Re: language design tradeoffs

What I would like to see in coding is a two-layer editor. Layer one
contains the code, which could be in any language. Layer two contains the
commentary.


When the compiler runs, it extracts layer one only. When you print the
file, you normally turn all layers on.


Preferably, the commentary layer should be graphical, so that one could
put arrows in connecting pieces of related code (this is one reason why I
want my code on paper) or drawing figures to describe the meaning of
different variables. The code layer could be textual -- I haven't really
seen any good graphical languages.


Of course, comments must be bound to pieces of code, so that comments move
when you add or delete code.


By separating code and comments this way, you cannot do the mistake of
accidentially commenting out big chunks of code (I still want to be able
to disable some code from compiling when testing, but old code isn't
really the same as commentary...).


Oh, while I am wishing: I would also like an A2 sized screen at 300 dpi
resolution, and a computer powerful enough to maintain it. This would
make windowing operating systems really useful :-)
--
Jens Hansson e-mail: e86jh@efd.lth.se Phone int+46-(0)46-112295
snail-mail: Skarpskyttev 6B, S-22242 Lund, Sweden
[You might like CWEB, available from the same places as TeX. -John]
--

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