literate programming

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literate programming

Where it comes from

Coined by Donald Knuth in 1984.

noun

uncountable A programming paradigm in which a program is given as an explanation of the program logic in a natural language (such as English), interspersed with snippets of macros and traditional source code, from which compilable representation can be generated.

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MLA

"literate programming." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/literate%20programming. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

literate programming. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/literate%20programming

Chicago

"literate programming." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/literate%20programming.

BibTeX

@misc{literate_programming_2026,
  title = {literate programming},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/literate%20programming},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}