Literate programming and PlanetMath
- But I am not convinced that the connections between math and programming (which [seem to underlie the ideas you've suggested be part of this grant application]) will play out the way you think they will. There is something very different about the two. The way I see it, programming is still the absolutely last thing you want to force a learner to do, not necessarily because it wouldn't be good for them, but because it will make them intensely hate the learning. Programming is a tedious thing; even I find it to be this. I don't think literate programming improves the situation much; I think it just makes programming and documentation tolerably efficient for programmers. I don't see the typical learner embracing these practices. It also seems to be thrusting an extra duty onto the content-producer to have to produce code-calibre output. You can respond that math is already almost code, but this "almost" is large enough that even hardened mathematicians acted quite vigorously against having APM-Xi on PlanetMath.
- – akrowne, on NSF Advanced Learning Technologies Grant Planning Page