You're making a categorical error here. The entire discussion is not about storing programs but about entering them. If you want to use a database for storage t

You're making a categorical error here. The entire discussion is not about storing programs but about entering them. If you want to use a database for storage then the UI you present to populate your database will become syntax. The idea that you can have multiple syntaxes for the same language is not new (eg multilingual pascal or basic) heck even different semantic models are possible (eg LLVM) but any UI that enables a programmer to tell a computer what to do is ultimately syntax.