Re: Best practices for literate programming [was: Latex export of tables]

[tsd@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye)]

Aloha Vikas,

Vikas Rawal <vikaslists@agrarianresearch.org> writes:

>> I've been down it too many times myself. The habits I've developed
>> over time have helped, but I think they are less systematic than
>> what you've devised.
>
> Tom, do tell us more about what these habits are.

The new exporter is really your friend.  Where before I might choose to
generate a LaTeX block, now I look to generate Org output and then count
on the exporter to do the right thing on the way to pdf.  

The exporter's attribute system is very easy to use.  The attributes you
need to access are always right there.

I've also come to rely on filters quite a bit. I use them for
non-breaking spaces, the plus/minus symbol, and for the multiple
citation commands used by biblatex (e.g., \parencites). There seems to
be a move afoot to collect filters so they can be widely distributed.
I'd like to see the filters go to the Library of Babel, but for
reproducible research it is probably best to keep them with the source
document so there is no doubt about the fidelity of filter code.

All the best,
Tom

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