| author | Alan Dipert
<alan@tailrecursion.com> 2026-02-21 03:03:03 UTC |
| committer | Alan Dipert
<alan@tailrecursion.com> 2026-02-21 03:03:03 UTC |
| parent | 72357938d4423e52d975adcb650721b800e2c6b9 |
| md/_GridCalc.md | +2 | -0 |
diff --git a/md/_GridCalc.md b/md/_GridCalc.md index a380c97..115da57 100644 --- a/md/_GridCalc.md +++ b/md/_GridCalc.md @@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ I learned [Forth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)) ar It felt like a language that wanted to be handled like physical tokens, where you drag words around, reorder them, insert one between two others, and treat the code as something you can literally move with your hands. I never prototyped that idea, but it never went away. +The implication of that kind of free drag-and-drop editing is that you can accidentally land in a structurally invalid program. The grid sketch was my answer: a constrained layout that only lets you build valid programs. + ## The notebook sketch Then, in early February 2026 I woke up and drew a sketch in a tiny 3x5 notepad. The idea was a grid that represents time. Left to right, top to bottom, every entry or operation becomes a persistent cell. The grid is not a table. It is a linear program with a 2D view so references are easy.