I explain notebooks as just how-to's with embedded coded/graphics/data that are editable in realtime; possible that's just as vague, but notebook sounds like a

I explain notebooks as just how-to's with embedded coded/graphics/data that are editable in realtime; possible that's just as vague, but notebook sounds like a plaintext editor to me; term comes from logs, kept in notebooks, used in science labs to note/reproduce prior work.