> Programmers work with text and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Programmers work with 2D overlapping windows and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I'm giving a criterion for when that's going to change. They're connected. You can't beat a 2D display for displaying 2D data.
> What would a non-rectangular UI for manipulating text look like?
Looked at a DOM Inspector recently (HTML)? Or Computed Styles (CSS)? Or Network Activity (HTTP)? All of the most common text formats I use, I view through a non-text interface. These aren't inherently 2D data streams -- that's just what we do because they're being put on a 2D display. All of them would be even more useful in 3D.
That's not even counting the biggest classical use for an extra dimension: time, e.g., version control history, animation state, or database transactions or migrations.
I don't really do much frontend web programming, so those examples don't resonate much with me. I see your point, though, with your last examples.
It's still very difficult for me to imagine how I would translate interfaces I'm used to into another dimension. Even if I picture something floating in front of me, I only perceive a 2D projection of it. Perhaps with clever transparency or by rotating it around I could receive more information than I would in 2D.
I feel like a character in Flatland, I stuck in my own dimension.
Programmers work with 2D overlapping windows and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I'm giving a criterion for when that's going to change. They're connected. You can't beat a 2D display for displaying 2D data.
> What would a non-rectangular UI for manipulating text look like?
Looked at a DOM Inspector recently (HTML)? Or Computed Styles (CSS)? Or Network Activity (HTTP)? All of the most common text formats I use, I view through a non-text interface. These aren't inherently 2D data streams -- that's just what we do because they're being put on a 2D display. All of them would be even more useful in 3D.
That's not even counting the biggest classical use for an extra dimension: time, e.g., version control history, animation state, or database transactions or migrations.