Thanks for the response. I think we probably ultimately agree. I was taking aim at that second group you outline with my rant. I had always assumed punch-tape

Thanks for the response. I think we probably ultimately agree. I was taking aim at that second group you outline with my rant. I had always assumed punch-tape was encoding some other representation of code than text until I did the research for my blog post. I think text is here to stay and I don't have any real problems with that. Where my tools offer designers or visual editors for code/UIs I still prefer to use text. As an on-ramp to programming nothing quite beat opening up an HTML file in Notepad (or text editor of choice), making some changes and seeing that your header now flashed and was red. I do think however that much like digging on a beach with a plastic bucket and spade is fun when you are young and carefree; when you're being paid to dig holes you want the biggest shiniest JCB you can get. I am mainly reacting to the second group who curl their lips with disdain at the idea of doing anything other than coding in Nano or whatever pure text environment. They seem to see programming as a priestly sect dedicated to text like Lindisfarne's monks and people who don't know their Cherry Reds from Browns as fake/noob/impostor programmers.