Re: [Axiom-developer] Re: noweb

[root]

Bill,

> Please forgive my irritation but this issue *has* been discussed
> repeatedly on this list. Most recently see:

i realize that the current solution is an irritation to you.
i'd suggest that you check out a copy of axiom and integrate
the patch. it's not as simple as it seems. fully integrating
the patch involves, at least,

  *) change configure to check for an installed noweb
  *) if noweb is not installed build it
  *) if noweb is installed check to see if the filter already exists
  *) if noweb is already patched use it
  *) if noweb is not patched use the scripted patch

  *) put the patch in src/scripts
  *) modify src/scripts/Makefile.pamphlet to document and include the patch
  
  *) modify the main makefile to exclude the current patch

  *) document the changes
  *) build and test it against a prior version
  *) post the diffs.

the limiting factor for accepting this fix is that i just don't
feel it's a priority. i have a lot of changes to axiom "in the
pipe", all of which are taking up my time and attention. a well
tested changeset would go a long way to getting it off your
irritation list.

> Really, this script is not so hard to understand is it?

yes, it is. really. it just reads as line noise to me. for example,
the variable 'uses' is not defined anywhere. nor is 'defns'.
what exactly is it trying to iterate over and where does the
data come from? this is all probably apparent to a sed/awk/shell
programmer but the point of literate programming is to make it
apparent to those people who need to maintain it. if i can't
understand it without learning 3 new languages then the next
person who needs to maintain it might not understand it either.

the fact that you understand a scripting language does not
make it the least bit transparent to me. 

t