[Axiom-mail] Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Design Considerations

[root]

Gentlemen,

I've read your section on Design Considerations. It is clear that
mathematical equations are ambiguous without context. You have
suggested using several annotation mechanisms.

I would like to suggest that you consider using literate programming
tools to provide the mechanism to carry the annotations. Literate
programs are able to mix LaTeX documents and code fragments in a
natural way. It provides a framework that will handle all of your
concerns, including Notes, References, OpenMath and Attributes.

In particular, however, literate programs give you the ability to
combine runnable code mixed with the paper giving background theory.
This will make the handbook much more useful as people who wish to
use a particular section can automatically extract the runnable
algorithm from the literate program. From the same source text you
can also extract theory, documentation and references.

As I'm sure you know this is not a new idea as Knuth and Dijkstra
proposed it in the 70s. However the latest implementations have 
moved away from specific languages and are now general purpose.
Norman Ramsey has an implementation, called noweb, that would
suit your purposes well. The noweb programs are freely available.

Tim Daly
address@hidden