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<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/><title>Pollen: the book is a program</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="scribble.css" title="default"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="racket.css" title="default"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="manual-style.css" title="default"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="manual-racket.css" title="default"/><script type="text/javascript" src="scribble-common.js"></script><!--[if IE 6]><style type="text/css">.SIEHidden { overflow: hidden; }</style><![endif]--></head><body id="scribble-racket-lang-org"><div class="tocset"><div class="tocview"><div class="tocviewlist tocviewlisttopspace"><div class="tocviewtitle"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td style="width: 1em;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" title="Expand/Collapse" class="tocviewtoggle" onclick="TocviewToggle(this,"tocview_0");">▼</a></td><td></td><td><a href="" class="tocviewselflink" data-pltdoc="x">Pollen:<span class="mywbr"> </span> the book is a program</a></td></tr></table></div><div class="tocviewsublistonly" style="display: block;" id="tocview_0"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td align="right">1 </td><td><a href="Acknowledgments.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">Acknowledgments</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">2 </td><td><a href="Installation.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">Installation</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">3 </td><td><a href="Quick_start.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">Quick start</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">4 </td><td><a href="The_story_of_Pollen.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">The story of Pollen</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">5 </td><td><a href="Using_raco_pollen.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">Using <span class="stt">raco pollen</span></a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">6 </td><td><a href="File_formats.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">File formats</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">7 </td><td><a href="reader.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">◊ command overview</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">8 </td><td><a href="Module_reference.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">Module reference</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right">9 </td><td><a href="License___source_code.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">License & source code</a></td></tr><tr><td align="right"></td><td><a href="doc-index.html" class="tocviewlink" data-pltdoc="x">Index</a></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div class="tocsub"><div class="tocsubtitle">On this page:</div><table class="tocsublist" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><span class="tocsublinknumber"></span><a href="#%28part._.Pollen__the_book_is_a_program%29" class="tocsubseclink" data-pltdoc="x">Pollen:<span class="mywbr"> </span> the book is a program</a></td></tr></table></div></div><div class="maincolumn"><div class="main"><div class="versionbox"><span class="version">6.0.1.6</span></div><div class="navsettop"><span class="navleft"> </span><span class="navright"> <span class="nonavigation">← prev</span> <span class="nonavigation">up</span> <a href="Acknowledgments.html" title="forward to "1 Acknowledgments"" data-pltdoc="x">next →</a></span> </div><h2><a name="(part._.Pollen__the_book_is_a_program)"></a><a name="(mod-path._pollen)"></a>Pollen: the book is a program</h2><div class="SAuthorListBox"><span class="SAuthorList"><p class="author">Matthew Butterick <<a href="mailto:mb@mbtype.com">mb@mbtype.com</a>></p></span></div><p><table cellspacing="0" class="defmodule"><tr><td align="left"><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="http://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/Module_Syntax.html#%28part._hash-lang%29" class="RktModLink" data-pltdoc="x"><span class="RktMod">#lang</span></a><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="" class="RktModLink" data-pltdoc="x"><span class="RktSym">pollen</span></a></td><td align="right"><span class="RpackageSpec"><s
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</div><div class="SIntrapara"><ul><li><p>First, that digital books should be the best books we’ve ever had. So far, they’re not even close.</p></li><li><p>Second, that because digital books are software, an author shouldn’t think of a book as merely data. <span style="font-weight: bold">The book is a program.</span></p></li><li><p>Third, that the way we make digital books better than their predecessors is by exploiting this programmability.</p></li></ul></div></p><p>That’s what Pollen is for.</p><p>Not that you need to be a programmer to use Pollen. On the contrary, the Pollen language is markup-based, so you can write & edit text naturally. But when you want to automate repetitive tasks, add cross-references, or pull in data from other sources, you can access a full programming language from within the text.</p><p>That language is Racket. I chose Racket because while the idea for Pollen had been with me for several years, it simply wasn’t possible to build it with other languages. So if it’s unfamiliar to you, don’t panic. It was unfamiliar to me. Once you see what you can do with Pollen & Racket, you may be persuaded. I was.</p><p>Or, if you can find a better digital-publishing tool, use that. But I’m never going back to the way I used to work.</p><table cellspacing="0"><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Acknowledgments.html" class="toptoclink" data-pltdoc="x">1<span class="hspace"> </span>Acknowledgments</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"></span></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Installation.html" class="toptoclink" data-pltdoc="x">2<span class="hspace"> </span>Installation</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"></span></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html" class="toptoclink" data-pltdoc="x">3<span class="hspace"> </span>Quick start</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Creating_a_source_file%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.1<span class="hspace"> </span>Creating a source file</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Running_a_source_file%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.2<span class="hspace"> </span>Running a source file</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Naming__saving__and_rendering_a_source_file%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.3<span class="hspace"> </span>Naming, saving, and rendering a source file</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.The_project_server%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.4<span class="hspace"> </span>The project server</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Intermission%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.5<span class="hspace"> </span>Intermission</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Pollen_as_a_preprocessor%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.6<span class="hspace"> </span>Pollen as a preprocessor</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Markdown_mode%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.7<span class="hspace"> </span>Markdown mode</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.Markup_mode%29" class="toclink" data-pltdoc="x">3.8<span class="hspace"> </span>Markup mode</a></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><span class="hspace"> </span><a href="Quick_start.html#%28part._.
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