Minimal example for literate programming with noweb in emacs org-mode

If you want to use the literate programming features in emacs org-mode, you can try this minimal example to get started: Activate org-babel-tangle, then put this into the file noweb-test.org:

Minimal example for noweb in org-mode

* Assign 

First we assign abc:

#+begin_src python :noweb-ref assign_abc
abc = "abc"
#+end_src

* Use

Then we use it in a function:

#+begin_src python :noweb tangle :tangle noweb-test.py
def x():
  <<assign_abc>>
  return abc

print(x())
#+end_src

noweb-test.org

Hit C-c C-c to evaluate the source block. Hit C-c C-v C-t to put the expanded code into the file noweb-test.py.

The exported code looks like this:

  def x():
    abc = "abc"
    return abc

  print(x())

noweb-test.py

(html generated with org-export-as-html-to-buffer and slightly reniced to escape the additional parsing I have on my site)

And with org-export-as-pdf we get this:

noweb-test.pdf

Add :results output to the #+begin_src line of the second block to see the print results under that block when you hit C-c C-c in the block.

You can also use properties of headlines for giving the noweb-ref. Org-mode can then even concatenate several source blocks into one noweb reference. Just hit C-c C-x p to set a property (or use M-x org-set-property), then set noweb-ref to the name you want to use to embed all blocks under this heading together.

Note: org-babel prefixes each line of an included code-block with the prefix used for the reference (here <<assign_abc>>). This way you can easily include blocks inside python functions.

Have fun with Emacs and org-mode!