Literal programming and the semantic web are both concerned with meaning.

The semantic web seeks to make the Internet more intelligent by adding what I call "conceptual metadata" (i.e. topical information) to web pages. Pages so annotated become more than just randomly linked bits of text; they become conceptual frameworks of information (i.e. ontologies).

Literal programming seeks to develop software in programming languages that more closely models the thought process of humans, rather than the thought process of machines. The "declarative over imperative" movement is part of this gestalt; rather than telling the machine how to do something, you tell it what you want done, and the machine figures out the how.

Literate programming and the semantic web are both concerned with meaning.

The semantic web seeks to make the Internet more intelligent by adding what I call "conceptual metadata" (i.e. topical information) to web pages. Pages so annotated become more than just randomly linked bits of text; they become conceptual frameworks of information (i.e. ontologies).

Literate programming seeks to develop software in programming languages that more closely models the thought process of humans, rather than the thought process of machines. The "declarative over imperative" movement is part of this gestalt; rather than telling the machine how to do something, you tell it what you want done, and the machine figures out the how.