This post is part of the Emacs Carnival (Nov 2025), dedicated to celebrating the joy and power of Org Babel — the literate programming engine inside Org mode.

The beauty of org-babel

In research data management (RDM), documentation is everything.
Not as an afterthought, but as part of the process itself.
Org Babel embodies this principle: it turns text, data, and code into a single coherent research object — a document that is both publication and process.

Documentation must be regarded as an integral part of the process of design and coding. A good programming language will encourage and assist the programmer to write clear, self-documenting code, and even perhaps to develop and display a pleasant style of writing.

Charles Antony Richard Hoare, 1973

With Org Babel, I don’t just write about my workflow — I execute it inside the document.
Every figure, dataset, and result in my work can be regenerated, verified, and traced back to its origin.
It’s not only transparent; it’s resilient.

From literate programming to reproducible research

Donald Knuth coined the term literate programming, describing a style where code is written as literature — to be read by humans first, and machines second.
Org Babel extends this philosophy beyond programming languages: it supports a polyglot environment.
You can interleave Bash, Python, R, LaTeX, and even Make — all within the same file, each block aware of the others.

In my recent poster — “Resilient Technologies: Why Decades-Old Tools Define the ROOT of Modern Research Data Management” — this principle was not just demonstrated, but embodied.
The entire poster was generated from one single Org file. Every diagram, every dataset, every LaTeX snippet was produced inside that file and exported through org-babel.

Literate workflows as Resilient Technologies

The poster’s argument was simple:

Resilient technologies persist because they are open, inspectable, and sustainable.

Org Babel sits squarely in that tradition.
It is not a shiny new GUI — it’s a bridge between human understanding and machine execution.
The moment we move our research documentation, analysis, and automation into one plain-text environment, reproducibility stops being an afterthought — it becomes the default.

The joy of it all

There’s something almost poetic in running your code inside your writing.
When I hit C-c C-c in an Org buffer and watch my data flow, graphs render, and LaTeX compile, I know exactly where everything came from — because I made it happen right here.

For me, org-babel isn’t just a tool — it’s a mindset:
that writing, thinking, and computing belong together.

ROOT framework

In my poster, I describe ROOT as an acronym — a guiding metaphor for the kind of tools and methods that persist through time.
They are Robust, Open, Ongoing, and Time-tested.

Let’s see how org-babel embodies each of these qualities:

ROOT PrincipleMeaningHow org-babel fits
RobustStrong, dependable, and resistant to failure.org-babel integrates tightly into the Emacs ecosystem, handling complex, multi-language workflows without breaking — it’s built for longevity and reliability.
OpenAccessible, extensible, and based on transparent standards.Org files are plain text — readable by anyone, editable anywhere, and version-controllable with ease. Babel’s language integrations are community-driven and open by design.
OngoingContinuously evolving and adaptable to new needs.org-babel grows with its users — new languages, workflows, and exporters are added over time, keeping research processes living and current.
Time-testedProven through decades of real-world use.Rooted in Emacs and Org mode’s long history, org-babel has matured alongside open science and reproducible research — a testament to its enduring value.

When I say “Org Babel is ROOT,” I mean that it doesn’t just help us manage code —
it embodies the philosophical foundation of reproducible research.
It is both a tool and a teaching: a living demonstration that clarity and openness are the true engines of sustainability.

Further reading