Re: Literate Programming [was: A case where ...]

["Nick Roberts" <nickroberts@adaos.worldonline.co.uk>]

"Eric Merritt" <cyberlync@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1011017881.956.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...

>  Not to be simplistic

Not in the least.

> but isn't this just a multi-line comment?

Yes, I think you're quite right.

> I realize that the purpose is to support
> literate programming but what you describe seems to be
> a multi-line comment line C's /**/. Of course, this
> does not mean to imply that the multi-line comments
> could not be parsed to extract content by a literate
> tool. That being said the syntax you describe could
> probably be a bit cleaner so that both those who want
> to use literate techniques and those who do not would
> be comfortable with it.

Certainly!

The only slight variation I had in mind with my suggested syntax was: the
switch is on a line on its own, and of a form unlikely to infere with the
syntax of any programming language or text markup language; the syntax of
the switch permits multiple named 'threads' of text, allowing perhaps
maintenance documentation, the user guide, a tutorial, and other types of
document to be generated from the one source file.

I suspect, on reflection, that this kind of facility lies in the realm of
macro processors (or maybe some sort of combined super-editor APSE), and
more advanced make/build tools, and not Ada compilers as such. It was just a
thought. Perhaps it's the ancient concept of a 'straight text file' that
really needs to be rethought these days?

--
Best wishes,
Nick Roberts