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Archive-name: literate-programming-faq
Last-modified: 2000/03/15 Version: 1.3.1 See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
The Literate Programming FAQ
David B. Thompson <thompson@shelob.ce.ttu.edu>
Version: 1.3.1, Mar 15, 2000
The purpose of this document is two-fold: First, there is a need to
present a basic description of literate programming and how applica-
tion of literate programming principles can improve the resulting
code. Second, there is a need to present a list of tools available
to
iterate programmers. Hopefully, this document will meet both needs.
____________________________________________________________________
__
Table of Contents
1. Welcome
1.1 Disclaimer
1.2 Copyright
1.3 What's New?
1.4 What's Needed?
2. Introduction
3. How do I get the FAQ?
3.1 Literate Programming FAQ
4. Is there a newsgroup?
5. What internet nodes are of interest to literate programmers?
5.1 Web Ring
5.2 The Literate Programming Archive (LPA)
5.3 Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN)
6. What is Literate Programming?
7. How do I begin literate programming?
8. Important and Actively-Supported Tools
8.1 CWEB
8.2 CWEBx3.0
8.3 FWEB
8.4 noweb
8.5 nuweb
8.6 ProTeX
9. Unsupported Tools
9.1 AFTWEB (Almost Free Text WEB)
9.2 APLWEB
9.3 CLiP
9.4 mCWEB
9.5 FunnelWeb
9.6 FunnelWeb 3.0AC
9.7 LEO
9.8 Literate Programmer's Workshop (LPW)
9.9 MapleWEB
9.10 Matlabweb
9.11 RWEB
9.12 SchemeWEB
9.13 SpideryWEB
9.14 WEB
9.15 WinWordWEB
10. Are there other tools I should know about?
10.1 C2LaTeX
10.2 c2cweb
10.3 c2man
10.4 cnoweb
10.5 dpp
10.6 Fold2Web
10.7 Funnelweb Mode
10.8 noweb.el
10.9 noweb-outline.el
10.10 nuweb.el
10.11 Web mode
11. What other resources are available?
11.1 TeX Resources
12. Are there any code examples?
13. Bibliographies
14. Other Opinions about Literate Programming
14.1 van Ammers
14.2 Ramsey
14.3 My (Dave Thompson's) Experience
14.4 Others
15. How to anonymously ftp
16. Acknowledgements
17. End notes
____________________________________________________________________
__
1. Welcome
Information contained in this document is the best available at
preparation. The original file was dated October 15, 1993 (just for
historical purposes).
1.1. Disclaimer
This FAQ is presented with no warranties or guarantees of ANY KIND
including correctness or fitness for any particular purpose. The
author of this document has attempted to verify correctness of the
data contained herein; however, slip-ups can and do happen. If you
use this data, you do so at your own risk.
1.2. Copyright
Copyright 1993-2000 by David B. Thompson. All rights reserved
worldwide. Permission is granted to copy this document for free
distribution so long as it remains intact and unmodified. For other
arrangements, contact the author/maintainer via email:
<thompson@shelob.ce.ttu.edu>
1.3. What's New?
o Updated dpp entry. See Section ``dpp''
o Added noweb-outline.el entry. See section ``noweb-outline.el''
1.4. What's Needed?
o I've checked some of the links to software. If anyone finds the
FAQ useful, please let me know if the links are active or dead
when
you're surfing.
o Some authors have disappeared. If you know one of them, or are
an
author (and wish to remain in contact ;), then please provide
current contact information.
o I could use some feedback on the state of the FAQ. It's about as
complete as I know how to make it.
2. Introduction
Literate programming is a phrase coined by Donald Knuth to describe
the approach of developing computer programs from the perspective
of a
report or prose. The focus, then, is on description (and
documentation) of the approach in human-readable form. This is in
contrast to the normal approach of focusing on the code.
This document is for new and experienced users of literate
programming
tools. The purpose is to explain the concept of literate
programming
and to provide a resource for locating resources of interest to
literate programmers and those interested in literate programming.
The Literate Programming (LitProg) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
list is maintained by Dave Thompson <thompson@shelob.ce.ttu.edu>.
Comments and constructive criticisms are welcome. Direct flames to
/dev/null (or nul if you're a msdos user! ;-) If you find an error,
please report it. I'm particularly interested in establishing the
locations of generally available literate programming tools. If you
are the author of such a tool and wish to have it included in this
list, please send email.
Please note this is a work-in-progress. It is not complete, and
probably will never be complete. Nevertheless, the information
contained herein may be useful to some. Use it as it is intended.
3. How do I get the FAQ?
3.1. Literate Programming FAQ
You have many ways to get a current copy of this FAQ. One is to use
anonymous ftp (if you don't know how, see a later section in this
FAQ)
to connect to one of the ``Comprehensive TeX Arvchive Network''
sites
or the Literate Programming Archive and retrieve a copy of the file.
Open an ftp connection to one of the CTAN sites and retrieve the
file
help/comp.programming.literate_FAQ.
Cesar Bellardini cballard@santafe.com.ar prepared a translation of
the
FAQ into Spanish. It's available at
(For more information on CTAN and the literate programming archive,
see the section below entitled ``Internet Nodes of Interest to
Literate Programmers''.)
4. Is there a newsgroup?
One of the most important resources is the literate programming
newsgroup, comp.programming.literate. Because of the amount of
spamming and unrelated posts, the newsgroup is now moderated. You
can
read this newsgroup using your standard reader.
5. What internet nodes are of interest to literate programmers?
The principal nodes of interest to literate programmers are the
Literate Programming Archive (LPA hereafter) and the CTAN
(Comprehensive TeX Archive Network).
5.1. Web Ring
There is a web ring for literate programming. It is at the URL
www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=litprog;list
5.2. The Literate Programming Archive (LPA)
The Literate Programming Archive (LPA) is:
o Node: ftp.th-darmstadt.de [130.83.55.75]
o Directory: /pub/programming/literate-programming
o Notes: Fastest response during off-U.S. [yep] business hours.
However, the LPA seems to be defunct in that no files are available
in
the /pub directory. If anyone knows anything about the status of
the
LPA, please send email.
5.3. Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN)
Participating hosts in the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network are
(from
the file CTAN.sites):
o ftp.dante.de (Mainz, Germany)
o anonymous ftp /tex-archive (/pub/tex /pub/archive)
o Gopher: gopher.dante.de
o e-mail ftpmail@dante.de
o WWW www.tex.ac.uk
o Administrator: <ftpmaint@dante.de>
o ftp.tex.ac.uk (Cambridge, UK)
o anonymous ftp /tex-archive (/pub/tex /pub/archive)
o Gopher: gopher.tex.ac.uk
o NFS mountable from nfs.tex.ac.uk:/public/ctan/tex-archive
o WWW www.tex.ac.uk
o Administrator: <ctan-uk@tex.ac.uk>
o ctan.tug.org (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
o anonymous ftp /tex-archive (/pub/archive)
o WWW ctan.tug.org
o Administrator: <ctan@tug.org>
The pointer, ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/tex/ctan/, is
directed
to the official list of CTAN archive sites and their mirrors.
6. What is Literate Programming?
Literate programming is the combination of documentation and source
together in a fashion suited for reading by human beings. In fact,
literate programs should be enjoyable reading, even inviting!
(Sorry
Bob, I couldn't resist!) In general, literate programs combine
source
and documentation in a single file. Literate programming tools then
parse the file to produce either readable documentation or
compilable
source. The WEB style of literate programming was created by D.E.
Knuth during the development of his TeX typsetting software.
All the original work revolves around a particular literate
programming tool called WEB. Knuth says:
The philosophy behind WEB is that an experienced system pro-
grammer, who wants to provide the best possible documenta-
tion of his or her software products, needs two things
simultaneously: a language like TeX for formatting, and a
language like C for programming. Neither type of language
can provide the best documentation by itself; but when both
are appropriately combined, we obtain a system that is much
more useful than either language separately.
The structure of a software program may be thought of as a
web that is made up of many interconnected pieces. To docu-
ment such a program we want to explain each individual part
of the web and how it relates to its neighbours. The typo-
graphic tools provided by TeX give us an opportunity to
explain the local structure of each part by making that
structure visible, and the programming tools provided by
languages such as C or Fortran make it possible for us to
specify the algorithms formally and unambigously. By combin-
ing the two, we can develop a style of programming that max-
imizes our ability to perceive the structure of a complex
piece of software, and at the same time the documented pro-
grams can be mechanically translated into a working software
system that matches the documentation.
See Section ``Other Opinions'' for some additional thoughts on
literate programming.
7. How do I begin literate programming?
I've given considerable thought as to what should be in this section
of the FAQ. This is probably the most important section of this
document. My suggestion is that you review Section ``Supported
Tools'' and Section ``Unsupported Tools'' to choose a system
appropriate for the kind of development you do. Then, use the
manual
that accompanies the system to determine how it complements your
development style.
Both Eric van Ammers, Section ``van Ammers'', and Norman Ramsey,
Section ``Ramsey'', wrote some thoughts on literate programming.
I've
included these thoughts in Section ``Other Opinions'' below.
I started with a pretty-printing tool, Section ``cnoweb'', as a test
of the utility of interweaving significant documentation with code.
My experience is detailed in Section ``Thompson''.
Wayne Sewell's (1989) Weaving a Program: Literate Programming in
WEB.
Van Nostrand Reinhold, ISBN 0-442-31946-0 (pbk). This book focuses
on using Knuth's web system.
I've read D. E. Knuth's collection of articles (1992) entitled
Literate Programming. Center for the Study of Language and
Information, Stanford University, ISBN 0-937073-80-6 (pbk). This
book
gives insight into Knuth's thoughts as he developed the web system
of
literate programming (and TeX for typesetting). However, it does
not
document methods for literate programming.
Some talk exists in the newsgroup/mailing list for a Usenet
University
course in literate programming. I'm sure discussion of this topic
will be welcomed. (1Feb2000: Note this thread has been dead for a
long, long time. I wish someone would pick it up.)
8. Important and Actively-Supported Tools
I have selected a few of the tools from my list that appear to be
most
actively supported. Inclusion here does not imply endorsement;
exclusion does not imply lack of quality.
8.1. CWEB
Developer:
Silvio Levy and D.E. Knuth
Version:
3.5
Hardware:
Unix systems (dos and amiga ports available)
Languages:
C and C++
Formatter:
Plain TeX and LaTeX.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o ftp://labrea.stanford.edu:/pub/cweb
o LPA:/c.c++
o CTAN:/web/c_cpp/cweb
o DOS version is no longer available.
o Win32 version www.literateprogramming.com
o Amiga version from Aminet:dev/c.
o Mac port of CTANGLE in LPA:/machines/mac
o LaTeX support in LPA:/c.c++
Readme:
Bundled with above
Description:
No description provided.
Support:
Bugs to <levy@math.berkeley.edu>
8.2. CWEBx3.0
Developer:
Marc van Leeuwen
Version:
3.04
Hardware:
Any system using ASCII code
Languages:
ANSI C
Formatter:
Plain TeX
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o wwwmathlabo.univ-poitiers.fr/~maavl/CWEBx/
Readme:
Bundled with above
Brief description:
A modified implementation of CWEB, with some extensions.
Provides a mode for full compatibility with Levy/Knuth CWEB.
The
most significant extras are:
o Typedef declarations affect formatting througout source file
o Include files are scanned for typedef definitions
o Flexible selection of layout style
o Possibility to refer to sections using symbolic labels
o CTANGLE detects unbalanced braces and parentheses
o CWEAVE can be made to report syntax errors more easily
o Some additional mechanisms to avoid formatting problems
o New and modular set of grammar rules, based on ANSI C syntax
o Possibility to suppress #line directives
o A new manual
Support:
bugs and remarks to maavl@mathlabo.univ-poitiers.fr
8.3. FWEB
Developer:
John A. Krommes
Version:
1.62
Hardware:
Unix, VMS, and DOS platforms (anything with ANSI C)
Languages:
C, C++, Fortran-77, Fortran-90, Ratfor, TeX; also, a anguage-
independent mode.
Formatter:
LaTeX. Plain TeX may work, but is no longer supported.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o ftp.pppl.gov/pub/fweb
o CTAN:/web/fweb
o msdos version on ftp.ppl.gov site
Readme:
In bundle with above.
Description:
It also has a well-developed user's manual and its own FAQ
(see
above). Beginning with 1.40, documentation is maintained in
gnu
texinfo format. It runs on most platforms: VMS, PC, UNIX, and
pretty much anything that the GNU C compiler (GCC) is
supported
for.
Features:
o Processes multiple languages during a single run (so one can
mix
C and Fortran, for example).
o Language-independent mode (v1.40).
o Ability to turn off pretty-printing (v1.40).
o Built-in Ratfor translator.
o Built-in macro preprocessor (closely follows ANSI C, with
extensions).
o A style file that allows the user to adjust many parameters
and
behavior patterns of FWEB.
o Various operator-overloading features that provide additional
pretty-printing capabilities to languages such as C++ and
Fortran-90.
o Numerous miscellaneous features and command-line options.
Support:
Bug reports and suggestions to krommes@princeton.edu Online
documentation is available at
w3.pppl.gov/%7ekrommes/fweb_toc.html
8.4. noweb
Developer:
Norman Ramsey <nr@eecs.harvard.edu>
Version:
2.9a
Hardware:
Unix and DOS platforms (DOS binaries available for v2.7).
Languages:
All programming languages, singly or in combination.
Automatic
indexing for C, Icon, Pascal, Standard ML, TeX, Yacc
Formatter:
Plain TeX, LaTeX, and HTML formatters. Will convert LaTeX to
HTML automatically.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o CTAN:/web/noweb
o LPA:/independent
o Last recourse, use ftp.cs.virginia.edu:pub/nr
Readme:
With bundle above, or see the noweb home page:
www.eecs.harvard.edu/~nr/noweb Those without http access can
consult ``Literate Programming Simplified,'' IEEE Software,
September 1994, pp97-105, or ``Literate Programming Using
Noweb,'' Linux Journal, October 1997, pp64-69.
Description:
Noweb is designed to meet the needs of literate programmers
while retaining the simplest possible input format. Its
primary
advantages are simplicity, extensibility, and language-
independence. Noweb uses 5 control sequences to WEB's 27.
The
noweb manual is only 3 pages; an additional page explains how
to
customize its LaTeX output. Noweb works ``out of the box''
with
any programming language, and supports TeX, latex, and HTML
back
ends. A back end to support full hypertext or indexing takes
about 250 lines; a simpler one can be written in 40 lines of
awk. Unlike WEB, Noweb does not have prettyprinting built in,
but there are several third-party extensions that provide
prettyprinting, includeing dpp, pretzel, and nwpp.
Noweb supports indexing and identifier cross-reference,
including hypertext ``hot links.'' noweb includes a simple,
efficient LaTeX-to-HTML converter, so you can use hypertext
browsers on your legacy documents. Noweb can also process
nuweb
programs, so you can use noweb to convert a standard nuweb
program to HTML with one command.
Support:
email to the author
8.5. nuweb
Developer:
Preston Briggs: <preston@cs.rice.edu>
Version:
0.87
Hardware:
Unix systems: Sparcs, RS/6000s, HPs; (!) MSDOS and Amiga.
Languages:
Any programming language or combination of programming
languages.
Formatter:
Latex
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o Unix: CTAN:/web/nuweb
o DOS: CTAN:/web/nuweb-pc
o LPA:/independent
o Amiga: CTAN:/web/nuweb/nuweb_ami
o Amiga: wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet
Readme:
Send mail to <preston@cs.rice.edu>
Description:
A single program that takes a web file written in a
combination
of latex and any programming language(s) and produces a latex
file that can be pretty printed and a set of files containing
code for compilation/interpretation by the appropriate
language
processors.
Strengths include speed, simplicity, multiple languages, nice
indices and cross-references, latex. Doesn't require any
special macros or macro files.
Drawbacks: latex-dependent, no code pretty printing, harder to
make indices than cweb.
More good stuff: nice support for make, doesn't reformat
source
files, so they're easy to debug. Lots of control without too
much effort. That is, it doesn't do too much!
Future directions... Very little change planned, except
perhaps
refinements in the indexing software.
Support:
Hack it yourself or send e-mail to <preston@cs.rice.edu>
8.6. ProTeX
Developer:
Eitan Gurari <gurari@cis.ohio-state.edu>
Version:
ProTeX 1.5, AlProTeX 2.3
Hardware:
Any platform with (La)TeX
Languages:
Any language
Formatter:
TeX or LaTeX
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~gurari/systems.html
o LPA:/independent
Readme:
With bundle above
Description:
o Easy to use
o Extensible
o Language independent
o Multiple output files
o Fast (single compilation provides output and dvi files)
o Option for XHTML and pdf files
o No installation is needed besides copying the files (written
in
TeX) Introduction of main features and examples on web site
above. Complete manual in Eitan M. Gurari, "TeX and LaTeX:
Drawing and Literate Programming", McGraw-Hill, 1994
Support:
<gurari@cis.ohio-state.edu>
9. Unsupported Tools
9.1. AFTWEB (Almost Free Text WEB)
Developer:
Todd A. Coram
Version:
4.6
Hardware:
Linux, Unix, MSDOS Any system with Perl, and a C++ compiler
with
STL (such as gcc 2.7.2).
Languages:
Any (C/C++ support supplied)
Formatter:
LaTeX or HTML by way of AFT.
Availability:
www.mindspring.com/~coram/aft.html
Readme:
Bundled with above.
Brief description:
AFTWEB uses a CWEB-like syntax. It uses AFT for documentation
markup (AFT is a minimalistic, yet powerful, markup language
with very few commands). AFTWEB was written in AFTWEB (using
C++) and the weaved document is available online (as HTML) at
the URL listed above.
Support for C and C++ is supplied. You can easily support
other
languages (such as Java and Perl) by writing a new language
description file.
The markup language AFT is very easy to learn and is available
at the same URL as AFTWEB.
Support:
Bugs to tcoram@pobox.com
9.2. APLWEB
Developer:
Christoph von Basum
Version:
Unknown
Hardware:
MSDOS
Languages:
IBM APL2 and STSC APL
Formatter:
Plain TeX
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from: watserv1.uwaterloo.ca:/languages/apl/aplwe
b
Readme:
At above ftp location.
Description:
None available.
Support:
Unknown
Note:
The status of this particular package is unknown. It's at the
ftp site, but other than that I can't say. Last known email
address of developer is CvB@erasmus.hrz.uni-bielefeld.de.
9.3. CLiP
Developer:
E.W. van Ammers and M.R. Kramer
Versions:
2.0 and 2.4b (DOS only)
Platform:
Vax/VMS, Unix, DOS
Languages:
Any programming language
Formatter:
Any formatter (TeX, LaTeX, Troff, Runoff, HTML, etc) or any
wordprocessor including WYSIWYG systems (Word Perfect,
WinWord,
Ami Pro, Word Pro, etc.)
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o ftp://sun01.info.wau.nl:/CLIP/
o ftp://sun01.info.wau.nl:/CLIP/
o ftp://sun01.info.wau.nl:/CLIP/
o ftp://sun01.info.wau.nl:/CLIP/
o CTAN:/web/clip
o LPA:/machines/ms-dos
o LPA:/machines/vax
Readme:
With bundle above
Description:
CLiP does not use explicit commands to perform the extraction
process. Rather it recognizes pseudostatements written as
comments in the programming language in question. CLiP
distinguishes pseudostatements from ordinary comments because
the former comply with a particular style. This style can be
adjusted to suit virtually any programming language. The CLiP
approach to LP makes the system extremely versatile. It is
independent of programming language and text processing
environment. We designed CLiP to be compatible with hypertext
systems as well. Some hypertext examples are at:
o ftp://sun01.info.wau.nl/clip/html/
o ftp://sun01.info.wau.nl/clip/html/
Features:
o CLiP imposes virtually no limitations on the text-processing
system used to produce the documentation. If the
text-processor
supports these items you can
o structure the documentation according to your own taste.
o include drawings, pictures, tables etc.
o disclose your documentation my means of X-ref tables, Indexes,
Table of contents, Table of tables, Table of figures, etc.
o typeset the documented code.
o Extracts any number of modules from a maximum of 64 source
files.
o No pretty-printing. Code from the source files is copied "as
is"
to the module.
o Appearance of code segments in the documentation matches those
of the modules to ease the identification of code segments.
o Supports partially specified data types.
o Comprehensive user manual (preliminary version) and technical
description.
o No automatic generation of a X-ref table for program
identifiers.
Support:
Bugs, problems and assistance by e-mail to
<Eric.vanAmmers@user.info.wau.nl>
9.4. mCWEB
Developer:
Markus Oellinger
Version:
1.0
Hardware:
Unix
Languages:
C/C++
Formatter:
plain TeX
Availability:
anonymous ftp from ist.tu-
ftp://graz.ac.at/pub/utils/litprog/mcweb/
Readme:
at same location
Description:
This is mCWEB 1.0, a descendant of the CWEB system of
structured
documentation by Donald E. Knuth and Silvio Levy. It adds
some
features that are indispensable when working in a team. mCWEB
regards a project of a book consisting of several chapter
files.
By means of import and export commands, it automatically
manages
all relationships between the chapters of a book and to other
books.
Interface documentation is now also part of mCWEB. It is
extracted into a second TeX file. This makes it possible to
define well known interfaces between the individual parts of a
project that will be implemented by different persons.
In addition, mCWEB parses C header files to find out about all
the datatypes defined there.
mCWEB comes with a full completely rewritten user manual and
is
compatible with CWEB.
Support:
Institute of Software Technology, moell@ist.tu-graz.ac.at
9.5. FunnelWeb
Developer:
Ross N. Williams ross@ross.net
Version:
V3.2 (May 1999).
Hardware:
MS-DOS, MacOS, Win32, OpenVMS, Solaris, Red Hat Linux, BSD/OS,
FreeBSD, Digital Unix, IRIX.
Status:
Open Source GNU.
Languages:
No restrictions.
Formatter:
Generates TeX and/or HTML
Web:
www.ross.net/funnelweb/
Availability:
ftp.ross.net/clients/ross/funnelweb/
Readme:
With bundle above.
Description:
FunnelWeb is a production-quality literate-programming tool
that
emphasises simplicity and reliability. Everything about
FunnelWeb, from the simplicity of its language to the
comprehensive tutorial in the user's manual, has been designed
to make this as simple, as practical, and as usable a tool as
possible.
Features:
o Provides a simple macro preprocessor facility.
o Generates typeset documentation in TeX and/or HTML formats.
o Runs on a wide range of platforms.
o Portable C source code distributed under GNU licence.
o Comprehensively documented online:
o www.ross.net/funnelweb/tutorial/
o www.ross.net/funnelweb/reference/
o www.ross.net/funnelweb/developer/
o Programming-language independent.
o Mature and essentially bug-free (released 1992).
o Can generate multiple output files.
o Allows complete control over the output text.
o Also useful for generating web sites!
Support:
No formal support available. Mailing list maintained with
about
50 subscribers. Informal assistance available from mailing
list.
9.6. FunnelWeb 3.0AC
Developer:
Enhanced by A.B.Coates coates@physics.uq.edu.au from FunnelWeb
v3.0 by Ross N. Williams ross@guest.adelaide.edu.au
Version:
3.0AC
Hardware:
MSDOS, Mac, VMS, Sun, OSF/1, Linux, Sys.V, OS/2.
Languages:
No restrictions.
Formatter:
Tex, LaTeX, or HTML.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.physics.uq.oz.au/pub/
Readme:
With bundle above; for FunnelWeb manual see WWW page
www.physics.uq.oz.au:8001/people/coates/funnelweb.html
Description:
FunnelWeb 3.0AC is an enhanced version of FunnelWeb (see the
entry for FunnelWeb). FunnelWeb is designed to be typesetter
independent, though FunnelWeb v3.0 only supports (La)TeX as
the
typesetter. FunnelWeb 3.0AC also supports HTML, and creates
appropriate hypertext links within the document among the code
sections. FunnelWeb 3.0AC also supports automatic and manual
insertion of line directives, so that compiler errors can be
flagged back to the original FunnelWeb source file. FunnelWeb
3.0AC is completely compatible with FunnelWeb v3.0 sources
(with
one minor exception; see the file README.ABC which comes with
the FunnelWeb 3.0AC distribution).
Support:
Supported by A.B.Coates coates@physics.uq.edu.au, subject to
the
time constraints imposed by his thesis.
9.7. LEO
Developer:
Edward K. Ream edream@mailbag.com
Version:
1.0
Hardware:
Windows
Languages:
Unknown
Formatter:
Unknown
Availability:
Contact the author or see
www.mailbag.com/users/edream/front.html
Readme:
Unknown
Description:
See web site.
Support:
Unknown.
9.8. Literate Programmer's Workshop (LPW)
Developer:
Norbert Lindenberg
Version:
1.1
Hardware:
Apple Macintosh
Languages:
C++, Object Pascal & others
Formatter:
self-contained WYSIWYG system
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o CTAN:/web/lpw
o ftp://ftp.apple.com/pub/
Readme:
With bundle above. Also comes with 38-page manual.
Description:
The Literate Programming Workshop is an environment for the
integrated development of program source text and
documentation
in combined documents. It consists of a WYSIWYG word processor
based on a style sheet approach, a mechanism to extract parts
of
the text in a document, and a project management system that
handles multi-document projects. The system is designed to be
used in conjunction with the Macintosh Programmer's Workshop:
it
prepares raw source text for the MPW compilers, accepts MPW
error messages, and shows them in the context of the original
documents. Automatic indexing and hypertext features allow for
easy access to both source text and documentation.
LPW is shareware.
Support:
Bugs, problems, and questions to lpw@aol.com
9.9. MapleWEB
Developer:
Unknown
Version:
Unknown
Hardware:
Unknown
Languages:
Maple
Formatter:
Unknown
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from CTAN/maple/mapleweb
Readme:
Unknown
Description:
None
Support:
Unknown
9.10. Matlabweb
Developer:
Mark Potse
Version:
2.09
Hardware:
any, but only Unix tested & supported
Languages:
Matlab
Formatter:
Plain TeX and LaTeX.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from the CTAN archives,
Readme:
Bundled with above
Description:
CWEB-like literate programming system for the Matlab language.
Created with a modified version of the Spider system. Several
more or less language-specific features:
o macros with multiple arguments
o comments and verbatim comments
o strings can be formatted as code, with help for nested
strings,
e.g. for callbacks in user interface programming.
o string arguments for macros, that get inserted in strings in
the
replacement text
o "@f foo TeX" works as in recent versions of CWEB
Support:
not guaranteed. Try M.Potse@amc.uva.nl, comments are welcome.
9.11. RWEB
Developer:
Unknown
Version:
Unknown
Hardware:
Unknown
Languages:
Unknown
Formatter:
Unknown
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from CTAN
Readme:
Unknown
Description:
Web generator in AWK.
Support:
Unknown
9.12. SchemeWEB
Developer:
John D. Ramsdell
Version:
2.1
Hardware:
Unix and DOS platforms
Languages:
Any dialect of Lisp.
Formatter:
LaTeX.
Availability:
The Unix version is in the Scheme Repository and it is
available
via anonymous ftp from:
o ftp://cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/utl/
o CTAN:/tex-archive/web/schemeweb
o The DOS version is part of the PCS/Geneva Scheme system which
is
available via anonymous ftp from: cui.unige.ch:/pub/pcs
Readme:
In bundle with above.
Description:
SchemeWEB is a Unix filter that allows you to generate both
Lisp
and LaTeX code from one source file. The generated LaTeX code
formats Lisp programs in typewriter font obeying the spacing
in
the source file. Comments can include arbitrary LaTeX
commands.
SchemeWEB was originally developed for the Scheme dialect of
Lisp, but it can easily be used with most other dialects.
Support:
Bug reports to ramsdell@mitre.org.
9.13. SpideryWEB
Developer:
Norman Ramsey <nr@eecs.harvard.edu>
Version:
Unknown
Hardware:
Unix and DOS platforms
Languages:
Most Algol-like languages, including C, Ada, Pascal, Awk, and
many others.
Formatter:
Plain TeX and latex for text formatters.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from CTAN.
Readme:
In distribution.
Description:
A system for building language-dependent WEBs. Spider is
frozen;
no further development is planned.
Support:
Bug reports to spider-bugs@oracorp.com.
9.14. WEB
Developer:
Donald Knuth
Version:
4.4 (apparently)
Hardware:
Any TeX system should have it.
Languages:
Pascal
Formatter:
TeX (of course! ;-)
Availability:
Distributed with TeX systems. Also avaliable in source form
from labrea.stanford.edu/tex/web.
Readme:
Unknown
Documentation:
Available from labrea.stanford.edu/tex/web/webman.tex
Description:
This is the original software that started it all. The
original
TeX processor was written in WEB.
Support:
None known.
9.15. WinWordWEB
Developer:
Lee Wittenberg leew@pilot.njin.net
Version:
Unknown
Hardware:
Needs Microsoft Word for Windows, v.2.x, and, of course, MS-
Windows 3.x.
Languages:
Any programming language.
Formatter:
Word for Windows 2.x for text formatting and file maintenance.
Availability:
samson.kean.edu:pub/leew
Readme:
WORDWEB.DOC in the downloadable package describes the system.
Description:
WinWordWEB is a set of a Word for Windows macros (plus a
paragraph style) that provide a crude literate programming
environment. The ``look and feel'' of the system is based on
Norman Ramsey's noweb, but can easily be modified to suit
individual tastes.
Support:
None. WinWordWEB was written as a prototype to see if a
WYSIWYG
literate programming system was possible. It is intended as a
jumping off point for future work by others. However, the
system
is surprisingly usable as it stands, and the author is
interested in hearing from users (satisfied and dissatisfied).
Anyone interested in actively supporting (and improving) the
product should contact the author via email.
10. Are there other tools I should know about?
Follows is a list of some not-quite-literate-programming tools.
Some
term these pretty-printers. Others may call them literate
programming
tools. In any event, they don't seem to be quite in the same
category
as the tools listed above, so I'll include them here.
10.1. C2LaTeX
Developer:
John D. Ramsdell
Version:
Unknown
Hardware:
Unix
Languages:
C
Formatter:
LaTeX but it's easy to change the formatter.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from ftp://omnigate.clarkson.edu/pub/tex/
programs/c2latex.
Readme:
Absent. Documentation is in the C source for c2latex.
Description:
C2latex provides simple support for literate programming in C.
Given a C source file in which the comments have been written
in
LaTeX, c2latex converts the C source file into a LaTeX source
file. It can be used to produce typeset listings of C
programs
and/or documentation associated with the program.
C2latex produces LaTeX source by implementing a small number
of
rules. A C comment that starts at the beginning of a line is
copied unmodified into the LaTeX source file. Otherwise, non-
blank lines are surrounded by a pair of formatting commands
(\begin{flushleft} and \end{flushleft}), and the lines are
separated by \\*. Each non-blank line is formatted using
LaTeX's
\verb command, except comments within the line are formatted
in
an \mbox.
Support:
Send bug reports to ramsdell@mitre.org.
10.2. c2cweb
Developer:
Werner Lemberg
Version:
1.5
Hardware:
DOS, OS/2, Unix (gcc) - CWEB source included
Languages:
C, C++
Formatter:
TeX
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from CTAN:/web/c_cpp/c2cweb
Readme:
In distribution.
Description:
c2cweb will transform plain C or C++ code into a CWEB file to
get a pretty formatted output. A modified CWEAVE (which
transforms the CWEB file into a TeX file, see below) is
included
also.
Support:
Werner Lemberg <a7971428@unet.univie.ac.at>
10.3. c2man
author:
Graham Stoney <greyham@research.canon.oz.au>
language:
C, nroff, texinfo, latex, html
version:
2.0 patchlevel 33
parts:
documentation generator (C -> nroff -man, -> texinfo, ->latex,
-> html)
location:
ftp from
o any comp.sources.misc archive, in volume42 (the version in the
comp.sources.reviewed archive is obsolete)
o dnpap.et.tudelft.nl/pub/Unix/Util/ c2man-2.0.*.tar.gz
o Australia archie.au/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume42
c2man-2.0/*
o N.America ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/usenet/comp.sources.misc/
2/
c2man-2.0/*
o Europe: ftp://ftp.irisa.fr/News/comp.sources.misc/volume42/
c2man-2.0/*
o Japan:
ftp://ftp.iij.ad.jp/pub/NetNews/comp.sources.misc/volume42/
c2man-2.0/*
Patches:
lth.se/pub/netnews/sources.bugs/volume93/sep/c2man*
description:
c2man is an automatic documentation tool that extracts
comments
from C source code to generate functional interface
documentation in the same format as sections 2 & 3 of the Unix
Programmer's Manual. It requires minimal effort from the
programmer by looking for comments in the usual places near
the
objects they document, rather than imposing a rigid function-
comment syntax or requiring that the programmer learn and use
a
typesetting language. Acceptable documentation can often be
generated from existing code with no modifications.
conformance:
supports both K&R and ISO/ANSI C coding styles
features:
o generates output in nroff -man, TeXinfo, LaTeX or HTML format
o handles comments as part of the language grammar
o automagically documents enum parameter & return values
o handles C (/* */) and C++ (//) style comments
o doesn't handle C++ grammar (yet)
requires:
yacc/byacc/bison, lex/flex, and nroff/groff/texinfo/LaTeX.
ports:
Unix, OS/2, MSDOS, VMS.
portability:
very high for unix, via Configure
status:
actively developed; contributions by users are encouraged.
discussion:
via a mailing list: send "subscribe c2man <Your Name>" (in the
message body) to listserv@research.canon.oz.au
help:
from the author and other users on the mailing list:
c2man@research.canon.oz.au
announcements:
patches appear first in comp.sources.bugs, and then in
comp.sources.misc.
updated:
1994/10/07
10.4. cnoweb
Developer:
Jim Fox
Version:
1.4 (January 4, 1991)
Hardware:
Anything with C and TeX.
Languages:
C
Formatter:
Plain TeX.
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from:
o CTAN
o LPA:/c.c++
Readme:
Unknown, cnoweb.tex contains documentation.
Description:
cnoweb is as it's name describes: write C, not web. No
tangling
or weaving is implemented. Documentation (between standard /*
*/ delimiteres) is written in TeX. cnoweb provides
typesetting
of documentation, an table of contents of routines, and
pretty-
printing of C source.
Support:
None known.
10.5. dpp
Developer:
Dan Schmidt <dfan@alum.mit.edu>
Version:
0.2.1
Hardware:
Any platform with Perl 5
Languages:
C/C++ (Java soon), under noweb
Formatter:
LaTeX
Availability:
www.dfan.org/real/dpp.nw
Readme:
www.dfan.org/real/dpp.html
Support:
email to the author <dfan@alum.mit.edu>
Description:
dpp is a C/C++ prettyprinter for noweb. Its output is
extremely
similar to that of CWEB, but it respects the indentation and
line breaks of the source file.
Features include:
o user-defined keywords
o the ability to turn prettyprinting off for specified output
files (e.g., makefiles)
o the option to typeset comments in TeX, or not
o prettyprinting of quoted code, in documentation or chunk names
o the ability to undo whitespace hand-formatting that looks good
monospaced but awful in a proportional font
10.6. Fold2Web
Developer:
Bernhard Lang lang@tu-harburg.d400.de
Version:
V0.8
Hardware:
MSDOS
Languages:
All (must allow comment lines)
Formatter:
LaTeX
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from: kirk.ti1.tu-harburg.de (134.28.41.50)
/pub/fold2web/readme /pub/fold2web/fold2web.zip
Readme:
In distribution
Description:
The idea behind the Fold2Web tool is the following: A
programmer
can write his program source with a folding editor and later
map
the folded source files automatically to WEB-files. The
generated WEB-files can then be modified by inserting required
documentations.
The advantage by starting program developement with original
sources is to get short design cycles during the compile/debug
steps. By using a folding editor the global structuring
information can be already captured in folds during this
developement phase. Fold information is typically stored in
comment lines and thus will not affect the efficiency of the
compile/debug design cycle.
Some folding editors and a folding mode for the emacs are
available (e.g. see our FUE folding editor for MSDOS machines
which is a modified micro emacs. Pick it at kirk in directory
/pub/fold2web).
After reaching a stable version of a program source its time
to
convert the source file to a WEB-file and do the program
documentation. Fold2Web is written to convert folded source
text of any programming language to nuweb files. The folded
structure is kept by mapping folds to scraps. Fold markers
which
differ between languages due to different ways of specifying
comments can be configured for each language.
Good results can also achived when given but poor documented
program sources have to be modified. Such sources can be
folded
using a folding editor to extract the global structures. This
offers a global view to the program structures and help to
understand its functionality. Furthermore the program code is
not affected, only comment lines are inserted. Once folded the
program source can be automatically translated to a WEB
document
using the above tool.
Support:
email to lang@tu-harburg.d400.de
10.7. Funnelweb Mode
Developer:
Daniel Simmons simmdan@kenya.isu.edu
Version:
Unknown
Availability:
www.miscrit.be/~ddw
Description:
The other day I did a quick hack to nuweb.el as included with
the nuweb distribution so as to make a funnelweb-mode.el.
I've
only used it briefly, and I'm sure that it can be improved
quite
a bit. I've been thinking about adding support for folding on
sections, a pull-down menu to select macro definitions (like
the
recent functions posted to gnu.emacs.sources for a C function
definition pull-down menu) and some kind of tags support for
funnelweb.
Support:
Unknown
10.8. noweb.el
Developer:
Bruce Stephens (no email contact)
Version:
Unknown.
Availability:
Lost
Description:
This is a very simple mode I just hacked up. There's a lot
wrong with it, but I thought others may be interested, even as
it stands. It *requires* text properties, and assumes those
used in GNU Emacs 19.22; it'll quite likely work with Lucid
Emacs, but I haven't tried it.
I use it with auctex8.1 and cc-mode 3.229, both of which are
loaded separately (I think my emacs is dumped with them, in
fact).
The idea is to have one mode (which calls itself c-mode, but
actually has LaTeX-mode keybindings) generally (this means
that
the code is hilighted nicely), and have the code chunks use a
different keymap.
Support:
Unknown
10.9. noweb-outline.el
Developer:
Dan Schmidt dfan@alum.mit.edu
Version:
0.0.3
Hardware:
Any platform with Emacs
Languages:
noweb
Availability:
www.dfan.org/real/noweb-outline.el
Readme:
www.dfan.org/real/noweb-outline.html
Support:
email to the author, dfan@alum.mit.edu
Description:
noweb-outline.el is a mode for Emacs that allows you to easily
navigate the chunk tree of a noweb program.
One of the problems with literate programming is that it's
easy
to lose track of how your tangled source file (the one that
the
compiler actually sees) is structured. In noweb-outline-mode,
you can interactively explore the tree of chunks you are
creating, giving you the big picture as well as the small.
Enough description; it would take more time for me to explain
it
than for you to just go ahead and try it out.
noweb-outline.el is currently in an alpha state (I've worked
on
it for only a couple of days), but it is already very useful.
A
nice file to use to try it out is example/wc.nw in the noweb
distribution.
10.10. nuweb.el
Developer:
Dominique de Waleffe ddw@acm.org
Version:
1.99
Availability:
Anonymous ftp from CTAN
Description:
Provides a major mode extending Auctex for editing nuweb
files.
Main features (in 2.0):
o Edit scrap bodies in a separate buffer in a different mode
(selected using emacs defaults for files, specific indication
-*-mode-*-, or a buffer-local variable)
o Extends Auctex commands so that nuweb is called before LaTeX,
o Easy navigation on scrap definition and use points.
o Now creates an imenu (C-M-mouse1) with user index entries,
macro
definition positions and file definition positions.
Support:
Email to ddw@acm.org
10.11. Web mode
Developer:
Bart Childs bart@cs.tamu.edu
Version:
Unknown
Tools supported:
web, fweb, cweb, funnelweb
Availability:
Anonymous ftp ftp.cs.tamu.edu:pub/tex-web/web/EMACS.web-mode
thrain.anu.edu.au:pub/web/EMACS.web-mode
Description:
This version works with versions 18 and 19 of Emacs to be best
of my knowledge. I have cleaned up a number of documentation
items ... In the same directory is wm_refcard.tex which is an
edited version of the famous one to include some web-mode
commands.
The files limbo* are related to its use and notice that half
them have an uppercase L in them for LaTeX. The setup is
based
upon the fact that we (I am not alone here) primarily use FWEB
for C and Fortran programming.
We are using version 1.40 of FWEB although John Krommes warns
that it is not mature and the manual is not yet updated. The
info files are! We are using LaTeX almost exclusively. That
will likely change and we will revert to version 1.30 if the
final form of 1.40 cannot return to the simple section numbers
and avoid the HORRIBLE LATEX 0.1.7.2.4.6 type section numbers.
Support:
Unknown
11. What other resources are available?
11.1. TeX Resources
Another resource of interest to literate programmers is the
comp.text.tex newsgroup. If you're using (La)TeX as your
typsetting
system and have access to internet, then you should investigate this
resource.
Another reason the TeX resources should be important is that so many
of the literate programming tools rely on either plain TeX or LaTeX
as
their text formatter. (La)TeX software systems exist for most
computing platforms. These systems can be found on CTAN and other
major archive sites. Use archie to find them or simply ftp to one
of
the CTAN sites and browse.
12. Are there any code examples?
Examples of web programs are included with the FWEB, CWEB, and noweb
distributions. nuweb is written in itself.
Cameron Smith converted the K&R calculator program into a literate
program. It can be retrieved by anonymous ftp from:
niord.shsu.edu [192.92.115.8] directory kr-cweb-sample as
krcwsamp.zip
or from
LPA/Documentation
Ross Williams has released a funnelweb example. You can retrieve
this
file from node ftp.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.40.3] as
/pub/funnelweb/examples/except.*
This file should be on CTAN as well.
Lee Wittenberg has posted a few litprog examples. They are
available
via anonymous ftp from:
ftp://samson.kean.edu/pub/leew/samples.LP
The Stanford GraphBase is a large collection of programs by Don
Knuth
for doing all kinds of computations and games with graphs; it is
writ-
ten in (Levy/Knuth) CWEB. More details in the distribution. It is
available via anonymous ftp from:
labrea.stanford.edu:/pub/sgb
13. Bibliographies
Nelson Beebe has collected an extensive bibliography treating
literate
programming. His work is available for anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/. Be sure to
look around this site; there are many things of interest to user of
TeX resources as well as literate programmers.
Although I have not verified this, LPA is an alternate source for
these files. Note that they are updated frequently (Nelson says
several times each week), so be sure to get a fresh copy before
extensive use. Joachim Schrod indicates that these files may be
updated daily and can be retrieved via anonymous ftp at
LPA/documentation.
14. Other Opinions about Literate Programming
14.1. van Ammers
An author (Eric W. van Ammers) wrote me a short article treating his
opinions on literate programming.
First observation on LP
About 90% of the disussion on this list is about problems with
applying some WEB-family member to a particular programming language
or a special documentation situation. This is ridiculous, I think.
Let me explain shortly why.
Lemma 1:
I have proposed for many years that programming has nothing to do
with
programming langauges, i.e. a good programmer makes good programs in
any language (given some time to learn the syntax) and a bad
programmer will never make a good program, no matter the language he
uses (today many people share this view, fortunately).
Lemma 2:
Literate Programming has (in a certain way not yet completely
understood) to do with essential aspects of programming.
Conclusion 1:
A LP-tool should be independent of programming language.
Lemma 3:
It seems likely that the so called BOOK FORMAT PARADIGM [ref. 1]
plays
an important role in making literate programs work.
Lemma 4:
There are very many documentation systems currently being used to
produce documents in the BOOK FORMAT.
Conclusion 2:
A LP-tool should be independent of the documentation system that the
program author whishes to use.
My remark some time ago that we should discuss the generic
properties
of an LP-tool was based on the above observation.
References:
[1] Paul W. Oman and Curtus Cook. ``Typographical style is more than
cosmetic.'' CACM 33, 5, 506-520 (May 1990)
Second observation on LP
The idea of a literate program as a text book should be extendend
even
further. I would like to see a literate program as an (in)formal
argument of the correctness of the program.
Thus a literate program should be like a textbook on mathematicics.
A
mathematical textbook explains a theory in terms of lemma and
theorems. But the proofs are never formal in the sense that they are
obtaind by symbol manipulation of a proof checker. Rather the proofs
are by so called ``informal rigour'', i.e. by very precise and
unambiguous sentences in a natural language.
Eric W. van Ammers <ammers@rcl.wau.nl>
14.2. Ramsey
Another author (Norman Ramsey) wrote me and asked that his opinions
be
included in the FAQ. What follows are Norman's comments verbatim.
I see it's time for the ``how is literate programming different from
verbose commenting'' question. Perhaps David Thompson will get this
into the FAQ. Alert! What follows are my opinions. In no way do I
claim to speak for the (fractious) literate-programming community.
How is literate programming different from verbose commenting?
There are three distinguishing characteristics. In order of
importance, they are:
1. flexible order of elaboration
2. automatic support for browsing
3. typeset documentation, especially diagrams and mathematics
Flexible order of elaboration means being able to divide your source
program into chunks and write the chunks in any order, independent
of
the order required by the compiler. In principle, you can choose
the
order best suited to explaining what you are doing. More subtly,
this
discipline encourages the author of a literate program to take the
time to consider each fragment of the program in its proper sphere,
e.g., not to rush past the error checking to get to the ``good
parts.'' In its time and season, each part of the program is a good
part. (This is the party line; your mileage may vary.)
I find the reordering most useful for encapsulating tasks like input
validation, error checking, and printing output fit for humans ---
all
tasks that tend to obscure ``real work'' when left inline.
Reordering
is less important when using languages like Modula-3, which has
exceptions and permits declarations in any order, than when using
languages like C, which has no exceptions and requires declaration
before use.
Automatic support for browsing means getting a table of contents,
index, and cross-reference of your program. Cross-reference might
be
printed, so that you could consult an index to look up the
definition
of an identifier `foo'. With good tools, you might get a printed
mini-index on every page if you wanted. Or if you can use a
hypertext
technology, cross-reference might be as simple as clicking on an
identifier to reach its definition.
Indexing is typically done automatically or `semi-automatically',
the
latter meaning that identifier definitions are marked by hand.
Diligently done semi-automatic indexes seem to be best, because the
author can mark only the identifiers he or she considers important,
but automatic indexing can be almost as good and requires no work.
Some tools allow a mix of the two strategies.
Some people have applied literate-programming tools to large batches
of legacy code just to get the table of contents, index, and cross-
reference.
I don't use diagrams and mathematics very often, but I wouldn't want
to have to live without them. I have worked on one or two projects
where the ability to use mathematical formulae to document the
program
was indispensible. I also wouldn't like to explain some of my
concurrent programs without diagrams. Actually I write almost all
of
my literate programs using only sections headers, lists, and the
occasional table.
>Wouldn't it be easier to do one's literate programming using
>a wysiwyg word processor (e.g. Word for Windows) and
>indicate what is source code by putting it in a different
>font?
The data formats used in wysiwyg products are proprietary, and they
tend to be documented badly if at all. They are subject to change
at
the whim of the manufacturer. (I'll go out on a limb and say there
are
no significant wysiwyg tools in the public domain. I hope the
Andrew
people will forgive me.) These conditions make it nearly impossible
to
write tools, especially tools that provide automatic indexing and
cross-reference support. The CLiP people have a partial solution
that
works for tools that can export text --- they plant tags and
delimiters throughout the document that enable the reordering
transformation (``tangling'').
People use TeX, roff, and HTML because free implementations of these
tools are widely available on a variety of platforms. TeX and HTML
are well documented, and TeX and roff are stable. TeX is the most
portable. I think I have just answered the FAQ ``how come all these
tools use TeX, anyway?'' :-)
Norman Ramsey
14.3. My (Dave Thompson's) Experience
In contrast to Eric's and Norman's comments, I'd like to interject
from an anecdotal perspective.
I first ran across the idea of literate programming in 1992 while
poking around George Greenwade's TeX archive (at niord.shsu.edu) and
stumbling on some of the tools. My first experience was tinkering
with cnoweb, see Section ``cnoweb''. I used cnoweb to document a
simple Bernoulli equation toy I built (in C) while working on a one-
dimensional hydrodynamic model (in Fortran). I was convinced that
literate programming had promise (although cnoweb really qualifies
as
a pretty-printing tool).
After reading Sewell's book, I kept hunting through the tools
available until I found things that worked for me. (More here as I
have time to develop the story.)
14.4. Others
I recently received email from Dave Johnson <scope@faroc.com.au>
about
his work developing language independent techniques. The web site
is
www.dscope.com.au.
15. How to anonymously ftp
Pretty much everything mentioned here is available by anonymous FTP.
FAQ lists cross-posted to news.answers and rec.answers can be gotten
from rtfm.mit.edu [18.181.0.24], under /pub/usenet/news.answers or
under /pub/usenet/more.specific.group.name
"anonymous FTP" is just a way for files to be stored where anyone
can
retrieve them over the Net. For example, to retrieve the latest
version of the literate programming FAQ, do the following:
> ftp rtfm.mit.edu /* connect to the site; message
follows */
> anonymous /* type this when it asks for your
name */
> <your email address> /* type your address as the
password */
> cd /pub/usenet /* go to the directory you want to
be */
> cd comp.programming.literate /* one level down (no slash).
*/
> dir /* look at what's there
*/
> get literate-progamming-faq /* get the file; case-sensitive
*/
> quit /* stop this mysterious thing
*/
If your FTP program complains that it doesn't know where the site
you
want to use is, type the numerical address instead of the sitename:
> ftp 18.181.0.24 /* connect with numerical address */
If you don't have ftp access, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.ed
u
with the single word "help" in the body of the message.
Getting binary files (executables, or any compressed files) is only
slightly more difficult. You need to set binary mode inside FTP
before you transfer the file.
> binary /* set binary transfer mode */
> ascii /* set back to text transfer mode */
FAQs and spoiler lists are generally ascii files; everything else is
generally binary files.
Some common extensions on binary files in archive sites are:
.Z Compressed; extract with uncompress
.tar.Z Compressed 'tape archive'; uncompress then untar or
tar -xvf
.gz or .z Gnu gzip; use gunzip (available from
prep.gnu.ai.mit.edu)
.sit (Mac) StufIt archive
.zip Extract with Zip or Unzip
.zoo Yet another archive/compress program
.lhe (Amiga) ?
.lzh Lha archive program.
.arj (PC) Arj archive program.
.exe (PC) Sometimes self-extracting archives-just execute
them.
.uue or .UUE Transfer as text file; use uudecode to convert to
binary
.hqx (Mac) BinHex format; transfer in text mode
Generic help can be found in the FAQs of comp.binaries. <your_sys-
tem_type> for how to transfer, extract, and virus-check binary
files.
(At rtfm.mit.edu)
If you can't FTP from your site, use one of the following
ftp-by-mail
servers:
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk
ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au
ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr
For complete instructions, send a message reading "help" to the
server.
If you don't know exactly what you're looking for, or exactly where
it
is, there are programs and servers that can help you. For more
info,
send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.with with the body of the
message
reading send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources
Thanks to Aliza R. Panitz (the "buglady") for this text. I copied
it
verbatim from her post on faq-maintainers with only minor
modifications.
16. Acknowledgements
This document would not have happened without the help of many
people.
George Greenwade was instrumental in establishing the original
mailing
list way back in the early '90's (when I first became involved).
Marcus Speh started one of the early ftp sites and was an active
participant. Among them are, Rob Beezer, Joachim Schrod, Piet van
Oostrum, Ross N. Williams, Nelson H. F. Beebe, and Andrew Johnson.
We
wouldn't have literate programming if it wasn't for Donald Knuth and
TeX. Certainly, we wouldn't be where we are without the tool
developers (all credited in their entries above).
Cesar Bellardini cballard@santafe.com.ar deserves thanks for
translating the FAQ into Spanish.
A special thanks to Aliza R. Panitz for the text describing how to
execute an anonymous ftp for files of interest.
Any omissions from these acknowledgements should be considered an
accident on my part. Furthermore, participants in the
comp.programming.literate newsgroup all contributed in various
fashions. Thank all of you.
17. End notes
This document remains in a state of evolution (although I'm a strict
creationist! <grin>). I'm working on the SGML version to improve
formatting of the resulting documents. I'm also reorganizing the
FAQ
to improve its usability. Comments are solicited for such
improvements. Omission of a particular tool should not be
considered
a snub in any sense--simply an error or oversight on my part.
User Contributions:
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Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: thompson@shelob.ce.ttu.edu
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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