[hzhou321]

Yes, I agree! In fact, the break through we needed is to view programming as a human cognitive operation and embrace the text, and treat manipulating text as a main component of coding. For example, I want to code

     foreach item in list_A
         do_something(item)

This text is the native code in the programmer's mind, and we should allow programmer to just do so. Then, in a second layer, the programmer should code up the transformer and translate that to the actual programming language, adding incidental complexity such as specific syntax and internal language representations, so that the lower level compiler can verify and consume and feedback.

The transformer part is super hard if we rely on automatic tools, which is just another version of a compiler. It is super tedious if we rely on human manual work, which is just how today programmers do. But if we view the transformer part as part of programming, where programmer employs tools to mold their program, then it makes sense. The programmer will be able to program the tools to avoid the tedious part but still with full flexibility to mold anyway they desire. It is still programming, but in a meta frame where text is the target.

[hzhou321]

For those who are interested, checkout MyDef - https://github.com/hzhou/MyDef

[preseinger]

Agreed. Programs are not equations, they're recipes.