[Axiom-developer] Pamphlets source files

[Gabriel Dos Reis]

"Bill Page" <address@hidden> writes:

[...]

| You are still talking about reading the source of the document and
| not about reading the presentation form of the document itself. It is
| expected in a successful literate programming project however that
| most people would begin by reading the actual literate documents in
| their final format as dvi or pdf files or in printed form like in a
| journal or a book.

It has been asserted many times that "literate programming" is about
writing for humans, not machines; it has also been asserted that Axiom
is a literate.  However, each time I get into Axiom source code, I
have the distinctive feeling that the source code has been written or
formatted for the machines, not the human.  Compared to GCC -- not
literate in the sense used here -- the source code are far much more
readable and understandable -- let alone documentation.  I have the
sense that a non-literate project as GCC has source files written for
humans, and not for machines :-)

I know, it is easy to say; but, think about it when you change pamphlets.
They should be written by humans *for humans*, not just for the typesetting
machines that would render the final DVI or PDF eventually read by humans.

-- Gaby