[Axiom-developer] RE: noweb vs. leo

[Page, Bill]

On Tuesday, May 09, 2006 7:35 PM Norman Ramsey wrote:
> ...
> We have found that for a moderately large project (say over
> 10,000 lines of code) an outline (or even a set of outlines) is
> not enough. We rely heavily on a LaTeX table of contents (our
> best analog to a Leo outline), but we also rely on diagrams and
> overview chapters. This is all very expensive in time and effort,
> and I would say that in my research group we seem to be able to
> afford this effort only roughly every 5 to 10 years.  Of course
> we are a very small shop; your mileage may vary.
>

Thanks for your comments and sharing your experience. Tim Daly
often mentions a "30 year" horizon for Axiom which perhaps puts
such an effort within reach for at least some current Axiom
developers but I fear that our available (volunteer) resources
are probably less than yours and our problem is larger than just
10,000 lines of code. :(

>  > I think this is very similar to what Tim Daly has written
>  > about the need to view large complex literate programs like
>  > Axiom from the point of view of a "crystal" with multiple
>  > facets.
> 
> Also quite interesting.  And expensive, as every facet must 
> be polished.
> 

Apparently true, but as the song says (Edwin Starr):

 "There's got to be a better way ..." :)

>  > Organizing a project to take best advantage of all this [Leo]
>  > involves some considerable effort. I am continuing to try to
>  > work up the energy to tackle Axiom with this tool.
> 
> Too true, and good luck :-)
> 
> 
> Discussions of these sorts of questions used to enliven
> comp.programming.literate.  May I have your permission to 
> post this mail?
> 

Certainly. I guess I should visit some time.

Regards,
Bill Page.