

Show HN: I wrote a book on idiomatic Python. Here's its insane build/test system - jknupp

Background:
I've been working on a book to help developers learn and write idiomatic Python. It's taken far longer than I imagined, but today I made it available for purchase (http://www.jeffknupp.com/writing-idiomatic-python-ebook).<p>The automated build and test system I'm using is ridiculous. It uses: virtualenv, tox, pytest, coverage, doctest, pandoc, make, xelatex, makeindex, and a ~200 line Python script to collect and format the output. The details of the build/test system I created are described in detail here: http://www.jeffknupp.com/blog/2013/01/24/the-writing-idiomatic-python-ebook-is-finally-available/<p>The result is two PDF files...<p><i>Does anyone who's done something similar have/know of an easier way to write a technical book (where code samples must be tested) that will eventually need to be translated into multiple formats?</i> I know I'm not the first person to write a technical book, but I'm not aware of any existing tools (commercial or otherwise) to make the process easier. Does everyone who writes a technical book cobble together their own system?<p>I ask because I plan to eventually write a book where C++ is the language being discussed. The thought of going through this all again makes me shudder. After finishing this book, I'm convinced there must be a better way.
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benji-york
It won't help you with the translation part, but I have a small project that
aims to take the next step in tested documentation after doctest:
<http://pypi.python.org/pypi/manuel/>. Full documentation (tested with Manuel
of course) at <http://packages.python.org/manuel/>

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emeraldd
What about something like Sphinx? It uses ReStructured text and a Makefile to
control most of the stuff.

