a new table in which the text of the first column begins exactly on the left margin, and the text on the last column ends at exactly the right margin.

Additionally, I also want the first two columns to be very close together and the last two columns to be close together as well, with maximal space in between.

Here's what I have so far, which is very close, but the first column isn't exactly in the first margin, and the last column isn't exactly at the right margin either:

\documentclass[letterpaper,9pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in,letterpaper]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
    \newcolumntype{R}{>{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}X}%
    \newcolumntype{L}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X}%
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ r l R L }
        \textbf{High Level Languages}   & Python, Mathematica              & 
        \textbf{Statistical Languages}  & Stan                             \\
        \textbf{Low Level Languages}    & C, C\texttt{++}, CUDA            & 
        \textbf{Shells}                 & Zsh, Bash                        \\
    \end{tabularx}
\end{center}

\noindent
\lipsum[1]

\end{document}

And here's a rendered version of the previous document:

And here is how I would like it to look like (done manually on photo editing software with red lines to emphasize the desired location):

I would also like to avoid line wrapping at all cost, which seems to be something that happens even thought there is still enough space between columns, and as a bonus point possibly adding a long row at the bottom that spanned across all columns, although I think this is fairly simple and a matter of creating a multiline environment, but I'm saving it for later in hopes of being able to solve this problem first.

Answer 1

\documentclass[letterpaper,9pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in,letterpaper]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\setlength\tabcolsep{2pt} % half the space between column 1 and 2 and
                          % between 3 and 4
\noindent
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{} r l @{\extracolsep{\fill}} r@{\extracolsep{2\tabcolsep}} l@{} }
    \textbf{High Level Languages}   & Python, Mathematica              & 
    \textbf{Statistical Languages}  & Stan                             \\
    \textbf{Low Level Languages}    & C, C\texttt{++}, CUDA            & 
    \textbf{Shells}                 & Zsh, Bash                        \\
\end{tabular*}

\lipsum[1]

\end{document}

Answer 2

Like this:

(red lines indicate page layout)

\documentclass[letterpaper,9pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in,letterpaper]{geometry}
%---------------- show page layout. don't use in a real document!
\usepackage{showframe}
\renewcommand\ShowFrameLinethickness{0.15pt}
\renewcommand*\ShowFrameColor{\color{red}}
%---------------------------------------------------------------%

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
    \newcolumntype{L}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X}%
\setlength\tabcolsep{3pt}   % if you like to reduce spaces between columns
                            % default size is 6pt
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{} >{\bfseries}r L >{\bfseries}r l @{}}
                            % @{} remove \tabcolsep at start and end of table
High Level Languages    
    & Python, Mathematica   & Statistical Languages 
                                        & Stan          \\
Low Level Languages
    & C, C\texttt{++}, CUDA & Shells    & Zsh, Bash     \\
    \end{tabularx}
\end{center}

\noindent
\lipsum[1]

\end{document}

Request to avoid text wrapping for "any cost" means, that in cases, when text in cells is to long, it will extend table width and consequently it will not end at right text border. Is this acceptable to you?

Answer 3

Why not two tabulars?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in,letterpaper]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{tabular}[t]{@{}ll@{}}
  \textbf{High Level Languages}   & Python, Mathematica \\
  \textbf{Low Level Languages}    & C, C\texttt{++}, CUDA
\end{tabular}\hfill
\begin{tabular}[t]{@{}ll@{}}
  \textbf{Statistical Languages}  & Stan \\
  \textbf{Shells}                 & Zsh, Bash
\end{tabular}

\noindent
\lipsum[1][1-3]

\end{document}

If you replace with

\begin{tabular}[t]{@{}r@{\enspace}l@{}}

in both tabulars, you get

Not something I'd like to have; personal taste, though.

The two tabulars might be awful to type, so here's a version that accepts a much simpler user-level syntax.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in,letterpaper]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\ExplSyntaxOn

\NewDocumentCommand{\skills}{m}
 {
  \ferreira_cv_skills:n { #1 }
 }

\seq_new:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_seq
\tl_new:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl

\cs_new_protected:Nn \ferreira_cv_skills:n
 {
  \group_begin:
  \par\addvspace{\medskipamount}
  \seq_clear:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_seq
  % store the skills
  \cs_set_eq:NN \skill \__ferreira_cv_skills_add:nn
  #1
  % process the skills
  \cs_set_eq:NN \skill \__ferreira_cv_skill_print:nn
  \noindent
  % first the odd skills
  \tl_clear:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl
  \seq_indexed_map_function:NN \l__ferreira_cv_skills_seq \__ferreira_cv_skill_make_odd:nn
  \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}r@{\enspace}l@{}}
  \tl_use:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl
  \end{tabular}
  \hfill % fill the line
  % now the even skills
  \tl_clear:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl
  \seq_indexed_map_function:NN \l__ferreira_cv_skills_seq \__ferreira_cv_skill_make_even:nn
  \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}r@{\enspace}l@{}}
  \tl_use:N \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl
  \end{tabular}
  \group_end:
  \par\addvspace{\medskipamount}
 }
\cs_new_protected:Nn \__ferreira_cv_skills_add:nn
 {
  \seq_put_right:Nn \l__ferreira_cv_skills_seq { \skill{#1}{#2} }
 }
\cs_new_protected:Nn \__ferreira_cv_skill_print:nn
 {
  \textbf{#1} & #2 \\
 }

\cs_new_protected:Nn \__ferreira_cv_skill_make_odd:nn
 {
  \int_if_odd:nT { #1 } { \tl_put_right:Nn \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl { #2 } }
 }
\cs_new_protected:Nn \__ferreira_cv_skill_make_even:nn
 {
  \int_if_odd:nF { #1 } { \tl_put_right:Nn \l__ferreira_cv_skills_body_tl { #2 } }
 }

\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

\noindent
\lipsum[1][1-5]

\skills{
  \skill{High Level Languages}{Python, Mathematica}
  \skill{Statistical Languages}{Stan}
  \skill{Low Level Languages}{C, C\texttt{++}, CUDA}
  \skill{Shells}{Zsh, Bash}
}

\noindent
\lipsum[1][1-5]

\skills{
  \skill{High Level Languages}{Python, Mathematica}
  \skill{Statistical Languages}{Stan}
  \skill{Low Level Languages}{C, C\texttt{++}, CUDA}
  \skill{Shells}{Zsh, Bash}
  \skill{Typography}{\LaTeX}
}

\noindent
\lipsum[1][1-5]

\end{document}

The idea is to build the two tables taking the odd-numbered and the even-numbered items.