What are your thoughts on a future where code is represented as a structured model, rather than text? Do you think that AI-powered coding assistants benefit from that?

i.e. “operator like things” at the nodes …

First, it’s worth noting that the “syntax recognition” phase of most compilers already does build a “structured model”, often in what used to be called a “canonical form” (an example of this might be a “pseudo-function tree” where every elementary process description is put into the same form — so both “a + b” and “for i := 1 to x do […]” are rendered as

plus(a, b) for(i, 1, x, […])

Decades After Its Joint-Venture Journey Began, Hulu’s Sole Ownership By Disney “Finally Resolved” With $439M Payment To NBCU, Bob Iger Exults - Deadline

It’s important to realize that “modern “AI” doesn’t understand human level meanings any better today (in many cases: worse!). So it is not going to be able to serve as much of a helper in a general coding assistant.

in structures, such as:

+ for

To those people in the world who have access to universal healthcare, what experiences could you share with Americans in order for us to understand how it affects your life (positively or negatively)?

a b i 1 x []

Another canonical form could be Lisp S-expressions, etc.

A slogan that might help you get past the current fads is:

The #1 Anti-Inflammatory Diet Habit You Should Start, According to Dietitians - EatingWell

Long ago in the 50s this was even thought of as a kind of “AI” and this association persisted into the 60s. Several Turing Awards were given for progress on this kind of “machine reasoning”.

/ \ and ⁄ / | \

NOT DATA … BUT MEANING!

We Asked 3 Chefs the Secret to the Best Potato Salad—They All Said the Same Thing - EatingWell

Most coding assistants — with or without “modern “AI” — also do reasoning and manipulation of structures.

These structures are made precisely to allow programs to “reason” about some parts of lower level meaning, and in many cases to rearrange the structure to preserve meaning but to make the eventual code that is generated more efficient.