It's fascinating because I came to a similar conclusion while working with very old IBM mainframe code editors (AS400 / IBM i "Source Entry Utility")
It's nearly impossible (if you read the docs) to write something with bad syntax on those machines. Columns are semantic in most of the languages (COBOL, RPG, DDL). When you write a program, if you don't know what you're doing, you can press "F4" and it will show you what each column means and when/how to use it [0]. It's not exactly a structured code editor, but it shares some similar concepts (see the link; you often write code in a "prompt" at the bottom of the screen, and the line won't insert until it's complete, though you can write it by hand if you wish).
All of that said, IBM's old SEU is still vastly inferior to modern text editors and IDEs, mostly because of the limited view window and the lack of syntax highlighting / basic modern features [1].
I think that, especially for enterprise code/development, there are some benefits to structured editing that are worth exploring. Not having a linter shout at a partially-complete line because you paused for a second or two would be nice, as well.
It's nearly impossible (if you read the docs) to write something with bad syntax on those machines. Columns are semantic in most of the languages (COBOL, RPG, DDL). When you write a program, if you don't know what you're doing, you can press "F4" and it will show you what each column means and when/how to use it [0]. It's not exactly a structured code editor, but it shares some similar concepts (see the link; you often write code in a "prompt" at the bottom of the screen, and the line won't insert until it's complete, though you can write it by hand if you wish).
All of that said, IBM's old SEU is still vastly inferior to modern text editors and IDEs, mostly because of the limited view window and the lack of syntax highlighting / basic modern features [1].
I think that, especially for enterprise code/development, there are some benefits to structured editing that are worth exploring. Not having a linter shout at a partially-complete line because you paused for a second or two would be nice, as well.
[0]: https://youtu.be/iw_wk5elf3Q?si=m9zVeboTyw0T8_Wu&t=635 [1]: https://youtu.be/Q3hxwcYB1Oo?si=WE9-rFdYo72A5yXz&t=404