Programming pearls

Abstract

Last year's May and June columns introduced Don Knuth's vision of “Literate Programming” and his WEB system for building programs that are works of literature. The May column sketched Knuth's approach and presented a two-page program he wrote; the June column presented an eight-page program of Knuth's and, since literature deserves criticism, Doug McIlroy's review of the program. For readers interested in larger programs, the Further Reading described two of Knuth's programs that have been published as books. A flood of mail closely followed publication of the column; readers of Communications were delighted to see interesting programs that were written to be read. This column presents some readers’ comments on May's program, and David Gries's literate program for that problem. © 1987, ACM. All rights reserved.