Public Void - Programming Blog (Beta)
A programming blog covering C/C++, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and UNIX/Linux shell scripting.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Literate programming
Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs. Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do.Donald Knuth, "Literate Programming," The Computer Journal: 1984.
I ran across this quote today in a blog entry on programming quotes. I find the concept interesting, although, with only a cursory look at what defines it, I wonder if this wouldn't be very difficult to implement in a structured manner at any level. It would seem that it bears a lot of resemblence to the concept of self-documenting code, which is actually more a function of the programming language than any programmatic style.
Still, the concept is interesting and worth a bit more reading. Don is obviously an accomplished and well-respected voice in the world of programming, so it would be well worth a prospective programmer's time to consider his thoughts on the issue.
2/12/2007 05:08:00 PM | Literate programming
