Re: Volunteering to maintain ob-asymptote.el within Org

[Ihor Radchenko]

Jarmo Hurri <jarmo.hurri@iki.fi> writes:

>> Then, it would help to have more practical examples compared to what
>> we have in
>> https://www.orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/languages/ob-doc-asymptote.html
>
> Absolutely. I have plenty of examples from the domains of math and
> computer science.

Feel free to submit patches against https://git.sr.ht/~bzg/worg

>> That a common minimalist argument. Some people dislike the fact that
>> software includes features they do not personally use. Similar
>> arguments are often raised regarding, for example, games shipped with
>> Emacs.
>
> I do not see Org as a "minimalist" system. I see it as glue.
>
> I think one of the great powers of Org mode is its capability to act
> together with various systems, including LaTeX and a host of programming
> languages. I would never imagine that Org would only support the tools I
> use, but I expect to be positively surprised by the fact that Org will
> support, out of the box, something that I am not using now but will be
> using in the future.

I am not arguing with you. Just pointed that some people have different
point of view.

>> I disagree in this particular case. Having ob-asymptote.el is not a
>> featurism - I would not expect people to play around a full new
>> programming language just because ob-language.el is in Org. The
>> barrier of entry is too high to make it destructing.
>
> I am not sure I can interpret your text correctly. But if you are saying
> that builtin support for Asymptote will not lower the threshold of its
> use among Org users, I would ask the following questions:
> - How many Org users are already capable of programming?
> - How many Org users prefer code-based representations to other forms?

Nope. This is not what I am saying.
I am saying that ob-asymptote will not be on the way of users who are
exploring Org and do not intend to use Asymptote. It is only useful for
people who deliberately look into Asymptote code blocks. Others will not
ever need to try it (that would require installing Asymptote and other
high-threshold actions).

Best,
Ihor