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Literate Programming
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notes.md

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYHsQarGaQ8

Donald Knuth, 2016, R Conference

Motivation

  • consider computer programs as literature

  • idea is to find the best way to explain a program to a human being

  • writing a program optimized for human readability first, compiler readability second.

Basic ideas

  • publication of computer programs as a book
  • think of a program as a hypertext
  • complexity from composition of lots of small simple parts
  • Small simple modules, connected to small other modules

Advantages

  • Diagrams, tables etc. can be kept beside the code
  • code may get rewritten when it is correct but difficult to explain
  • code can be understood by human beings
  • pedagogical style
  • also include design descisions
  • time saving comes from debugging through better understanding
  • May make some sort of very complex programs possible at all by reduction of congnitive load.

Disadvantages

  • a lot more work
  • more difficult to create

Examples

A Retargetable C Compiler: Design and Implementation, Christopher Fraser

  • This book is the implementation of LCC

Understanding MP3, Martin Ruckert

  • This book includes a complete MP3 player
  • You can zoom in on all the details if you want

Physically Based Rendering, Matt Pharr, Greg Humpherys

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