[Axiom-developer] Literate Programming

[daly]

didier,

> I don't know much about lp but maybe it isn't catching up because the
> tools are too limited and/or too combersome for "normal users"?

I don't think it is a tools issue at the core of the problem.
I think the problem is that it is hard work. To write for the
machine I only have to convince the compiler to swallow the code.
To write for the human I have a much harder task.

The only thing I believe will make literate programming become the
norm will be "rising standards". Proofs in the 1800s are now considered
"handwaving" today, lacking in rigor. Standards have changed. Programs
from the 1960s look hopelessly primitive now. Standards have changed.
Eventually Axiom will set the standard for computational mathematics.

For large, theory based programs like Axiom where the algorithms and
answers are timeless it makes sense to invest time and effort into
documenting the code in great detail. Each person can contribute
something small and the whole will build up, reorganize, and
eventually represent a large (hopefully coherent) whole. We only need
to do a small amount with each change. If we document a single
function out of a domain because we modified that function then it
represents progress. People can take on the task of organizing and
documenting parts of code that are of interest to them. I've started
on the interpreter (bookvol5) and eventually hope to have that fully
literate.

It's not the tools. Latex is trivial to use. It's the work.

Tim