Massive Rework of Data Structures

As noted in My Shifting Understanding and A Terrible Design Mistake, I had a design that focused on serialization instead of proper modeling of the objects in question.

Specifically, I didn't start with a suitable abstract syntax tree (AST) structure. I started with an algorithmic view of "weaving" and "tangling" to transform a WEB of definitions into documentation and code. The weaving and tangling are two of the three distinct serializations of a common AST.

The third serialization is the common source format that underpins the WEB of definitions. Here's an example that contains a number of definitions and a tangled output file.

Fast Exponentiation
===================

A classic divide-and-conquer algorithm.

@d fast exp @{
def fast_exp(n: int, p: int) -> int:
    match p:
        case 0:
            return 1
        case _ if p % 2 == 0:
            t = fast_exp(n, p // 2)
            return t * t
        case _ if p % 1 == 0:
            return n * fast_exp(n, p - 1)
@| fast_exp
@}

With a test case.

@d test case @{
>>> fast_exp(2, 30)
1073741824
@}

@o example.py @{
@< fast exp @>

__test__ = {
    "test 1": '''
@< test case @>
    '''
}
@| __test__
@}

Use ``python -m doctest`` to test.

Macros
------

@m

Names
-----

@u

This example uses RST as the markup language for the woven document. A tool can turn this simplified document into complete RST with appropriate wrappers around the code blocks. The tool can also weave the example.py file from the source document.

The author can focus on exposition, explaining the algorithm. The reader gets the key points without the clutter of programming language overheads and complications.

The compiler gets a tangled source.

The key point is to have a tool that's (mostly) agnostic with respect to programming language and markup language. Being fully agnostic isn't possible, of course. The @d name @{code@} constructs are transformed into markup blocks of some sophistication. The @<name@> becomes a hyperlink, with suitable markup. Similarly, the cross reference-generating commands, @m and @u, generate a fair amount of markup content.

I now have Jinja templates to do this in RST. I'll also have to provide LaTeX and HTML. Further, I need to provide generic LaTeX along with LaTeX I can use with PacktPub's LaTeX publishing pipeline. But let's not look too far down the road. First things first.

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