> We have high res monitors with incredible graphical capabilities but we still mostly just represent code as flat text files
I think the key issue here is that flat text files remain an universal standard, easily handled with commodity tools and editors, often bundled with the OS itself.
Once in a while someone wants to revolutionize code representation (like Light Table, which you mentioned). "What if we represented code as a... flowchart, a graph of nodes, a city, a pie chart, a mind map, $YOUR_NOVEL_IDEA_HERE? Wouldn't that be great and take advantage of current hardware to the fullest?"
It turns out it's really hard to beat good old flat text at convenience and interoperability with standard tools.
I agree completely, hence why I want a big player that can throw their weight around to try something. You'd basically have to create a whole ecosystem around your fancy new tool.
It's a very tall order for some lone coder in their basement, but it's called Monday for Google.
Well one alternative representation really took off, that one where code is is a dataflow graph, whose nodes are all one-liners on a massive grid. I wonder what led to its success, where so many other interesting ideas have failed?
I think the key issue here is that flat text files remain an universal standard, easily handled with commodity tools and editors, often bundled with the OS itself.
Once in a while someone wants to revolutionize code representation (like Light Table, which you mentioned). "What if we represented code as a... flowchart, a graph of nodes, a city, a pie chart, a mind map, $YOUR_NOVEL_IDEA_HERE? Wouldn't that be great and take advantage of current hardware to the fullest?"
It turns out it's really hard to beat good old flat text at convenience and interoperability with standard tools.