[fxn]

That is not the hallmark of literate programming, but the hallmark bad/unhelpful code comments or docs. Like, you can also have bad/unhelpful function names or unclean and tangled implementations.

"TeX: The Program" is a joy to read.

[bluGill]

Except that literate programming encourages that style by mixing comments with the code.

[nothrabannosir]

It doesn’t. Literate programming is letting the documentation, rather than the implementation, dictate the order and organization of the program.

You could theoretically write a literate program that is nothing but code, if the code is so readable that it doesn’t need explaining. The distinction is that it is “human first” over “computer first”.