I wasn't defending LaTeX; I don't use it any more.
I am certainly aware that many scientists don't want to publish their code out of embarrassment. It was a surprise to me, but I've heard that feedback.
I investigated various alternatives after I found LaTeX too arcane, including DocBook. It's still not entirely clear what solution exists to the collection of problems I have (want to semantically mark up my paper, want it to display nicely regardless of screen, etc).
What about something like markdown plus some syntax for formulas? You can compile the markdown (via a detour to LaTeX perhaps) to something that looks nice.
Yeah, some form of enhanced markdown, with self-rendering papers on github (or whatever-hub or whatever-xiv) seems like a very practical solution. It couples the paper's representation to the version control system in a way that could be convenient and expressive.
I am certainly aware that many scientists don't want to publish their code out of embarrassment. It was a surprise to me, but I've heard that feedback.
I investigated various alternatives after I found LaTeX too arcane, including DocBook. It's still not entirely clear what solution exists to the collection of problems I have (want to semantically mark up my paper, want it to display nicely regardless of screen, etc).