update about doc

doc/about.rst

@@ -4,49 +4,54 @@ About Autocmake
 ===============
 
 You typically want to use CMake when you get tired of manually editing
-Makefiles. Autocmake is for people who are tired of editing CMake files.
+Makefiles. Autocmake is for people who are tired of editing CMake files
-Autocmake assembles CMake modules, generates ``CMakeLists.txt`` as well as
+directly.  Autocmake assembles CMake modules, generates ``CMakeLists.txt`` as
-``setup.py``, which serves as a front-end to ``CMakeLists.txt``. All this is
+well as ``setup.py``, which serves as a front-end to ``CMakeLists.txt``. All
-done based on a lightweight ``autocmake.cfg`` file::
+this is done based on a lightweight ``autocmake.cfg`` file::
 
   update.py --self
-       |
+       |                                   |
-       | fetches Autocmake infrastructure
+       | fetches Autocmake                 |
-       v
+       | infrastructure                    |
-  autocmake.cfg
+       v                           Developer maintaining
-       |
+  autocmake.cfg                        Autocmake
-       | update.py
+       |                                   |
-       v
+       | update.py                         |
+       |                                   |
+       v                                   v
   CMakeLists.txt (and setup.py front-end)
-       |
+       |                                   |
-       | setup.py (which invokes CMake)
+       | setup.py                          |
-       v
+       | which invokes CMake               |
-  Makefile (or something else)
+       v                             User of the code
-       |
+  Makefile (or something else)             |
-       | make
+       |                                   |
-       v
+       | make                              |
+       |                                   |
+       v                                   v
   Build/install/test targets
 
 
 Why Autocmake
 -------------
 
-The main motivation for us to create Autocmake as a CMake framework library was
+The main motivation for us to create Autocmake as a CMake framework library and
-to simplify CMake code transfer between codes. We got tired of manually diffing
+CMake module composer was to simplify CMake code transfer between codes. We got
-and copy-pasting boiler-plate CMake code and watching it diverge while
+tired of manually diffing and copy-pasting boiler-plate CMake code and watching
-maintaining the CMake infrastructure in a growing number of scientific projects
+it diverge while maintaining the CMake infrastructure in a growing number of
-which typically have very similar requirements:
+scientific projects which typically have very similar requirements:
 
 - Fortran and/or C and/or C++ support
-- Compiler flags
+- Tuning of compiler flags
-- Front-end script (setup.py)
+- Front-end script for the CMake-unaware user (setup.py)
 - Support for parallelization: MPI, OMP, CUDA
-- Math libraries (BLAS, LAPACK)
+- Math libraries: BLAS, LAPACK
 
 Our other motivation for Autocmake was to make it easier for developers who do
-not know CMake to generate a CMake infrastructure within minutes.
+not know CMake to generate a CMake infrastructure within minutes by providing
+a higher-level entry point.
 
-Autocmake is a chance to provide well documented and tested set of CMake
+Autocmake is a chance to provide a well documented and tested set of CMake
 plug-ins. With this we wish to give also users of codes the opportunity to
 introduce the occasional tweak without the need to read CMake documentation.
 
@@ -61,6 +66,5 @@ possible and to minimize "hidden" actions in the background.
 Convention over configuration
 -----------------------------
 
-Our guideline is to follow good established conventions
+Our guideline is to follow good established conventions in order to allow users
-to allow users and developers to recognize the configuration
+and developers to recognize the configuration when moving to a new project.
-when moving to a new project.