Overview of the method and tools provided by Lir.

A: Documented executable code, placeholders for the display items, and discussion of the displayed results are maintained as a text file: the Lir source. Dependencies between the input data (data objects) and the executable code (data transformations) are an integral part of the source. The executable code and instructions for running it are extracted from the source file by lir-tangle. The code is evaluated by lir-make to obtain results and display items. A human-readable, cross-linked document that faithfully represents the literate source text file and integrates all display items is compiled by lir-weave. B: An overview of the work flow using this method. All steps that are performed by a computer are automated, including resolving dependencies between data objects and data transformations. This facilitates exploratory data analysis with short iteration cycles between formulating a question, evaluating its answer, and refining or extending the analysis.