Literate programming

Literate programming is a type of work flow in which

1. authoring a statistical analysis (including data management) and
2. authoring the interpretation of the results

occurs within a single script so that

1. statistical output (figures, tables, and in-line calculations) and
2. interpretation

are combined in an automated way.

The advantages

• Each calculation in the final report is automatically linked to the corresponding code
• Literate programming avoids copy and paste errors because calculations are automatically inserted into the final report
• The entire analysis and report can be updated with a single command (or a single click) if the underlying data changes.
• EASY TO SHARE BOTH CODE AND INTERPRETATION
• Code is automatically organized by where it falls in the manuscript