Donald Knuth uses METAFONT/METAPOST as an on-the-fly calculator for math at need, including while working on programming problems.

I guess what I want is something like to:

- LyX --- where there is a focus on structure and tagging, and an ability to output a correctly typeset document

- pyspread --- where it is possible to work with data and calculations and arrive at results, including graphical ones (my current issue is that making a DXF and an SVG use different coordinate systems --- DXF is simpler, and uses the same one as for G-code, so that's what I use)

where it is possible to embed the spreadsheet cells/sheets dynamically as one used to use OLE to put a spreadsheet in a word document.