What even is code? Building a non-code coding interface
summary
Builds a tree-first, non-text editor called Sploot Code that parses to an AST and exposes node insert/delete/wrap operations instead of typing punctuation, with an HTML prototype that removes escaping and a JavaScript prototype that runs basic pages (canvas demo works). Uses tokenized operator expressions (keeps limited operator precedence), provides autocomplete and labeled built-in parameters, still treats variable references as string identifiers, and finds wrap operations UX hardest. Project is on GitHub and splootco.org and seeks UI collaborators.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (5)
related talks
25mText files full of punctuation? There must be a better way to code.
25mCode is a User Interface
35mMaking a lot of things
34mBespin, Skywriter, Ace - The Past, Present and Future of online Code Editing
43mCode Is an Interface Too
47mComputer, refactor my code!
39mCursorless: A spoken language for editing code
29mMy Little Parser: Tooling is Magic
