Inkling: An Executable Paper System for Reviewing Scientific Applications

This paper details Inkling, a generalized executable paper system for generating hypermedia. Whereas a traditional paper has static content derived from the data, i.e. tables, charts, graphs, and animations, the executable paper dynamically generates these using an underlying code and editable input parameters specified in the paper itself. By use of a language which may be seamlessly incorporated into the paper text and made transparent to the reader or reviewer, the system allows for ease of both use and validation. Novel in our system is (1)generality, in that it provides a generic coupling between the paper-generating infrastructure and the backend science code, (2) a minimalist text-based human-readable input format which abstracts algorithms from the reader and reviewer, (3) out-of-order dependency-based execution, which allows the author to chain outputs to inputs, and (4) a scheme for building a database of author-contributed codes which may be easily shared, reused and referenced.