---
Title: About litcode.app
readOnly: true
---

# About `.lit`

```js.inline.autoexec>md#version
let v = window.LIT_VERSION.split('-')
let version = `![version](https://img.shields.io/badge/Beta-v${v[0]}-green)`
let updated =  `![Relative date](https://img.shields.io/date/${ Math.round(parseInt(v[1]) / 1000)}?label=Updated&logo=git&logoColor=%23efefef)`
return `${version} ${updated}`
```
```>md#version[mode="text"]
![version](https://img.shields.io/badge/Beta-v0.2.54-green) ![Relative date](https://img.shields.io/date/1589318951?label=Updated&logo=git&logoColor=%23efefef)
```

## Motivation

`.lit` is the culmination of a few disperate [^seemingly](Although not really) ideas. [Literate Promgramming](?litprog), [Interactive Notebooks](?notebooks) and [Digital Gardens](?My+Digital+Garden).

Meant to enable [Guided Learning](?guidedlearning) where the author shows the reader by *tactile* example, and **Exploration** or [Rapid Prototyping](?rapid-proto) while trying not to be a separate system from which a student or project *graduates* but which is an *acceptable* [^tradeoffs] **development evironment** for professional engineers.

[^tradeoffs]: This inevitably involves trade-offs, but `.lit` aims to be explicit about them and provide a path/route to either edit `.lit.md` files outside of the `.lit` UI, or execute code as normal from the `terminal/cli`.
## Getting started

- **[Learning Markdown][1]**

 If you're new to **Markdown** this will get you up to speed.

- **[Writing code][2]**

 `.lit` extends markdown, in the way that it allows you to write and execute code blocks.

- **[Outputs & Transforms][3]**

 Executing `code` produces outputs, which you can transform and view however you want.

- **[On the Command Line][4]**

 Using the `lit` command to execute `code` convert to various formats or run a self hosted server.

[1]: <?/docs/Learning+Markdown.lit.md> (Markdown crash course)
[2]: <?/docs/Writing+Code.lit.md> (Coding)
[3]: <?/docs/Outputs+&+Transforms.lit.md> (Outputs and transforms...)

[4]: <?cli> (todo)
