Plain-text files are at risk

#Plain text files are at risk

• For better or worse, plain-text files, with their many encodings and layered formats, are the only real universal data interface we have had so far.

• By plain-text files, I mean notes.txt/md/ini/json/etc.

  • The files are actual files stored on a filesystem. The user can use them in any application which generally deals with files, such as attaching them to emails, sharing/accessing them via general HTTP/NAS servers etc.
  • The content is only plain-text. It can be read/edited/saved using even the most basic general-purpose text editor like nano.
    • Different text editors can work interoperably on such files without conflicting with each other.
    • Rich-text editors can open these files but often can't edit/save them while preserving their plain-text nature or make it hard to do so.
    • You do not need any cloud connection to read these files. They are simply stored on (and sometimes synced from) your local storage device.

• Nearly every OS ships a plain-text editor by default. Not just Linux/BSDs, but Microsoft (Notepad) and macOS (TextEdit).

• But interest in plain-text editing has been fading for a while now. 1

• Just 20 years ago, it was normal to use such editors regularly, even if you were a layperson.

  • Rich-text editors were likely used more overall or for "real work".
  • But use of plain-text editors was completely normal for note taking, quick scribbling etc.
  • Plain text files were used as a versatile data format. "Notes" could be anything like contact numbers, dates, shopping lists, etc.

• Smartphones replacing desktops for the masses probably dealt the biggest blow to plain-text files.

  • The smartphone duopoly did not ship with plain-text editors.
  • No real third-party ecosystem for plain-text editing emerged either.
  • Nearly all text input on smartphones is done on complex/proprietary formats via highly specialized "apps".

• The average computer user has essentially forgotten about plain-text files by now. Even the idea of just "files" is eroding. 2

• The last group keeping plain-text files alive is software engineers.

  • Code is plain-text and developing any software essentially forces you to deal with plain-text files and the filesystem.
  • Even if you are just a systems administrator, you likely still need to interact with plain-text configuration and log files often enough.

• This has led to significant innovation in plain-text editing.

  • See the very large ecosystem of code editors and the plugins surrounding them.
  • This is not limited to just free software. Some engineers pay a non-trivial amount of money for proprietary editors.

• Except now, software developers are doing their text input in LLM repls. [3]

  • Even writing documentation is being outsourced to the LLM repls.
  • The death of manual editing of code/docs is regularly being predicted on tech forums.
  • The produced code/docs are often only reviewed as a diff in a web interface, if that, so opening the editor can be skipped altogether.

• So what happens if this final audience for plain-text files abandons ship as well?

  • It's not far-fetched to assume that maintenance of plain-text editors and the ecosystem surrounding them will stop.
  • Since the operating systems, libraries etc. that support these editors will continue to change, existing editors might simply stop working on updated software stacks.
  • With multimedia and document files already being accessed mostly by specialized apps labelled "gallery" etc., it's possible that we will also stop using file managers altogether, and they will suffer the same fate as plain-text editors.
  • The war on general computing will likely continue as well, making it difficult for an individual to build/deploy a seemingly simple piece of software to read/edit text files without the blessing of a corporation and/or state.
  • Even if you know that LLM repls can't replace all the tools they promise to replace, the majority of people are adopting them today as if they can.
    • Society can remain irrational longer than you can remain a relevant nonconformist.
  • The most versatile, universal data interface we've ever had might no longer be accessible.

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_harness I consider the novel, anthropologized terminology for these tools superfluous since the word "REPL" already sufficiently covers them.