Litrepl: Literate Paper Processor Promoting Transparency More Than Reproducibility

TL;DR

Litrepl is a lightweight tool that enhances transparency in research documents by recognizing and evaluating code sections, shifting focus from reproducibility to clearer communication with programming interpreters.

Contribution

The paper introduces Litrepl, a novel text processing tool that promotes transparency in scientific communication by exposing mutable states in code execution within documents.

Findings

Litrepl supports batch and interactive code evaluation.

It improves transparency over traditional reproducibility methods.

The tool integrates with Markdown and Latex documents.

Abstract

Litrepl is a lightweight text processing tool designed to recognize and evaluate code sections within Markdown or Latex documents. This functionality is useful for both batch document section evaluation and interactive coding within a text editor, provided a straightforward integration is established. Inspired by Project Jupyter, Litrepl aims to facilitate the creation of research documents. In the light of recent developments in software deployment, however, we have shifted our focus from informal reproducibility to enhancing transparency in communication with programming language interpreters, by either eliminating or clearly exposing mutable states within the communication process.