Structural Substrate

[d-cook]

• Alan Kay: objects as a recursion of the notion of "computer"
• Everything (code, data, UI, runtime) is made of nestable "objects" that can be inspected and modified in place
• All objects are part of the same "object-tree", with the "root node" being the entire system
• Work directly with intended model (structure) of things, rather than a representation of that structure
  • Code is manipulated directly in AST form, rather than Parsed from text
  • Code can be generated & manipulated directly at runtime (by the user, or programmatically)
• A universal tool can be used to view and edit everything, since it all shares a common representation
• An AST structure can model both code & data, but also (for example) files & folders, or settings
• Execution state of a program exists in some inspectable form. Can be paused, modified, serialized, and resumed
  • Actors that can be sent (or send themselves) across systems, and keep running afterward

[asmodehn]

Few comments on these :

• "root node being the entire system". There is a risk here of considering the "system" to be the machine or some sub component taken in isolation.

• I would argue this needs to be an "open system", and something broader than " a machine". It should be at the very list the machine and the user, interacting in ways that are representable in code, and potentially bigger if we want to consider how multiple machines and people interact as an organized group.

• " universal tool to view and edit everything " This is for me some kind of hybrid of editor / shell / repl / irc chat. we also need to be able to "edit the user", and somehow telling him to do things seems a way to achieve this. " you need this software package, please run this command." " you spent too much time with me today, go out and enjoy the sunshine."

• " objects as a recursion of the notion of computer " -> categories as a reification ( by human understanding ) of the world humans perceive.