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I highly doubt writing texmacs or other complex coding for diagrams leads to the same memory retention as plotting by hand.

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Back in the days of transition from writing with bird feathers to writing with steel tips that one didn't have to sharpen, such claims were made as well.

And perhaps they were right as well. Seems to me the general idea is to use a mildly inefficient tool to bottleneck your notetaking speed with the goal of increasing the total amount of time spent with the material; a plausible enough idea I think.

Isn't the context here in-class notes? The time spent is a constant, and the goal is to maintain the right kinds/ratios of focus.

What? No. Also notes when studying.

Both studies were about taking notes during a lecture.

The way you take notes during self-directed studying is important, and should be tested, but wasn't.

Was there a different study somewhere that wasn't focused on lectures?

I agree that while it might be fun / efficient / impressive to learn the various methods of quickly specifying mathematical diagrams using symbolic entry, it distracts from the underlying message of the lecture.

Experiential salience is important for learning. It would be like copy and pasting code without typing it out yourself re a tutorial.

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