Re: Literate Programming in Ada, AdaDoc, AdaBrowse

[Wes Groleau <groleau+news@freeshell.org>]

Nick Roberts wrote:
> -- =###= The {Color_Error} Exception =###=
> 
> -- There is one color-related exception, {Color_Error}.
> 
>   Color_Error: exception;

What does the first line tell you that the third does not?
If the answer is nothing, then why can't the tool get the
info from line three?

In my opinion, well-written Ada code can be it's own documentation.
Sure, readers will want to skip over some code and/or some comments
(different readers will skip different parts) but I see no point
in having the same info two or more times in two or more formats
even if some tool splits it up for human consumption.

I certainly see no point in omitting the comments from the code
and instead burying them in pages of bureaucratic boilerplate
in some 500-page specification.

A corollary of Murphy's law is that duplicate information
eventually becomes different information.  Putting both
in the same file may slow down the process, but it will
not prevent it.

-- 
Wes Groleau

People would have more leisure time if it weren't
for all the leisure-time activities that use it up.
                        -- Peg Bracken