Yehuda Katz Proposes Interactive Proposals

Yehuda Katz has written a great article encouraging the contributors to ECMAScript to abandon their academic process for new language features in favor of something more concrete and accessible to the "lay developer" (nice term).

Interestingly, with a nod to the Try CoffeeScript online app, he recommends that proposals be made more interactive:

By writing such a source-to-source translator, existing language users can experiment with the new syntax easily in a browser environment without requiring a separate compilation pass. This also allows users to build an in-browser translation UI (similar to try CoffeeScript), which can improve general understanding of the new syntax and produce important feedback.

I feel this could be one of those watersheds, in which an outdated form inherited from an earlier era is replaced with a new hybrid of text and interactive software. This is a fascinating glimpse of the future. Can you imagine the day when every proposal for a new public works project or real estate development is required to be accompanied by interactive online tools for exploring potential consequences and outcomes?