Programming languages have long been based on text files. While this ensures a level of simplicity and stability that is nice and plays well with being "evergreen" code, it means that IDEs and compilers have to do a bit more work to bring us the results we want.
So, here's the question: Are there other ways we could store code than the classic text file?
Other than esoteric languages that store things in an image or audio file, my only somewhat useful thought is a database. If you were to create an object-oriented programming language with a database as the underlying storage method, you could do some pretty powerful, cool things. Each method and member could be an entry in the database attached to the object. You could navigate to the object and sort and display it's internals in any order and way you want. Each member could also have metadata attached to provide documentation, history, etc. If each member had an id, renaming things would be a breeze. The language, as a whole, could have a central database that code could be committed to. This could maybe be used to track versions and dependencies easier. A database language could also lend well to different displays of code, like visual graph scripting engines and such.
Overall, this database-based language would still probably not be worth it. It adds a level of complexity that may not be worth the marginal benefits. I still find it entertaining to think about, though.
Have you got any great ideas? I'd love to hear them!
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