I think the reason that we need a big bunch of discrete symbols is because our brains are good at spewing these things out in a stream.
For example, I just typed a bunch of words at you. I didn't have to 'interact' with the computer at each step, even though I suppose I could have used a touch interface where I typed the first letters of each word and then hunt around from a list.
We're good at being able to say that something is going to be equal to (-b + sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/2a, for example, by blasting out a bunch of different symbols that the input system is unlikely to be able to anticipate. I can't type that formula as fast as I can gibber away in English... but I can still do it pretty smoothly without having to drop into a 'select things from some sort of menu' mode.
This is made worse by the myriad of perfectly useful operators in a language like C, as well as all the variables that may be defined at that moment. I think discrete symbols are a fine way of expressing this.
All those things that you talk about 'instead of statements' are fine things, but just as information-dense as a good-quality statement and will still call on you to express an idea drawn from a huge space of possibilities.
Definitely in agreement on how interesting this all is as a concept. This would be my toy project if I had time for toy projects. :-/
For example, I just typed a bunch of words at you. I didn't have to 'interact' with the computer at each step, even though I suppose I could have used a touch interface where I typed the first letters of each word and then hunt around from a list.
We're good at being able to say that something is going to be equal to (-b + sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/2a, for example, by blasting out a bunch of different symbols that the input system is unlikely to be able to anticipate. I can't type that formula as fast as I can gibber away in English... but I can still do it pretty smoothly without having to drop into a 'select things from some sort of menu' mode.
This is made worse by the myriad of perfectly useful operators in a language like C, as well as all the variables that may be defined at that moment. I think discrete symbols are a fine way of expressing this.
All those things that you talk about 'instead of statements' are fine things, but just as information-dense as a good-quality statement and will still call on you to express an idea drawn from a huge space of possibilities.
Definitely in agreement on how interesting this all is as a concept. This would be my toy project if I had time for toy projects. :-/