Maybe it's time to throw out syntax and "text" based programming all together...<div><br><div>The punctuation is just there to trigger the parser to perform ... and trigger the memory of those "in the know" about: what "did", or "does", or "will" happen.</div>
<div>What if we use spreadsheet cells, or colors, or fonts, or little icons superimposed on the labels (text labels/names for code, data, or other memory artifacts or equipment) to more clearly express visually what is more often hidden in meaning. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Each cell/label can expand to explicitly visually express its connection to time, persistence, mutability, scope, nesting, linking, precedence, execution order, namespace, importance to the individual programmer or importance to society at large, implications of change, and other properties.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>Why? For the same reason syntax coloring helps the memory. There's just too little information visually expressed in syntax, a holdover from the early dark days of computing, when every bit & byte was expensive. It's why we vocally speak to each other with much intonation to carry extra meaning and not just speak in monotones. We're in the GUI age now. And I don't mean graphical drag and drop programming or APL special symbols! I mean code entry by typing ... but translated, and stored, with its visual representation of meaning. For example, in such an IDE, one could change the English word with one in another language with the same meaning, but the references and context remain the same, independent of the text of the label, like a spreadsheet cell does.</div>
<div> </div><div>Simplicity ... through multi-level, collapsable, visual explicitly. </div><div><br></div><div>- Darius</div>