On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 3:19 PM, Jaap Spies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > root wrote: > > I WANT Sage to live. I want it to succeed. I want it to be the > > lingua-franca of the business so that we can all post our results > > "in Sage" at conferences. I want to be able to "drag and drop" > > your publication onto my system and have your code "just work", > > your documentation "just connect". I want to be able to not only > > use what you write, but to understand it so I can use it effectively. > > I want MMA and Maple users to "write for Sage" instead. > > > > Yes! You got it. > > > > My problem is that I don't see the fundamental difference between > > Sage and any other system that I've touched in the past. And I don't > > want this whole generation of mathematicians to "do it all over again" > > without some fundamental gain. > > The fundamental difference is Python and William! And 100+ developers > who want Sage to succeed. > > > I may be wrong that the literate > > documentation is the key. And I admit I'm a knuth-boy fanatic about it. > > I once believed in Literate Programming, but I lost faith. It is just > unpractical like a Procrustes bed. >
For those not as familiar with Greek literature as Jaap, I found this on the 'net: "Procrustes was the ancient champion of enforced conformity. In Greek antiquity he was a legendary highwayman who lived in Attica. He had an iron bed which he regarded as the standard of length. Because it just fit him, he concluded that every one should fit it. He stopped every traveler and tied him to the bed. If the person happened to be too short, Procrustes stretched him until he attained the correct length; if he happened to be too long, his legs were cut off until he met the proper requirement. Thus was everyone made identical in size." I also found this from Knuth (who introduced LP): "Literate programming is a very personal thing. I think it's terrific, but that might well be because I'm a very strange person. [...] I don't believe in forcing ideas on anybody. If literate programming isn't your style, please forget it and do what you like. If nobody likes it but me, let it die." Fortunately, Knuth himself is not like Procrustes. -- William --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
