Re: Syntax trees, macros, and reflexive Lua evolution

[Shannon Stewman <stew@...>]

On Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 04:45:13PM +0000, David Given wrote:

> Personally, I think that this is unlikely to change until AI is sufficiently 
> complicated that it's possible to write meaningful programs use a DWIM 
> paradigm. The simple reason is that humans are very used to dealing with 
> words. We have hardware designed specifically to do that. Flattening the 
> complex decision trees that are thoughts into linear streams of words so that 
> they can be transmitted to another person is so fundamental to the way we 
> think that it's impossible to consider how we might think any other way.

What about flow charts, class diagrams, and the various other ways to
visualize and communicate the structure of code?  While we do communicate
with serial symbols, those symbols are typically more complex than a
one-dimensional string of tokens.

Graphs, pictures, icons, etc. are often far more expressive of the
author's direct thought than the written word.  Similarly, actually
drawing a decision tree could be a more expressive way of coding.

But, this is diverging from a discussion about Lua.

-- 
Shannon Stewman         | Let us walk through the waning night,
Caught in a whirlpool,  | As dawn-rays tickle our toes, the dew soothes
A quartering act:       | Our blistered soles, and damp bones stir
Solitude or society?    | As crimson cracks under the blue-grey sky.